BUTTE - Butte-Silver Bow’s Commissioners made an 11th-hour decision that saved an Uptown business group from losing a year’s worth of funding to make improvements to the historic Uptown.
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The commissioners unanimously approved a revised ordinance in a special meeting Oct. 12th for the Uptown Butte Improvement District to collect about $2 million over the next 10 years from participating property owners in the district. Without this funding, members of the district’s board worried it would stop many ongoing projects it believes make Uptown more appealing.
“Putting up wayfinding signs around town, we’re looking to do a welcome to UJptown Butte arch. Adding garbage cans, adding bike racks, it’s just really making Uptown Butte a better place for people to come and visit,” B.I.D. Board member Jeff Riggs said.
The ordinance stalled during an Oct. 7th meeting when one Uptown property owner objected to the wording in the ordinance. Robert Edwards said payments to the board will first said to be based on the tax value of properties, but the ordinance made it market value, which he believes would cost more.
“It’s like buying a car, and you’re told one price and, as soon as you sign the paperwork, they turn around and change the price on you,” Edwards said.
The commissioners called the special meeting to reexamine the ordinance and eventually voted to approve the revised ordinance.
“Everybody that was in the courtroom really supports the BID and the work that we’ve done and that we want to do, and so it’s just a matter of getting it right,” Riggs said.
