Big Sky Wellness District FAQ
You may have heard some chatters about the creation of a wellness district. Perhaps some questions arose. Here are some FAQs, presented without my specific endorsement, as they’ve been created by the Moonlight Basin and Yellowstone Club’s HOA. If you’re a property owner in Madison County, read up!
Why a Big Sky Wellness District: Demand for wellness services in Big Sky outpaces available funding. These services save lives and make for a healthy community. Big Sky property taxes from Madison County annually fund roughly $1.7 million for the services of Madison Valley Hospital District, services which are geographically inaccessible to those taxpayers. This initiative seeks to redirect and bring those public funds home to Big Sky.
What is a Hospital District: A Hospital District is a unit of local government authorized to supply hospital facilities and services, and heath care facilities and services to the residents of that district. These districts may levy tax, as currently found on the Madison County tax bills within the Madison Valley Hospital District.
What is a Wellness District: While the petitions will list “Hospital District,” the vision of a Wellness District is to be a foundation for a healthy community by funding a broad scope of wellness services beyond traditional brick-and-mortar hospitals. In order to address these diverse needs, a new Hospital District must be formed. Once formed, the newly elected body can establish the governing framework to realize the wellness vision, create by-laws, and a dba of Wellness District.
How will this impact my property taxes: The formation of the new district will require the appropriate structure created by the elected board to finalize. However, the coalition intends to lower or maintain the existing tax rate for Madison County. The current allocation is 10.89 mil. There will be no tax impact initially for property owners in Gallatin County.
Why NOW: Taxation for inaccessible services in Madison County has long existed and been an ongoing pain point for taxpayers. Census growth in Big Sky increased 176% from 2010. When coupled with post-Covid impacts, this growth has caused excessive strain on community infrastructure. Long-term investment towards infrastructure deficiencies will necessitate transition of Resort Tax funds from traditional programmatic support of wellness efforts.
More information and the petitions can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/swslswwbbloiz43hq4740/h?rlkey=cd2dru48vvzphtso9pdaipgib&dl=0