Carpenters' Local urges Butte-Silver Bow to adopt 'responsible bidder' measures to curb construction tax fraud

Reddy Frost, political action chair for Carpenters Local 82, presented to the Butte-Silver Bow council April 23 about tax fraud in the construction industry and urged the county to consider a responsible bidder ordinance and related civil-wage-theft measures to prevent worker misclassification and payroll‑tax evasion.

Frost said industry practices such as misclassifying workers as independent contractors and paying workers “under the table” erode tax revenue and undercut law‑abiding contractors. He cited a national industry estimate — “76,000,000,000 has been lost to the American people since 2021 in tax fraud in the construction industry” — and gave an example of a prosecution (Joseph Dicke, Alpine Customs Incorporated) where payroll tax obligations were not met.

Frost proposed several municipal-level tools: requiring bidders on public projects to provide documentation such as apprenticeship participation, certificates of insurance, OSHA training records and prequalification surveys; adopting responsible bidder rules to make it harder for noncompliant contractors to win publicly funded contracts; and strengthening civil-wage-theft enforcement that ties general contractors to subcontractor compliance.

Commissioner Shea asked whether other local governments have adopted responsible bidder ordinances; Frost cited Illinois as an example. After the presentation Commissioner Thatcher moved to place Communication 2025-191 on file; the motion passed 12–0.

Frost said the intent of his presentation was awareness and to encourage the council to consider policy changes when issuing public bids; council staff will consider the request and next procedural steps if the council wishes to pursue ordinance drafting.