BOZEMAN – Last year the city made road repairs to West Oak Street and North Ferguson Avenue to add in bike lanes and repair the streets and gutters for $2.1 million. City commissioners are asking Gallatin County to pay for half.
The two roads are located right in front of Gallatin County Regional Park, which is why Bozeman is asking the county to pay for $902,424.65 of the total cost.
Back in 2003 when Gallatin County purchased the land for the park from the city, the county signed a waiver to protest funding road repairs surrounding the park, including West Oak and North Ferguson. However, county commissioners said the county is allowed to protest if they believe the funding process was conducted illegally.
"What we are concerned about right now is some of the legalities with the project that they did. It appears that it was over a $2 million dollar project that was unbid, state statute is pretty clear that projects of that size need to be bid and rewarded to the lowest bidder. We have some concerns about the way the county has assessed in the SID and what the benefits to the regional park and the county actually are,” said County Commissioner Don Seifert.
But Bozeman city commissioners seem to have a different perspective.
"In my opinion, it is just the reverse. The people that are within this jurisdiction, the residents of the city of Bozeman that are also county residents are getting very little benefit from their county government. That is really what is happening here,” said City Commissioner Jeff Kraus.
"We are all county residents and I am not sure why they are not helping county residents be safer, commute faster and frankly have access to the park,” said Deputy Mayor Chris Mehl.
The two entities must work out the negotiations by Labor Day in order to assess taxes and send out bills to citizens.
