Legislature ending

he end of the 61st Legislature is drawing near. The majority of the bills that are going to pass have passed. What remains on the agenda are the budget, stimulus spending and property tax reappraisal.

In the past four years, the increase in the executive budget has amounted to a 40 percent growth in spending. This session, the House approved a state budget with only 6 percent growth. This is a dramatic improvement over the previous years.

The House version of the budget went to the Senate to trim additional dollars to comply with the Montana Constitution that the budget be structurally sound (balanced) for the upcoming biennium.

The Senate made some major spending reductions that House Democrats were unable to accept which has forced the budget to a conference committee for negotiation between members of both Houses.

Once the conference committee completes its work, both the Senate and the House will vote on the committee’s proposal. I am very confident that we will have a state budget that funds every vital service while reigning in out-of-control spending.

The stimulus money is separate from the main budget. Many of us have had serious misgivings about the stimulus all along. It’s too much spending on too many pork projects, and it’s putting our children further in debt. Here in Montana, among other gems, the stimulus package includes nearly $1 million to build latrines. At least we managed to remove the remodeling of the state liquor warehouse from the bill.

Property tax reappraisal is another huge issue. The Montana Constitution requires that property taxes be assessed on the fair market value of residential and commercial property. To do that, values are reappraised periodically.

The most recent reappraisal indicated a substantial increase in property values, and that could lead to much higher taxes for many of our residents. Fortunately, there’s a bill moving through the legislative process to mitigate the effects of that reappraisal. We are committed to allowing no net increase in property taxes statewide.

Unfortunately, Gov. Brian Schweitzer recently proposed a 5 percent increase in property taxes. That was disappointing, since he earlier made the same commitment to no net increase as the Legislature made. It’s also unconstitutional to implement an across-the-board solution instead of one that’s based on the fair market value.

On our side of the aisle, we just want the process to be fair and open. Government needs to be accountable to the people, and we’re determined to make sure that every step is completely transparent so that members of the public are allowed input.

Rep. Bill Beck, R-Whitefish, represents House District 6, rural Whitefish.