Tax mistake cost Big Sky residents millions — and went unnoticed for years

Gallatin County has been over-collecting taxes from residents of the Big Sky Fire District for years, according to department officials who say a miscalculation in the county’s levy process inflated property taxes.

The error, now corrected, is expected to cut some property taxes while slashing the fire department’s budget.

In a press release issued at the end of September, the Big Sky Fire Department said it had learned that the county had been applying the full number of voter-approved mills to its levy rather than capping the total dollar amount in accordance with Montana law and inflation limits.

“Transparency, integrity, and fiscal responsibility are core values of the Big Sky Fire Department,” Chief Dustin Tetrault said in a press release. “When we discovered the issue, we acted qu