Letter to the Editor - Wheatland Rest Area
Author: Eliza McLaughlin - Staff Reporter
Wheatland Rest Area Dear Broadwater County Commissioners, Montana Department of Transportation District 2 Administrator Bill Fogarty and MDT Public Involvement Manager Lisa Olmsted,
Many questions have arisen in our area in the past year. We hope you can give us some answers.
When you, as County Commissioners, passed a resolution to create a Targeted Economic Development District in our area, your resolution and growth policy stated to the people that the TEDD was created as:
"The effort focused on retaining and expanding existing 'value-adding' businesses, as well as attracting new ones to the area. This will, in turn, create new employment opportunities and diversify and grow the County's property tax base over time. 'Value-added' businesses are those that take a Montana resource, product or process and transform it into a new product or process intended for interstate commerce."
The policy further states that
"TEDDs are authorized in Montana's Urban Renewal laws and enable the County to direct resources towards addressing infrastructure deficiencies hindering economic growth. TEDDs must 'target' businesses that add value to a product or process resulting in the creation of new wealth. State law permits using a variety of tools in a TEDD, including Tax Increment Financing (TIF), to fund public infrastructure improvements, such as sewer and water systems, roads, and utilities.
Montana statutes also require that a TEDD be zoned in accordance with the County Growth Policy."
We noticed that MDT, in their latest update on the Headwaters Rest Area states: "Construction update:
Construction of the new Headwaters Rest Area near the I 90/US 287 interchange is nearly complete and is anticipated to open this winter when the new rest area can be connected to the NEW COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM. MDT will announce the closure of the old facility and the opening of the new facility as soon as possible, pending the completion of some final facility details." There is NO COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM unless they are referring to the TEDD utility district designed to service members of the TEDD.
We're curious as to how a proposed "Rest Area" property falls under the category of a "value-adding business". A "Rest-Area" offers no value to a district and in fact burdens local and state taxpayers. A "Rest-Area" produces nothing.
The Resolution the Commission passed in 2020 creating the TEDD has the term "within the TEDD" repeated throughout the legal document. Why is the proposed rest area, tax parcel 0000J24T013, owned by Headwaters Investments, LLC attempting to hook up to a TEDD utility district? This property is NOT within the TEDD per the Montana Cadastral Property Record Card. In the General Property Information section "no exemptions exist for this property" is recorded, unlike the neighbors IN the TEDD which reflect
*Tax Increment Financing District 43-236T*
in the same section.
Headwaters Investment LLC's inclusion in the TEDD utility system is a glaring violation of your resolution, growth policy, and Montana Law. Allowing this privately owned property, which is outside of the TEDD and offers no value-added business, opens the door to any business or residence outside of the TEDD to do the same. This privately owned parcel of land is clearly not a beneficiary of a taxpayer subsidized district or its services. These property owners are saving millions by tapping onto a taxpayer funded utility system designed to support value-added businesses.
We'd appreciate an explanation of this abuse of the TEDD resolution and growth policy and why the County is allowing it to occur.
Sincerely,
Duane and Elizabeth Barton
Wheatland Meadows Subdivision
Nov. 23, 2022
