Residents file informal review forms en masse

LAKE COUNTY — Worry and confusion over what this year’s statewide assessment will do to property taxes, especially those linked to lakefront and recreational lands, prompted more than 2,350 Lake County residents to file informal requests for review through the Montana Department of Revenue this fall.

This number trumps filings in all but two other counties across the state, with the exception of more highly populated Flathead and  Gallatin counties. Just under 1,110 were filed in Missoula County.

As taxpayers wait for the review process to get off the ground, few answers on adjustments will be ready before bills are due.

Until more numbers are crunched, the news remains for the most part in the unknowns.

Although a DOR chart showed about 94 percent of Lake County residences will have increases or decreases in property taxes, in relatively small amounts from zero to $300, a larger-than-usual amount of people making less than $75,000 saw their land value rise and property taxes rise drastically.

Along with the increased number of informal reviews filed, a huge spike in the number of forms offering property tax relief to stressed land owners arrived in Lake County mailboxes last week. Of the 37,000 extended property tax assistance forms mailed statewide, close to 50 percent went to Lake and Flathead counties, DOR region manager Scott Williams said.

 Even if the help comes, the inability of the DOR to give exact quotes of final payments causes unease to linger, he said.

And, completing the review process can be a long road that doesn’t quickly provide answers.

Those who have filed reviews will be contacted and asked to provide the DOR information that would warrant an adjustments. Officials will then present its evidence on the tax numbers.

At that point, a change in value issue made, or the issue can be taken by the taxpayer to a county tax appeal board. If either party isn’t satisfied after this step, the appeal moves to a state tax appeal board.

In the meantime, most adjustments won’t be made in to be applied to bills. Anyone in the middle of the process does have option to pay 50 percent under protest, Williams said.

He did provide one example of how programs like the extended property tax assistance can make a difference. 

The scenario, using rough estimates of as many factors as available, involved a lakefront property owner who paid a $5,400 tax last year. Reappraisal raised this year’s bill to $6,800, but with the assistance she may only pay $4,400 this year, down $1,000 from 2008.

“But still, this was a guess. Topography issues might change it,” Williams said. “If we had the ability to quote that to people, it would take a lot of the apprehension about these tax bills away.”

 Aid for disable veterans, elderly home owners and renters based on household income also exist. 

Williams stressed last week that a jump of value increase does not automatically mean a tax increase.

A typical house inside Lake County could very easily see a drop in taxes because of the mitigation’s redistribution, he said.

The recreational land that saw value increase because demand is highest there.

It is the two percent of Lake County residents possibly facing increases of $1,000 or more who were facing the biggest questions, one of which was how to afford such a huge bill to the state. The increases are being phased in over the next six years while decreases are immediate.

“Ultimately, the tax burden shifted to our area. The higher end homes in our state are paying the price,” state Rep. Janna Taylor said.

Once every six years, the DOR is required by state law to conduct a reappraisal of residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and forestland property in the state. The philosophy is set up to follow state guidelines to ensure property is appraised in a fair and equitable manner. The assessments came from the Montana Department of Revenue’s recently concluded tax reappraisal, as required by the 1972 Montana Constitution.

The 2008 legislature passed House Bill 658 to mitigate the reappraisal done by DOR.

This bill was a tough pill to swallow for Taylor, who said it’s only saving grace was a lookback stipulation that will allow the 2011 legislature to re-examine the assessment.

Taylor urged residents to take advantage of the assistance programs. If they haven’t received a form in the mail and think the apply, they can stop at local DOR offices to pick up the form.

“If you don’t qualify, I certainly hope you protested your taxes,” she said. 

Another worry, about how the protested taxes, adjustments and delinquent payments might hurt Polson’s city budget, was discussed at a city commissioners during an October meeting.

Polson city clerk Bonnie Manicke reported during the meeting that delinquent taxes had created a low balance in the general funds account. Polson will see its next payment, from the county, on Dec. 15, which it is hoping more tax money has been collected.

The review process and eventual adjustments of warrant claims will have a very slight effect on the city revenue, Williams said.