The politics of property tax reappraisals

I noticed in the papers an effort by Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, and Rep. Bob Lake, R-Hamilton, to mislead Montanans about the property-tax reappraisal bill they championed during the last legislative session. Here are some facts:

House Bill 658 arrived in the Senate, it was controlled and rewritten by Essmann in the Tax Committee that he chairs, and it passed with a vast majority of Republican votes in both chambers.

The final bill was praised on the Senate floor by Sen. Bruce Tudvedt, R-Kalispell, who applauded it as a "fair and flat tax" and "good tax policy." Every Senate Republican voted for it but one — Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, who said "there will be a demand for an actual solution next session."

Sen. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena, noted that the house bill had been turned into a senate bill by a committee that would not listen to her, Brueggeman or me, as the committee sponsor of the bill.

I and most Democrats ended up voting against this bill because of what the Republicans did to it in the Senate. We saw that it would not work, particularly in growth areas.

The Legislature was given more information in this reappraisal cycle and about property values across the state by the Department of Revenue than ever before in history. And because of the magnitude of 2002 to 2008 growth, probably more than all previous reappraisal cycles put together.

The estimated property valuations given to us during the session were 99.5 percent similar to the valuations used in tax bills. Accuracy within one half of 1 percent is shocking, yet Essmann and Lake are blaming the Department of Revenue and Gov. Brian Schweitzer for a bill the Democratic governor refused to sign and most legislative Democrats voted against.

Locals can easily see that the housing market has sharply fallen from the 2008 benchmark of reappraisal. The economic downturn, coupled with market slippage, inspired high numbers of growth-area homeowners to file informal appeals.

The Legislature increased taxes this biennium, an average 15 percent on recent property tax bills. It acted prematurely by not waiting until 2011 to re-examine its work and must now fix this mess and reform a system which burdens homeowners and small businesses.

I say to my esteemed colleagues Essmann and Lake and anyone trying to point political fingers and divert blame away from their piece of work — if you have ideas about how to fix this law, let's hear them.

The Senate took the ideas of the House, the governor and other legislators concerned about reform, market slippage and the taxpayers' ability to pay these taxes and disregarded them by passing a faulty bill. Republicans did this after having more information of high accuracy than ever before, all while controlling the Senate and the three tax committees involved. That's the way the system works.

But please be honest with the Montana taxpayers about how this bill ended up as law. Earnestly, if my fine colleagues have real ideas on how to help homeowners or small businesses, put them on the table and let's reform our property tax system.

But we will not sell short Montana homeowners or small businesses, those who laid the foundations for the great communities of our state.

Rep. Mike Jopek is a Whitefish farmer and served in the 2005, 2007 and 2009 Legislatures as a Democrat.