Students and community confront Bozeman City Commissioners over funding war profiteers

Bozeman, MT – After months of working on pressuring Montana State University to divest from companies directly tied to the genocide in Gaza, the Students Against Genocide campaign has moved to putting pressure on the city of Bozeman as well, packing a September 22 city commission meeting.

Both the city and university have funded a technology district called the Innovation Campus, which houses tenants that specialize in technology marketed to the U.S. Defense Department. The city of Bozeman entered a contract in 2022 to reimburse the infrastructure costs to the developer of the land. Now, after three buildings have been built, the city must take out bonds to pay back this developer.

To take out these bonds, the city must extend the duration of the technology district being a TIF district as well. TIF (Tax Increment Financing) funding means that as more buildings are built in a district, the tax revenue that would have gone to the city’s general fund from these buildings instead goes into a special account where it can’t be touched until the end of the TIF time period.

On September 22, the Bozeman City Commission held a public hearing to extend the life of the TIF district for 25 years. Students Against Genocide brought 30 concerned students and community members to give public comment at city hall to show the city that there was strong public opposition to them continuing to fund this campus full of war profiteers.

Many people brought up their own ways they would be personally affected by continuing to fund the Innovation Campus, when the money could be going towards services in the city,

One student stated they wished the land had stayed “a field of dreams” instead of becoming what it is now. Another said that the students who showed up tonight were the real representatives of Montana State University, compared to the representative that was sent by the university to state their support for the Innovation Campus.

After three hours of discussion, all the commissioners voted yes to taking out bonds and extending the TIF district. Some of their choices were due to the contract having already been signed in 2022 – if they decided not to pay the developer now, there would be fear of litigation.

The commissioners went back and forth on what other steps could be taken to ensure that companies tied to war could not continue to have space on the Innovation Campus. Some believed that it was unnecessary, while other commissioners were willing to continue to fight against war profiteers coming to Bozeman. Whether there is support from the city or not, Students Against Genocide will continue to speak out against the university funding these companies until they are gone.

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