Resident urges commissioners to remove city planner from TIF process, alleges county conflict

A county resident told Yellowstone County commissioners on June 3, 2025, that the city planning director should not participate in a proposed expansion of a tax increment financing district because of an alleged conflict of interest tied to county funding of the planning department.

Kevin Nelson addressed the board during the county-business public comment period and said the city planning department, led by West Friday, is proposing to expand the South Billings Tax Increment Financing district to include the full South Triangle, “all the way up now to the refinery,” and farther south. Nelson said the county pays about one-third of the city–county planning department’s budget and asked commissioners to remove the county planning involvement from the TIF process or require West Friday to step aside.

Nelson told commissioners he believes the expansion would capture county tax revenue above the TIF base for projects such as a new swimming pool in South Park and said he has concerns about the legality of the city’s prior TIF expansion. “I think he absolutely has to step aside,” Nelson said of West Friday, adding that the county should ensure the city “do this on your own without the counties.”

Commissioners did not take any formal action on the comment during the meeting; the transcript records a brief acknowledgment — “Thanks, Kevin” — but no referral or staff instruction was recorded. Nelson referenced a meeting note he said showed West Friday and Jim Tovland discussing annexation and methods to demonstrate blight as a step toward TIF expansion. The claim in public comment was not contested on the record during the meeting excerpted in the transcript.

The remarks were received during the public-comment portion of the meeting; any formal review of the claims would require separate agenda consideration or a request for staff to investigate, neither of which occurred in the excerpted proceedings.