This general election, legislation based around the Bozeman Fire Department (BFD) and the Bozeman Police Department (BPD) will appear on the 2024 Gallatin County ballots. If passed, the proposed legislation — the Fire House #4 Bond and the First Responder Levy — would allow for the construction of a new fire station and increased staffing for both departments.
If the Levy and Bond are passed by voters, Fire Chief Josh Waldo explained that both departments would “immediately start the process” of onboarding new employees and building a fourth fire station in West Bozeman, which would open in 2027.
Bozeman is one of the fastest-growing cities in America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the population grew by seven percent from April, 2020, approximately 53,542 to 57,305 in July 2023. This growth, cited by Bozeman.net as the cause of delayed emergency response time and increased crimes, will be directly addressed on the 2024 ballot through the Bond and Levy.
According to an Exponent article published on Oct. 3, the City stated that it presently struggles to provide critical life-safety and law enforcement services with the same first-responder staffing levels of 17 years ago. The last substantial Bozeman public safety Levy was passed in 2007 and enabled an increase from 47 officers in 2008 to 65 officers by the end of 2012, according to a Bozeman Daily Chronicle article from 2012.
“It’s desperately needed,” said MSU Professor Nora Smith, who has been a voter in Bozeman for the last 40 years. “This particular Levy is just the first step to getting services in West Bozeman remotely staffed.”
Freshman Cait Rodgers also provided her perspective on the proposed action. “This is a great example of taxes functioning in the way that they’re supposed to, in a way that benefits the entire community,” she said.
The Bond aims to add a fourth fire station in West Bozeman, a response germinated from the Center for Public Safety Management’s 2017 review of Bozeman Fire Department. The review also found that Bozeman’s growth could call for future accommodations, such as relocating Fire Stations One and Two as well as opening a fourth station.
Part of the motivation behind the Levy and Bond is concern over emergency response times. According to the City of Bozeman’s website, the current response time for the fire department is “four minutes beyond the national average.” The website emphasizes that extra minutes force the fire department to prioritize critical, life-threatening calls, limiting more residential responses.
The Mill Levy for First Responder Staff appears on the 2024 ballot as a joint effort between the fire and police departments to increase staffing and better serve the community. The actual documentation of the Levy — Resolution No. 5620 — outlines that funds allocated will go towards “additional police department and fire department personnel, equipment and related public safety costs and expenses.”
When asked if he had heard concerns from the community regarding the proposed legislation, Waldo asserted that he had not heard many concerns beyond the potential for a “heavy rift” between taxpayers and public safety departments of Bozeman.
However, the prospective costs to property owners may deter voters from approving the measure. According to the Bond/Levy proposal, there is a significant cost associated with improvements. The City Commission intends to phase in the Levy over the course of five fiscal years beginning in 2026 and culminating in 2030. Section 2 of Resolution No. 5620 states that “If this Mill Levy proposition passes, when the full 48 mills are assessed in fiscal year 2030, the property taxes on a home with an assessed market value of 100,000 [dollars] would increase by 64.80 [dollars], of 300,000 [dollars] would increase by 194.40 [dollars] and of 600,000 [dollars] would increase by 388.80 [dollars].”
Should voters strike down the levy, Waldo reiterated that time delays and reduced serviceability would continue to negatively impact Bozeman, but explained that his department’s course of action would not change. “If they vote it down, we’re gonna keep doing what we do today. You don’t just quit what we do,” he said.
Something voters may choose to consider is the 4.4 million [dollars] dollar Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant awarded to the BFD, announced by the city on Oct. 1, 2024. FEMA coordinates grants that assist state or local governments with natural disaster response. According to MontanaRightNow.com, this grant will cover three years worth of salaries for 12 new firefighters come March 2025. In a quote from an interview with KBZK Bozeman earlier this month, Waldo said that the public safety question on the ballot will not change in light of the FEMA grant.
To learn more about the Fire House #4 Bond and the First Responder Levy, visit bozeman.net/safetyfirst.