It is recommended that Council approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the Petition to Renew Downtown Billings Business Improvement District (BID 0001). 

The BID is a special assessment district in which the downtown property owners in the district have voted twice to initiate, manage, and finance services above and beyond those typically provided by the city. Created in 2005 by City Council Resolution 05-18328, and renewed in 2015 by City Council Resolution 14-10412, the BID was established and continues to be funded and managed by downtown property owners through a City Council appointed Board of Directors. This board oversees a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a safe, clean, and inviting place to live, work, and play. The services provided include sidewalk sweeping and power washing, snow removal, graffiti removal, public art programming, community event facilitation, and additional police presence through three full-time BPD officers dedicated to the BID area. The process to renew the BID is much like the process to create a BID, requiring that signatures representing over 60% of the properties within the district are gathered in support of renewing the district.
The Business Improvement District, shown on attachment A, extends from Intermountain Health Hospital campus south to South Park, from Garfield School to North Park, and includes 1,066 individual tax codes, or collectively, 18,190,307 square feet of land. The City of Billings owns 49 parcels, or 2,645,573.04 square feet of land within the BID, or 14.54% of the entire district. A list of the City-owned parcels is attached. With the addition of the City’s signed petition, more than 50% of the property owner signatures will have been collected. Once 60% of the property owner signatures are collected, the City Council will be asked to initiate a Resolution to Create the BID for an additional 10 years.
 

City Council may:

• Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the Petition for Renewal;
• Postpone action; or
• Not approve or authorize the Mayor to sign the Petition for Renewal, which may result in less than 60% of the property owners renewing the district.

If the Council renews BID 0001, the City's properties will be assessed equally with private property. The BID assessment for tax year 2024 will be approximately $53,671.  The BID Board of Directors and staff prepare the assessments for the City Staff after City Council approval of the BID annual budget and work plan. This information is relayed to the Yellowstone County Assessor's office for billing and collection and then distributed to the BID. By state law, Finance may not recover its cost by charging the BID.