Billi, Fern face off in race for House District 5 seat
This year’s race for representative of state House District 5 is one of a seasoned candidate versus a political newcomer.
Running on the Republican side is 19-year-old Chet Billi, who made a name for himself last year when he proposed a concealed carry initiative for school teachers. On the other side is Democrat Dave Fern, who has a long history of serving on the Whitefish School Board and experience on his side.
The seat is open after Democrat Rep. Ed Lieser decided not to seek a third term.
Billi has lived in Whitefish for the last 14 years after moving from Alaska, where he returns every year for salmon fishing. After graduating from Whitefish High School in June, Billi looked at different career paths in the military and law enforcement before setting his sights on running for the House.
“Politics and government have always interested me,” he said. “I’ve been very involved throughout school. The Republicans were looking for somebody to run up here, so I figured it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Fern owns a small business, Chimney Solutions, and has spent 24 years on the Whitefish School Board. He’s also served as president of the Montana School Board Association and director of the Montana High School Association.
Fern and his wife, Heather, had three kids go through Whitefish schools since moving to Whitefish in 1988.
After so many years on the school board, Fern said he felt running for the open seat seemed a natural next step. Fern ran for Senate District 2 in 2012 but lost to Republican Dee Brown.
“I’ve had a lifelong interest in politics and public policy,” Fern said. “I think I’ve accomplished a fair amount on the Whitefish School Board as far as seeing a lot of progress and seeing facility changes and I’m pleased with our instructional practices and leadership, so I thought this would be an appropriate challenge to take.”
Infrastructure Spending
After a $150 million infrastructure spending bill failed to pass the Legislature in 2015, a boost to public works spending remains a big topic in this year’s election.
Billi points out what he calls Gov. Steve Bullock’s pet projects as reasons why the bill did not pass. Within the bill was about $40 million dedicated to funding a Montana Historical Society museum in Helena and renovation of a gym at Montana State University.
“I think the governor should have been more compromising to get that infrastructure bill through, and so I’d like to see some cooperation on that in the next session,” Billi said. “I would like to see a bill passed, but don’t increase the tax burden. I would like to see responsible allocation of infrastructure spending that we already have.”
Fern also agreed that the Historical Society didn’t fit a traditional definition of infrastructure, but said he’s for spending money on public works projects.
“I am fine funding projects I think would traditionally be looked at as infrastructure, meaning oftentimes things you can’t see underground like water systems, wastewater projects, bridges, that sort of thing, because we’re in desperate need of it,” he said.
Aquatic Invasive Species
Protecting Montana’s waterways from aquatic invasive species is a top priority for both candidates.
Billi said he spent some time with Republican Rep. Mike Cuffe of Eureka talking about boat inspection checkpoints set up along the Canadian border.
“I’d like to do everything we can to combat invasive species and I’d like to work with people like Representative Cuff,” he said. “If there is more we could be doing, that’s something I’d certainly love to look into.”
Fern said with invasive species, one small mistake is too much.
“You absolutely can’t allow aquatic invasive species to enter a Montana waterway,” he said. “The state, I believe, can do more as far as funding additional check stations. The state must be extremely proactive and partner with communities, additional agencies, the tribes, to absolutely assure that aquatic species do not enter our waterways.”
School Funding
The candidates differ on whether the state should be doing more to fund public schools.
Billi said he’s spoken with teachers in K-12 and a concern he’s heard is that the funding the state allocates for schools has trouble actually making it into the classroom.
“One thing they mentioned is that they’re short on resources, as far as getting things for the classroom, but they mentioned there’s plenty of money coming in at the top level, it just gets clogged up so much with state level administrative stuff that it doesn’t get to the classrooms,” he said. “That’s something I’d like to look at. How we can kind of clear that up and streamline the funds to get into the classroom where it’s needed?”
Fern identified a shortfall in special education funding from the state, and said spending more to address the problem is a priority for him.
“Right now, we can identify a shortfall in special education funding. Approximately 12 percent of our students fall into that category, and oftentimes issues have become more complex and thus associated with potentially more expensive remedies that we must address.”
He added that he’d like to see more funding from the state for facility repair and maintenance.
“The state, historically, provides very little funding to facilities within schools. We need to do more, there are a lot of needs. But the way that it is right now, especially for some communities, is inadequate to meet facility needs,” he said.
Property Taxes
One key issue both candidates agree needs to be addressed is unfair property taxes in western Montana.
Billi said he’s heard concerns from Valley residents who say their taxes are making it hard to stay on their land, and the problem is in the Legislature.
“I went to a property tax roundtable down in Somers, and one of the concerns brought up is that the reason we can’t get any relief is because there’s legislators over on the east side that don’t think our problem is as great as we say it is, that we have the money to pay for it but we’re just penny pinching. They don’t want to get rid of their agricultural exemptions because they would have to shoulder a little more of the tax burden if we were to give some property tax relief over here. I think there definitely needs to be some compromise in the legislature on that,” Billi said.
Fern cites a past statute that for two years capped appraised property values at 75 percent of the dwelling.
“I think that was a very interesting approach to a situation people faced, who had relatively modest dwellings on property that has greatly increased,” he said. “Then if somebody buys the property and tears down the house to build a much larger structure, then the property part of the taxes would then increase to be within range of the dwelling itself.”
Fern also suggests looking into a circuit breaker system, which adds income to the equation. If a household’s property taxes increase while their income stays stagnant, they could see a rebate at the end of the year to help with the higher taxes.
Federal Land Ownership
Last session there were several bills aimed at increasing the state’s influence over federal lands. Proponents like Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, said the move would create jobs and improve forest health. The Montana Wood Products Association, however, came out against those efforts.
Whether the state has the capacity to manage land is not a question for Billi, and he also believes it makes more sense economically.
“I think the state does a much better job of managing our lands,” he said. “As an national average, states earn about $14 for every dollar that they spend on managing lands, and the federal government loses about 27 cents for every dollar that they spend on lands.”
Billi said a problem with federally-owned lands within the state is a lack of access to the lands that residents have spent decades hiking and biking on.
“I think since 1980 the federal government has gated off over 4,000 miles of roads. And they let it grow until it either catches on fire or they set it on fire in order to clear it out, and then their policy from there is let it burn, and that’s destructive to the habitat. State lands are managed constantly and efficiently and in a way that generates a significant amount of revenue for the state,” he said.
Fern said the issue of whether federal lands should be transferred to state control is one the state doesn’t have much say in.
“Constitutionally, that’s a federal call,” he said. “It’s up to the federal government to make an offer and then financially explain how this would benefit states, and I haven’t seen that.”
Fern said he’d have to see a viable business plan from the state to feel comfortable backing any sort of major land purchase.
“The status quo is presently what I’m comfortable supporting. We have a lot of land and I think we have limited capacity to manage that land as it is,” he said.
Top issues facing Montana
Medicaid comes up in Billi’s top issue facing the state, but he’s focused on the state’s reliance on federal funding.
“I think in the last session it accounted for 47 percent of our budget and it gets higher every year. The problem with those funds is that they’re extremely unreliable given how far in debt our federal government is, and they’re also heavily restricted,” he said.
As far as Medicaid, Billi said the program is the state’s biggest expenditure as well as its greatest resource for federal money, but he’s worried about expanding the federal government’s role by increasing the amount the state receives.
“I’m not going to go in there and push for taking no federal money, but I think where we can I’d like to see us kind of wean ourselves off of that,” he said.
For Fern, the “demographic crisis” of Montana’s aging population is the biggest issue the state faces.
“We are an older population as a whole, by 2025 we’ll have 11 counties with more than 40 percent elderly population,” he said. “That can be an opportunity but also a challenge as far as providing services to these folks, and the ancillary issue to that would be a number of memory diseases, dementia, Alzheimer’s, that people have and the type of services they require.”
Fern said more flexibility in how the state spends Medicaid funding is necessary to train new health care workers and help train families of those with Alzheimer’s to be at-home caregivers.
“The bottomline is that we need to really pay attention to our budget and make sure that the most vulnerable parts of our population receive the attention they need and that is demonstrated through appropriate budgeting,” he said.
Absentee ballots were mailed out Oct. 14 and must be returned by Election Day on Nov. 8.
Information about voter registration, absentee ballot applications and a sample ballot are available on the Flathead County Election Department website at flathead.mt.gov/election.