City Council 2025: Kassi Strong

When friends and family from out of town ask me about Billings, I often tell them that it feels as though it’s bubbling with energy just below the surface. I want to be a Billings City Council member because I want to make sure this bubbling energy is directed towards positive growth that enhances and protects the quality of life we enjoy in Montana. As a mom of two, I’m passionate about building a Billings that our children love; a Billings where they will want to stay and build their lives when they are grown.

I was born and raised in Billings Heights and returned in 2022 to raise my family here. In addition to my passion for protecting and enhancing our quality of life in Billings, my professional background in marketing and economic development has given me unique tools and experiences that will help me represent Ward 2 while making policy decisions. I work with companies to help them set goals, evaluate budgets, create sustainable growth, and partner with relevant organizations, and this work has taught me how important it is to really listen to both my clients and the customers they serve. It has also taught me how to then take that feedback and come up with creative strategies to solve problems and enhance growth. As a dedicated Heights resident, I’m committed to using these listening and creative problem-solving skills to represent my neighbors in the best way I can.

Along with this unique professional background, I am passionate about equal representation. As a young, professional woman and mother, I would be honored to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective ot the City Council.

One of the main reasons I decided to run for City Council is because of its non-partisan nature. In order to stay true to this intention, I plan to build strong relationships with the members of Ward 2, staying available for questions and feedback throughout my term by using social media, email, and good, old-fashioned phone calls. I intend to vote on issues based on what Ward 2 constituents want, not solely my personal feelings or opinions.

My top three policy priorities for Billings are:

1. Economic Development: Helping our local businesses grow and attracting new ones to Billings and the Heights is extremely important to me. When businesses do well, it creates more jobs for our community. More jobs mean more people can support their families, and our city becomes a safer, stronger, more enjoyable place to live. In addition to the benefit of more jobs, local businesses help to keep money in our community and increase the quality of life of our community members.

2. Public Safety: I’m passionate about making Billings a place where all people feel safe. I look forward to supporting our police and fire departments, making sure they have the resources they need to keep us all secure while also supporting research-backed crime-prevention strategies that make real, long-term change. I am excited about exploring new ways to help mold Billings into a community where people feel safe in their homes and on the streets.

3. Family-Friendly Communities: I envision a Billings where all generations thrive. This includes things like having great parks, good schools, safe trails, affordable homes, and safe places for families to play together. I’m passionate about creating an environment where families feel supported, ultimately leading to a safer, healthier community.

The report shows that our police department is doing a great job, even with many challenges including violent crime. We’ve made good progress, and it’s important to keep that going.

Here’s how I plan to help build on that progress:

First, I want to support our police officers and the other professionals who work to keep us safe. This means making sure the police department has the tools, training, and people they need to do its job effectively. It also means supporting their families with a strong, healthy, vibrant community, so the well-trained and committed officers are able to live here for the long term. I recently did a ride along with one of our BPD officers, and it was great to get some insight into the challenges he faces in his day-to-day work. I look forward to continuing those conversations to make sure the city is supporting our officers as best as we can.

Second, we need to explore some innovative, research-backed strategies that prevent crime in order to make a lasting difference on our future crime rates. I’d like to focus on not just reacting to crime, but also working to stop it before it starts. Research shows that we can do this by focusing on:

• Early childhood supports: Helping kids get a good start in life can make a huge impact on their future. Research shows that high-quality early childhood education leads to decreased crime rates in the long-term.

• Addressing domestic violence: It’s estimated that more than half of the violent crime in Billings is related to domestic violence. This is an issue that spans across socioeconomic boundaries and is present in all cultures. Continuing to invest in programs such as the Norther Lights Family Justice Center that educate community members, help to prevent DV situations, and support survivors will make an impact in the crime rates in Billings.

• Improving substance abuse support: With the entire country facing substance abuse and addiction problems, Billings is not alone. This creates an opportunity for us to learn from other communities and support research-backed strategies that help prevent and treat addiction.

By finding unique ways to support programs that focus on these three issues and others that are statistically proven to be related to violent crime, we can make a long-term, lasting difference for the city of Billings.

I believe that many of these strategies have the potential to make a positive difference for the housing crisis in Billings, and the real magic will come from the unique combination of the 5 strategies selected. That said, if I had to choose two that are favorable to me as they stand on their own, I would choose L and M.

Option L makes it possible for us to take advantage of our unused air space to build additional housing units without changing the makeup of our neighborhoods.

Option M creates opportunities for mixing housing and commercial businesses, which makes neighborhoods more walkable, creates more diverse housing and living opportunities, and ultimately provides a better quality of life to those living in neighborhoods with this type of development. As an economic development professional and lover of small businesses, this option is very exciting to me.

That being said, before voting on this issue as a council member, it would be important to me to take into account the opinions and concerns of my constituents so that I can best represent them as we move forward to choose our five strategies.

In a time where funds are tight on both the city government and the individual citizen levels, I support the idea of a zero-based budgeting exercise because I believe it gives the city the opportunity to be even more transparent and intentional with its spending. Because of my business and economic development background, I see great value in the government viewing its financials similar to how a smart business might view theirs – making sure money is spent on the most effective and important items and cutting unnecessary expenses.

While I generally support a zero-based budget for Billings at this time, there are two potential challenges that we will need to be mindful of during the process. First, I’d want to make sure the exercise is being used to set the budget up in a way that helps us reach our strategic goals and long-term vision for the city, instead of just solving short-term budget shortfalls. Secondly, I recognize that this process is time and resource-intensive for our city employees, so it’s important to me that the staff feels trust and support while they focus on skimming down their budgets.

Through my work in economic development, I’ve become quite familiar with the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts in Billings and across the state. When extra taxes collected from an area stay in that same area to help it grow and improve, it’s like a special savings account for a neighborhood that needs a boost – I love that!

The council recently worked to ensure our TIF funds are managed appropriately according to ate legislation, and their decision to allow the contracted agencies to continue to manage the funds allows the local experts to continue focusing on their projects. I trust that these individual organizations are working hard to encourage infill and improvements as needed, specific to their unique neighborhoods. The expertise of these organizations plus the strategic decisions from city council regarding housing, zoning, and regulation can help to maximize TIF funds to enhance the neighborhoods they exist to support.

City-owned properties like the Babcock Theater, Alberta Bair Theater, and Billings Depot are super important to the culture of our city. They’re not just old buildings; they’re places where our community comes together. On top of the benefit to our community members, they bring in valuable tourist dollars to the surrounding businesses, helping to make Billings an interesting place for outsiders to visit.

I think it’s important to encourage community members to support the assets that are meaningful to them. These buildings belong to all of us, and their success depends on our support. We need to remind everyone how much value these places add to Billings. Giving community members opportunities to engage with and support the venues on a regular basis might help secure some of the funding that is needed without relying on taxes. This could be through signature events, informational sessions, or other unique engagement opportunities.

Then, once we grow the community support of these programs, we can look to creative fundraising strategies instead of relying only on the city’s regular budget, which has so many demands, to maintain these properties. These could include:

• Grants: Looking for money from foundations or government programs that support arts and historic buildings

• Donations and sponsorships: Encouraging local businesses and individuals who love these places to donate money or sponsor community events

• “Friends of” groups: Helping to set up or strengthen groups of volunteers and supporters who can help raise money and awareness.

By bringing in more community support and finding new ways to raise money, we can keep these important landmarks alive and well in Billings.

Improving air service is crucial for Billings, and I believe an airport authority could be a great solution to the challenges the city facing. This model allows a dedicated board of experts to focus solely on the airport’s complex needs, leading to more efficient operations, quicker decisions, and better long-term planning for attracting new airlines and improving facilities. The City Council has a long list of pressing items to focus on, so implementing an airport authority could bring a refreshing focus and specialized knowledge to the management of the airport while allowing City Council to focus on other pressing issues more thoroughly.

Authorities are always at risk of straying from the goals and opinions of the council, but I believe that maintaining strong, clear communication and a collaborative relationship between the Authority and the City Council would ensure accountability and alignment with the city’s overall goals.

Yes, I support the current Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) Assessment and how the Chamber and Visit Billings use those funds. It’s a smart way to make sure that we have the funds to market our city for tourism. Just like how TIF districts help improve specific areas by reinvesting tax dollars, the TBID does the same for our tourism industry.

When people visit Montana, we want them to choose Billings as their destination. When money collected through the TBID is used to promote, market, and sell Billings as a great place to visit, this helps bring in more tourists, which means more money spent at our local shops, restaurants, and attractions, benefiting all our businesses and creating jobs.