Safe - Cooperative Security

The Business Improvement District is proud of its Cooperative Safety program that provides for two Billings Police Department Officers assigned specifically to downtown Billings. These officers, called resource officers, provide additional presence, visibility and assistance over and above what is already provided by the Billings Police Department. Our Dedicated Downtown Center Beat Officers are stationed at the Downtown Billings Alliance office and in other areas within the footprint (see map).

Since January of 2010, Officer Shane Winden has been in place in downtown Billings and the response from merchants, property owners, and the downtown community has been very positive. In 2011, Officer Harley Cagle joins Shane on Downtown patrol. Our members have expressed their support of the program, particularly of having an engaged, on the street officer who interacts personally with them day to day.

Officer Winden's position was made possible for the first 3 years using Tax Increment District (TID) funding and will be funded in subsequent years by way of TID and BID (private property owner assessments) funding.

Implementing the BID Safety Zone required expansion of the boundaries of the original 18 block Clean & Safe BID. On Monday, June 12, 2010 the Billings City Council unanimously passed the Ordinance that expanded our Business Improvement District.

Due to the implementation of the TID funded BPD Center Beat overlay, crime has fallen in downtown with incident call numbers CUT IN HALF in just one year. Unfortunately, the fear and perception of crime remains high. This Safety Zone BID expansion allows for two BPD officers attached to Downtown Billings and will continue to open channels of communication between law enforcement and the business community as well as the community at large. Public confidence has been bolstered, through the time tested old fashion out in the street interacting and walking/riding the beat. In a time of record deficits and budget cuts, we ensure through a public-private partnership that public safety is important to downtown as well as city-wide.

After just over one year of intense canvassing and dialogue with property owners in the initially proposed footprint, including many one-on-one meetings as well as publicly advertised “town hall” sessions, the BID Board settled on the final details for the expansion that are noted below.

Council and the Downtown Partnership approved annual participation of the N. 27^th Street TIFD in this program along with the BID property owners. TIFD participation will amount to about 17% of the cost of the annual program. The TIFD represents over 40% of the total BID land mass and public safety is an approved “project” within the urban renewal plan. The remaining 83% will come from the BID. This is exactly why TIFD was created and a shining example of public/private cooperation.

BID property owner assessments within the safe zone boundaries of the district use a calculation that considers the total number of square feet of land owned within the zone by a single company/person/corporation. If a person owns a total square footage amount of less than 33,333 square feet, they are assessed a flat rate of $150.00 per year - no matter how many parcels they own - as long as the total is less than the 33,333 sq. ft. amount. If a person falls into this flat rate category and owns more than a single parcel, the $150.00 is divided by the total number of tax codes. So if you own three lots (separate tax codes) and each lot is 9000 square feet in sizes, each lot would be assessed $50.00 ($150 divided by 3). Condo ownership of land within a single building with a lot size smaller than 33,333 sq. ft. are responsible for their share of the $150.00 assessment based upon their percentage of ownership in the property. Those with assembled parcels, contiguous or not, that total more than 33,333 sq. ft. are assessed a per square foot rate based upon the formulas below.

CLICK HERE FOR A PDF LISTING ALL SAFE ZONE TAX CODES THAT APPLY

Total Square Footage of the Expansion: = 16,034,904 square feet or roughly 368.1 acres (map)

Property Owners in Expansion Area: 396

Property Owners representing over 60% (as required by code) of the total expansion area signed the petition

893 parcels including over 3 condo-ed properties

The overall average assessment to a property owner is $222.00

The law allows that if benefits derived by each lot or parcel are disproportional, the BID may use classification criteria, where each classification has its own rate. Here are we are accomplishing that through the method of assessment based on square footage. We have six classifications which BID law allows for in section 7-12-1133, f, of Montana Code Annotated 2009.

.00249 cents per square foot if total ownership is more than 3 Million sq. ft.

.00319 cents psf if total ownership is between 2 Million & 3 Million sq. ft.

.00224 cents psf if total ownership is between 1.1 Million and 2 Million sq. ft.

.00450 cents psf if total ownership is between 33,333 and 1.1 Million sq. ft.

$150 FLAT RATE divided by # of tax codes if psf total ownership is less than 33,333 sq. ft.

$150 FLAT Rate divided by # of tax codes within single condominium parcel

Assessments will begin in FY2012 (Fall of 2011 tax bills). The BID should raise approximately $88,000 from Safe Zone only assessments, annually. The remainder of the Center Beat BPD officer overlay will come from the original 18 block BID and the N. 27^th Street TIFD. This is a great bargain for the citizens of Billings.

An open letter to BID Safe Zone Property Owners - PDF

If you would like more information about this program, call Lisa Harmon, Executive Director, Downtown Billings Alliance, @ 294-5060 or email: lharmon@downtownbillings.com.

BID safety zone