The Billings Chamber of Commerce asked legislative candidates about the local economy. I’ve run a small business in Billings since 2001, so these questions hit close to home. Here are my answers.

Three priorities for 2027

All three come back to one idea: a strong economy needs families and small businesses who can afford to stay and grow here.

First, property tax fairness. Right now homeowners and a lot of small businesses are carrying a growing share of the load while their bills climb faster than their incomes. I want a system that’s predictable and fair: a circuit breaker for seniors and working families, closing the loopholes that let out-of-state owners off easy, and broadening the base so rates can stay low. When people aren’t taxed out of their buildings, they spend that money right here in Billings.

Second, workforce and education. Our employers’ number one problem is finding skilled workers. That means fully funding our schools, expanding career and technical education and the trades, and building real partnerships between schools and local businesses so a kid in Montana can train for a good job and stay right here.

Third, healthcare access. Keeping Medicaid expansion in place keeps our rural hospitals open, keeps working people healthy enough to show up, and keeps care affordable when an emergency hits. A healthy workforce is a working workforce, and keeping people covered is good for families and for the businesses trying to hire them.

These aren’t partisan goals. They’re the basics of a place where a business can plan five years out and a family can build a life. That’s the Billings I’m running to protect and grow.

The cost of doing business

I run a small business myself, so this isn’t abstract for me. I feel rising costs and red tape the same way your members do, and I largely agree with the premise: when it’s easier and more predictable to do business here, all of us benefit.

In 2027 I’d push on a few fronts. A lot of what frustrates small business owners isn’t that rules exist, it’s that they’re confusing, slow, or change without warning, so I’d support implementing regulations in a user-friendly way and speeding up permitting so people can actually plan and build. I’d also go after property taxes, which for most small businesses, whether they rent or own their storefront, are one of the costs squeezing hardest; broadening the base and fixing the fairness problem takes that pressure off. And I’d invest in workforce and childcare, because the most expensive thing for many employers right now is the job they can’t fill or the worker they lose when care falls through.

The one friendly caution I’d offer is that the cheapest option isn’t always the best value. The things that attract and keep workers, like good schools, safe streets, and healthcare they can afford, are part of our business climate too. So I’d aim for smart and fair, because that’s what builds an economy that lasts.

Energy and natural resources

Reliability and affordability have to come first, and that points to an all-of-the-above approach, which I support. We need dispatchable power, we need to keep expanding renewables, and we need to modernize the grid so it can carry what’s coming. The warning about regional energy shortfalls is worth taking seriously.

Here’s the piece I’d add. A lot of the new demand on our grid is coming from very large industrial users, data centers chief among them, and we have to be smart about who pays to build all that new capacity. My stance is holistic: welcome the jobs, protect the ratepayers, and make big new users pay their own way.

In practice that means putting large industrial users in their own rate class so their infrastructure costs don’t quietly land on residential and small-business bills, real Public Service Commission oversight, and transparency in these utility deals. None of that slows development down. It just makes sure Billings families and small businesses aren’t subsidizing it.

I support technology and innovation. I use AI tools in my own business every day, and I want Montana to win this kind of investment. I just want us to do it on our terms, with our neighbors getting a fair shake and a say. Build it, build it right, and don’t hand the bill to the people who didn’t sign the contract.

Tax increment financing

[EDITED] I’m a strong supporter, because I’ve watched firsthand what this tool does for older Billings neighborhoods. Areas that would otherwise stagnate get the investment they need to come back to life, and the whole community benefits. A Heights TIF district is a goal worth working toward.

TIF is also one of the only real economic development tools Montana gives local governments. Billings has used it well, especially downtown. Taking it away wouldn’t help schools or services; it would just kneecap the places working hardest to grow their own tax base, which is what ultimately funds those schools and services in the first place.

I do think there’s room to strengthen it, mostly around transparency and accountability. Clear, public reporting on TIF projects, their goals, and their results would build trust, answer the critics honestly, and protect the tool for the long haul. The districts that operate in the open are the ones that keep their community’s confidence.

So my position is: defend TIF, use it wisely, and make it transparent enough that everyone can see it’s working.

Tourism dollars

Yes. You can count on me to oppose raiding tourism dollars for unrelated purposes.

The lodging tax is paid largely by visitors, the people using our hotels and our roads while they’re here. When those dollars get reinvested in promoting Montana and building tourism infrastructure, they bring even more visitors who spend at our restaurants, our shops, and our small businesses. That’s tourism paying its own way and then some.

Billings is the hub for a huge region, the gateway to Yellowstone and the place southeast Montana comes to shop, eat, and stay. MetraPark, our events, our trails: these draw people and dollars into our economy. I’d rather have visitors helping fund the things that bring more visitors than shift that burden onto Montana families.

Childcare

Yes, I’d seriously consider a state credit to build on the federal employer childcare credit. Childcare is one of the biggest barriers to getting people into the workforce and keeping them there, and I hear it from both sides: parents who can’t find or afford care, and employers who lose good workers because of it.

I’d want any credit structured so small businesses, not just the big ones, can actually use it. Beyond a credit, I’d look hard at the supply side: supporting providers who want to open or expand, treating childcare workers as the workforce they are, and improving access to early childhood education. Public-private partnerships, where employers help fund nearby care, have worked in other communities and could fit Billings.

As a parent, I know what it’s like to piece this together. As someone who wants our economy to grow, I know we can’t fill our jobs if parents can’t get to work.

Workforce and the trades

I use AI tools in my own business every day, and I’ve seen how quickly they’re starting to change office and desk jobs. But you can’t frame a house, wire a panel, fix a diesel engine, or run a job site with a chatbot.

So I’d put real weight behind career and technical education, apprenticeships, and dual-enrollment programs that let high schoolers earn credentials and start earning sooner. I’d fund the trades like we mean it, with up-to-date equipment and strong partnerships between schools and local employers so training matches the jobs Billings has open.

A four-year degree is right for some; a welding certificate or a lineman apprenticeship is a great living for others, often with far less debt. Both deserve respect and investment. And I’d rather Montana teach our young people to use new technology than fear it. That’s a workforce employers will compete to hire, and it keeps our kids living and working right here at home.

On the record: Medicaid expansion keeps rural hospitals open and working Montanans on the job. It passed with votes from both parties in 2025. The current representative for House District 39 voted no.

Paid for by Friends of Melissa Smith, (D), 1335 Naples St, Billings, MT 59105