by Travis Mateer
A few days after I chatted with Washington Post reporter, Jim Carlton, the national publication took a look at Montana’s political wrangling over skyrocketing property taxes. Here’s an excerpt that highlights the Governor’s Office favorite scapegoat, which is Counties in Montana, along with an explanation of how property taxes are calculated (emphasis mine):
Gianforte’s spokeswoman, Kaitlin Price, responded by email Monday that insinuations the governor received preferential treatment amounted to “cravenly” questioning state appraisers’ integrity. She said the governor’s Bozeman property qualified as agricultural land — a category that saw taxes drop in the aggregate — because it produces barley and alfalfa and boards horses and mules.
Price blamed the higher tax bills on counties that are “spending out of control.” She suggested they “take a page out of the governor’s playbook and rein in their spending and taxes.”
The debate in Montana swirls around whether the legislature should have offset the blow to homeowners. Property taxes are calculated based on real estate values assessed by a state agency and multiplied by a property tax class rate. In turn, that figure is multiplied by “mills” — $1 per $1,000 of taxable value — then divided by 1,000 and collected by localities and the state. The localities’ collections are subject to caps. Counties send out the bills.
In November 2022, the Montana Department of Revenue notified the legislature that skyrocketing home values would bring a major rise in residential property taxes and that lawmakers could lower the tax rate to keep revenue “neutral.”
To cover skyrocketing property taxes, formerly comfortable retirees who thought they were going to coast into retirement are now having to consider selling off items to stay in their fancy homes. Here’s an anecdotal story from the Post article about what some former Californians are experiencing outside Bozeman:
Cathy West, 75, sees the transformation in the thicker traffic and half-built townhouses near her home in Gallatin Gateway, between Bozeman and the wealthy ski area of Big Sky. She and her husband moved from California in 2007 to be closer to their children and grandchildren — and to escape a liberal state they no longer related to.
Their wood-sided house has a wide green lawn, 360-degree views and a barn to store the antiques the couple sells. They barely make a profit, West said; most of their income is from Social Security.
So their latest property appraisal stunned them. In 2022, the state valued their house at $610,000. A year later: $1.12 million. Their tax bill went up 38 percent, though a rebate and another discount covered about half. Even so, she said their monthly payment will nearly double when higher insurance costs are added in.
“My husband said, ‘Did you ever think we’d live in a million-dollar house?’” West said. “I don’t know how the government expects people to just magically come up with that much money on a snap of the fingers.”
West’s husband may sell the cherished 1972 El Camino he drives only a few times a year. West will buy less steak. But she said she has little faith that any governor or legislature will fix property taxes. She is actually hoping a California-style property tax cap makes it on the ballot next year.
How will this insanity be resolved? Are there even policy moves available to these political morons, or do we have to wait for societal collapse?
One idea is using MORE taxes to fight taxes, but these new taxes would target tourists. Who is proposing this genius idea? And can we apply this framework to other areas, like using fires to fight fires and committing crimes to stop criminals?
Tourists get to enjoy all the amenities of Missoula without having to pay local taxes for them, and Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick told lawmakers Wednesday he thinks they should pay their fair share.
Slotnick listed taxing tourists as one proposed solution the state could consider to help give some relief to residents, who recently saw a median property tax increase of 21%, during a presentation to the Local Government Interim Committee. Other solutions included tying property tax rates to median home prices in a county or shifting the tax burden to other tax classifications, like major industries operating in the state.
Yep, that’s right, Missoula’s own Josh Slotnick was begging legislators on Wednesday to let him tax tourists, or industry, or ANYONE who seems like they can afford it.
Does anyone ever mention TAX INCREMENT FINANCING and the shadow government funded by skimming tax increases off the top of Urban Renewal Districts controlled by unelected bureaucrats, like Ellen Buchanan? No, they don’t, because Republicans were too stupid last session to understand what they COULD HAVE DONE to figuratively handcuff TIF addicts, opting instead to fight the culture war they aren’t equipped to fight and don’t understand.
It seems like SOME Republicans are at least TRYING to understand how funny money works in Missoula, like Brad Tschidad in a recent Missoulian op-ed, but no where in the op-ed is Tax Increment Financing even mentioned. Why not, Brad?
From the link:
The problem, fellow Missoulians, is not insufficient revenues. The problems stem from horrible fiscal mismanagement by the progressives in Missoula, who prioritize wasteful spending over other, more pressing matters, like firefighters and navigable streets. If our city and county budgets were in line with the anticipated increases due to population growth and inflation, Missoulians would have had more than $1.14 BILLION more money in their pockets since 2007 alone.
What has happened to that money? On what sort of programs has it been wasted? Do citizens of Missoula even care enough to demand accurate fiscal accounting from the elites in Missoula who spend without conscience and impoverish Missoula citizens [subjects]?
What happened to that money, Brad? Maybe you should watch my documentary about what TIF spending has done to Engen’s Missoula so you don’t sound like nagging Nancy recommending we tell our City Council to live within their means, like that’s going to do a damn thing.
If we want to end our death by taxation in Missoula, tell the city council and mayor to live within their means and find the necessary funds to finance firefighters in an already bloated budget.
If you want to better understand why Republicans in Missoula are absolutely worthless, then read this post from March of 2023 and you’ll see Brad and Company exhibiting their collective impotence to stop Vondene Kopetski from ending her reign of incompetence. How pathetic are these political pretenders?
On the homeless front, people from around Montana gathered at the TRILLION dollar library–funded, in part, by Tax Increment Financing–to shrug their shoulders and complain about how societal collapse creates LOTS of homeless people. No shit, Sherlocks!
The Missoula Public Library hosted a summit that is the first of its kind on Thursday put on by the Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness. The 2024 Shelter Summit brought together shelter providers, direct service workers and those with lived experience.
The summit started off by discussing the current challenges that the shelter provides face.
The challenges mainly revolved around a lack of resources the shelters can provide when it comes to mental health, elderly care, medical care and child care.
I wonder, does anyone else reflect on the rich irony that all this bitching and moaning about a lack of resources is coming from a TRILLION dollar library?
The final irony I’ll document today is how anyone trying to pay taxes at the County Courthouse will be UNABLE to do so because of Yellowstone filming.
County staff encourage residents seeking to use services at the courthouse to plan for additional time to find parking or to complete their business using online options.
Further, the Clerk and Treasurer’s Office seek that people who need to pay property taxes ahead of the May 31, 2024 deadline should do so online.
Isn’t this funny? It’s almost as funny as me yesterday trying to get to one of the few businesses that has supported me as an artist by selling one of my poetry books, but being unable to get there because there was an ID CHECKPOINT set up on the sidewalk near Pangea for the Yellowstone crew. Hilarious!
If you appreciate my non-partisan ability to mock the maddening and absurd antics of our Montana politicians, then please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) because this perspective has come at a GREAT personal cost to me that I’m still currently making payments on.
Thanks for reading!
