BILLINGS — The Billings City Council may soon shrink from 11 members to 7 as part of a proposal aimed at addressing budget deficits and reallocating money to city projects.
Council Member Scott Aspenlieder initiated the discussion during a Monday meeting, emphasizing that the current structure is "inefficient and cumbersome." Since 1977, Billings has operated with 10 council members representing five wards with the mayor, but Aspenlieder argues that moving to six wards, each with one representative, would better serve the city.
Watch the discussion here:
“There really is no purpose to have 11 functionally,” Aspenlieder said. "We're in tough financial straits to look at every opportunity we can to save the city money."
The council voted 9-2 in favor of exploring the proposal further, with plans to discuss the potential changes again in July.
"So, we're going to have it on the work session for July 7, where we're going to talk about what the language would look like, what's important," he said.
Aspenlieder highlighted the importance of reassessing the council's size following recent changes in state property tax laws that have put the city in a financial struggle, necessitating $2.2 million in cuts to the budget.
"I think people should be worried about the city budget and the impacts of these tax bills," Aspenlieder stated. "We're living it now."
While some council members support further discussion, others expressed concerns about the proposal's procedural integrity. Mayor Bill Cole voiced his opposition, citing a lack of public awareness about the issue.
"I'll start it. I'm gonna vote against it. A large on procedural issue," Cole said. "The public doesn't know what we're doing."
Councilman Roy Neese also opposed.
"In my opinion, there's no reason to even put this on the work session. To waste the staff's time to go through. It's not just a few words of change, it's a huge change to our community in the way they're represented," Neese said. "I think that would be harmful to our community so I won't support the witness on the initiative."
Aspenlieder said the budget director has not given him an exact number on how much money would be saved.
"It's less than $100,000 by a long shot. I mean, so it's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, $40.000 to $50,000 is what I would suspect with benefits and the pay," Aspenlieder said. "But everything counts when we're talking about saving."
Related: Billings City Council considers budget with no increase in property tax revenue
