MADISON COUNTY, Montana — The most expensive homes in Montana are clustered in an area of Big Sky, Montana, tucked high in the mountains and inaccessible by public roads to the rest of Madison County. This includes the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club and subdivisions like Silvertip, located in the Moonlight Basin area of this booming resort community.
Big Sky has its own hospital — the Big Sky Medical Center — but it sits across the county line in Gallatin County.
Residents of the Yellowstone Club, Silvertip and other neighborhoods in the Madison County portion of Big Sky pay property taxes levied by the Madison County Hospital District. But in a quirk of resort community geography, those Madison County residents cannot easily access the Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis. It’s a 90-minute drive away on paved public roads.
That’s why residents of Madison County living in Big Sky are now trying to remove themselves from the property tax base.
More than 100 people showed up in Virginia City — the Madison County seat — last week to argue for and against what’s shaping up to be a resort town secessionist movement.
Two petitions submitted to Madison County are seeking withdrawal from the Madison Valley Hospital District, and these petitions are essentially a cry for help from Big Sky residents who want better access to health care.
This battle over property tax revenue is part of the growing pains experienced by resort boom towns across the Rocky Mountain West. But Big Sky’s location high in the Madison Range isolates it from the rest of Madison County. When the hospital district was formed in 1953, Big Sky didn’t exist. Now it’s an economic engine credited with powering Montana’s tourism economy, while also providing important tax revenue that supports a variety of public services in Madison County, including the Madison Valley Medical Center.
The gathering was to address a petition from 22 Silvertip residents, who live in a tiny subdivision full of expensive homes. If successful, this withdrawal petition and another currently tied up in Montana District Court, could blow a big hole in public funding going to the Madison Valley Medical Center.
It could also reveal the unintended consequences of building a booming resort town in extreme mountain terrain, as the mountains that make Big Sky special also cut it off from the rest of Madison County.
Need For Immediate Care
The Madison County portion of Big Sky is home to five-star luxury hotels and mega homes, like the one that made headlines in 2020, with Business Insider reporting, “Montana's most expensive home is a $25 million mountain house that's a 20-minute drive from a private club where Bill Gates and Justin Timberlake go to ski.”
In fact, the Yellowstone Club, where Gates’ neighbors include football star Tom Brady and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, is just one of several exclusive Big Sky community enclaves that are inside Madison County.
When Big Sky residents living in Madison County need medical attention, most go to the Big Sky Medical Center just across the Gallatin County line and a short drive away.
The Big Sky Medical Center opened in 2015, and it now serves Big Sky residents living in both Gallatin and Madison Counties, including Nicole Howard.
Howard hobbled up to the podium in Virginia City Monday with one leg in a brace and told the commissioners about why accessing health care from the hospital her tax dollars support was never an option after breaking her leg the day after Christmas.
“The bone marrow can leak into your leg, and it can stop your heart,” Howard told the commissioners, explaining how she needed immediate medical attention.
Howard was transported to Big Sky Medical Center and then to Bozeman, where her leg break was repaired with a nine-inch rod.
Howard offered her story as proof that though she pays property taxes into the Madison Valley Hospital District, when she needs health care, Howard does not go to the Madison Valley Medical Center.
To access care at the Madison Valley Medical Center, she would have had to travel 90 minutes on paved roads and around 45 minutes on the private Jack Creek Road, which is the only direct link between Big Sky and the Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis.
“There's absolutely no way I would be able to drive that,” said Howard, who described herself as a “middle-class 30 something” who works in hospitality and wants to see her tax dollars go toward health care that’s more accessible in Big Sky.
They Knew When They Bought
Many of those expressing frustration about the petitions to withdraw from the Madison Valley Hospital District said the property owners now trying to opt out knew they were buying a residence in Madison County when they moved to Big Sky.
“I’m sorry, Big Sky is in Madison County,” said Dino Fanelli, who also serves on the Ennis School Board. “We’re all in the same county. Let’s get past this. It’s got to be equitable for all of Madison County and not just Big Sky.”
In response to the withdrawal petitions, a “Support Madison Valley” campaign sent out a press release Jan. 10 ahead of Monday’s hearing, stating that, “If permitted by the commissioners, this dynamic would allow a small number of individuals to decide the fate of significant dollars in property taxes, while reducing taxes paid by out of state property owners and potentially undermining the stability of critical community services.”
The release also warned that, “Big Sky properties account for 85% of the Madison Valley Hospital District’s taxable value and also provide significant funding for essential county services such as schools, libraries, and health care. These services benefit the entire region, including the workforce that supports Big Sky’s success and growth.”
The “Support Madison Valley” campaign is backed by a coalition of the Ennis School District, Madison County Libraries and the Madison Valley Medical Center.
Allen Rohrback, CEO of MVMC, also provided a statement, saying, “These ongoing initiatives are a clear attempt to prioritize Big Sky’s exclusive interests at the expense of Madison County’s broader community. Public taxes fund services — like hospitals, schools and libraries — that keep communities strong. Diverting these funds would harm the entire region, including those workers and residents who contribute to Big Sky’s success.”
When Nicole Howard broke her leg the day after Christmas, there was no way for her to access the hospital supported by the property taxes she pays on her condominium. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
For a petition submitted by 22 residents of an isolated neighborhood in Madison County, their petition to withdraw from the Madison Valley Hospital District drew a big crowd to the Virginia City Community Center on Monday. That’s because many in Madison County recognize that if residents start withdrawing from different taxing districts, then Madison County will face funding shortfalls. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
The Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis is largely supported by Madison County taxpayers living in Big Sky, which is a 90-minute drive away. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily) 
“Resisting change since 1863,” Virginia City, Montana. (David Madison, Cowboy State Daily)
Big Sky’s Needs Continue To Grow
Some residents of Big Sky who made the drive to Monday’s hearing in Virginia City pointed out that while they chose to purchase property in Madison County, over the last 10 years, what Big Sky residents are paying into the Madison Valley Hospital District has gone up 800 percent, according to their calculations.
At the same time, demand for health care services in Big Sky continues to rise.
Katie Grice, a volunteer with the Big Sky group Wellness In Action (WIA), told the commissioners, “We do not have enough health care services in Big Sky and the problem is getting worse.”
From 2022 to 2023, WIA counselors reported a 247% increase in demand for services. This and other demands led WIA to support the first petition to withdraw from the Madison Valley Hospital District and announced its ambition to create a “wellness district” in Big Sky.
According to the “Support Madison Valley” press release, Big Sky’s ambition to create its own wellness district, “Threatens to strip $2.9 million annually from the Madison Valley Hospital District, jeopardizing health care access for residents across Madison County and surrounding communities.”
When addressing the Madison County Commissioners on Monday, Madison Valley Medical Center CEO Allen Rohrback seemed to call for a truce between Big Sky and Madison County.
“Collaboration, not obstruction, is our path forward,” said Rohrback.
Time To Negotiate?
Danny Bierschwale, who leads community development in Big Sky, told Madison County Commissioners that he appreciated the town motto of Virginia City: “Resisting change since 1863.”
In a nod to all the ways Big Sky is a new kind of boom town, Bierschwale noted, “However, change is happening around us. And it’s the people who are receiving that medical care that we’re talking about.”
“They need more funding to have additional services,” said Natasha Jones, an attorney representing Madison County residents in Big Sky.
Jones told Cowboy State Daily, “There's a clinic in Big Sky on the Gallatin County side and it has its own budget. And that budget is limited and so the services are limited. And they run in the red at a deficit, unlike the Madison Valley Medical Center. That does not run in the red. They run at a budget surplus.”
When it came time for the Madison County Commission to vote to approve or reject the Silvertip petition to withdraw from the Madison Valley Hospital District, the petition failed by a 2-1 vote.
Madison County Commissioner Bill Todd, who voted against approving the petition, encouraged the two sides to get together and, “Be creative about it. Figure something out here. Everyone wants the same goal and that is to provide services. There is no one in this room that is not committed to the important goal of caring for people.”
That could mean figuring out a way to share the property tax revenue now flowing from Big Sky exclusively to the Madison County Hospital District.
Because whether it’s Nicole Howard — who lives in a renovated ski bum condo at the base of Big Sky Resort — or Whitney Peyton, the president of the Yellowstone Club Property Owners Association, accessing health care means driving 10 to 15 minutes to Big Sky Medical Center just down the road in Gallatin County.
“Instead of being here arguing about this and paying lawyers on one side and lawyers on the other side. That is a waste of time and money. Let's get together and sit down and figure out a fair and equitable solution,” said Peyton, adding that these are the kind of financial growing pains faced by resort communities across the West. “You could look at Jackson Hole, you could look at Aspen. Every major resort town has the same core issues.”
But Big Sky is saddled with the extra complication of steep alpine terrain and narrow canyons separating Big Sky from the rest of Madison County.
Commissioner Duke Gilman, who also voted against the Silvertip petition to withdraw, acknowledged how the Big Sky situation is especially complicated, given the isolating terrain.
“Big Sky provides such a large amount of property tax revenue that we as a county have come to depend on that revenue,” said Gilman. “If they are able to pull out with one entity such as the hospital district, where will it stop? Will they continue on with schools, with libraries?
“We don't know, and I feel like this is going to keep going on and we're going to have more hearings, more petitions probably into the future. So, I would really like to find some solutions of people working together.”
Contact David Madison at david@cowboystatedaily.com
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
