League of Women Voters of Montana Guest Editorial on Local Government Review
On your Ballot: Local Government Review
Every Montana ballot in the June 4th Primary Election will include a question about local government review. Every Montana voter will decide if they want to revise how their county and town governs their communities. All voters will vote to review their county governments, and residents of incorporated cities and towns will also vote on the city/town review question.
Is it time for a change in how we govern ourselves? A local government review study is designed to assess if government services are provided efficiently and effectively. Additionally, the study considers whether the people are fairly and responsibly represented. Does a government have the tools and structure to do its job on behalf of its citizens? Local government review is a question of governance, of how we govern ourselves.
This is a rare opportunity. Nationally cities and counties can change their form of government, but if they choose to do so, it is often in response to a crisis and citizens lurch into a local government review process driven by an emergency rather than holding thoughtful discussions of the best way to govern.
Not in Montana. The delegates who drafted the Montana Constitution provided voters the opportunity to reexamine their local forms of government in regular intervals every ten years and they enshrined the citizen-directed process for doing it in our Constitution and law. Fundamentally, the delegates believed that government should be both accessible and accountable to the people governed. The delegates recognized that times change, needs change, opportunities and challenges arise—government should not be so fixed that it is unable to respond beneficially to the needs of the governed.
The local government review questions on the ballot will also indicate the number of study commissioners to be elected to undertake the local government study and funds allocated for the public review process. The review commission is not required to spend all the funds allocated—any unused funds go back to their respective government General Funds.
If voters approve the ballot question in the June 4 Primary Election, it triggers an election for study commission members in the November 5 General Election. Candidates for the study commission cannot be elected officials. They must be registered to vote in the jurisdiction being studied. The Constitution delegates adopted this intentionally low bar for election because they recognized local government review should be done by everyday citizens, people who care about their communities and are willing to put in the volunteer hours to study and listen and discuss local government.
If the voters approve a study commission, the commission will publish its findings and recommendations for inclusion on the ballot for the Primary Election in 2026. If changes are recommended, the commission will include a plan of transition. The commission may recommend no changes. Voters will ultimately decide to accept or reject the commission’s recommendations when they cast their ballots in the fall of 2026.
All registered voters are invited to learn about this issue and encouraged to vote their preference on June 4th. To help voters learn, the League of Women Voters has information on the process on its website at https://my.lwv.org/montana and also has a 40-minute presentation available via Zoom for civic groups. For more information or to arrange a presentation, send an email to: montanalwv [at] gmail.com
Geoff Badenoch, League of Women Voters of Montana
