County property owners will soon see new tax bills

Lincoln County property owners will be getting another tax bill in the next few months.

The bill, which is expected to arrive in February or March, is the result of 49 Montana counties losing a battle with the state over how many mills it could levy.

The Montana Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 22, 2023, that counties must levy the full 95 mills, the amount calculated by the state for schools. 

Forty-nine county commissions, out of 56, decided to levy less due to concerns over high property taxes across the state. 

The new tax bill will show an adjustment in second half payments, according to the Montana Association of Counties. MACO serves member counties with education and assistance to them and their personnel.

Commissioners Josh Letcher, Brent Teske and Jim Hammon voted to approve the new bill under protest.

“I don’t approve of us having to do this and I want it noted that we are doing this under protest,” Teske said at last week’s Jan. 3 commission meeting. “I’m not comfortable with any of this. This is the state being greedy.”

County Treasurer Sedaris Carlberg estimated the cost of mailing new bills to property owners at several thousand dollars. The commissioners recommended including a letter to taxpayers that explains why they are receiving another invoice.

In a Dec. 21 letter to its member counties, MACO, “strongly encouraged county commissions to include a statement with the adjusted second half tax bills.

“It is important to let your taxpayers know that the current mill levy limitation is 77.9 mills, but that the state of Montana is directly asking counties to levy more than the current limit in order to maximize revenue from property tax collections this year.”

“It’s not gonna be fun to do this, but I believe it’s the lesser of two evils,” Carlberg said. 

When the county commissioners decided to join dozens of other counties in October challenging the state’s assertion that 95 mills must be levied, the general consensus was that levying 77.9 mills was the better option at the time.

Teske said then, “Are we going to overtax just because the state wants more money? I’d rather fight with the state than burden our taxpayers.”

At the October meeting, county Attorney Marcia Boris questioned what would happen if a future court ruling goes against the county.

“The big concern is where does the money come from if we get an unfavorable ruling?” Boris said at the time. “But if we just have to send another bill to taxpayers that alleviates that concern.”

In the state Supreme Court’s November ruling, it held that the state Department of Revenue, “may continue to determine statewide mills by carrying forward any mills exceeding the cap in one year, and then require counties to apply those mills to reach the cap in subsequent years. DOR’s interpretation of its taxation authority is consistent with the Montana Constitution and the Legislature’s directive to equalize funds for public education across Montana.

“It is further ordered that the counties shall levy statewide mills pursuant to DOR’s calculations for the current and future tax years.”

Property taxes rates are based on mills. Each mill equates to $1 which is levied per $1,000 of a property’s taxable value. When a property’s value increases the amount of tax revenue from the property also increases due to the mill rate increase.

County Superintendent of Schools Suzy Rios said in October that there was no concern from area schools over the funding.

Rios was at the Jan. 3 meeting and asked the commissioners for a document that indicated the extra mills were being levied.

“The Office of Public Instruction wants something in writing,” she said.