By Michael Somerby EBS DIGITAL EDITOR
BIG
SKY – The Big Sky Resort Area District tax board met on April 8 in the Resort
Tax office for its monthly open board meeting. Agenda items included the latest
developments for Senate Bill 241, assessing updates and future initiatives for
the Big Sky Community Strategic Plan, preparations for resort tax applications
and appropriations and welcoming Daniel Bierschwale, the new district manager
appointee.
Later
in the afternoon on April 8, SB 241 passed a second hearing in the Montana
House in a 75-24 vote. On April 9, the bill passed the House in a 71-29 vote
and will now be sent to Gov. Steve Bullock’s office for potential signing.
The
bill seeks to provide 10 resort communities around the state the option to levy
an additional 1 percent resort tax.
The
Community Visioning Strategy, called “Our Big Sky,” launched in late
February and consisted of one-on-one community member interviews with representatives
from the commissioned Logan Simpson consulting firm, as well as the “Polaroid’s
and Pints” events held at Gallatin Riverhouse Grill and Beehive Basin Brewery.
According
to Whitney Brunner, assistant manager for the board, the next step in the visioning
strategy is to compile comments from those that spoke with and submitted
thoughts to Logan Simpson representatives and determine salient “visioning
statements.”
The
statements will be reconciled and reviewed by the community in a series of
events set for a late May rollout.
The
board is also gearing up for applications for resort tax funding from
organizations around the community. The deadline for applications is April 29,
with an official appropriations Q&A meeting on June 3.
Daniel
Bierschwale, the board’s new district manager, attended the meeting—his first
in the role. Bierschwale has lived in Montana since 2007, working for
Yellowstone Forever since his move from Minneapolis.
In
his role with YF, he helped steward community and business partnerships, and
volunteered in an effort to help bring resort tax to Gardiner, resulting in
projects such as the Gardiner Gateway Project.
“I’m
really excited to be on the ground for this new position, leveraging my past
experience,” Bierschwale said. “I’m looking forward to fostering new
initiatives in the Big Sky community.”
