Hello friends – here are the topics that caught my attention for today’s column:
- U.S. Senate Montana 2024
- Montana Department of Revenue
- Perfect Game
U.S. SENATE MONTANA 2024:
With the announcement that Tim Sheehy is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, we’re now hearing about the pressure being placed on U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale to not run (again) for the U.S. Senate and let Sheehy basically have a clear path to the nomination.
Tim Sheehy has never run for public office, and he’s already been touted as the next Ryan Zinke.
Wait, is that a bad example?
Politico is reporting that within a day he (Sheehy) had secured the support of the chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm and endorsements from three other senators — a clear show of force aimed at spooking Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), a likely primary rival, out of running.
My favorite part of the Politico story was the quote from U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and who is chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC):
“I really like Matt Rosendale, which is why I am encouraging him to build seniority for the great state of Montana in the House and help Republicans hold their majority.”
That was pretty much a lie. If Daines was so worried about the “majority” he and many of his fellow Republicans have not shown it in the past. For example…
Montanans remember Republican Rick Hill being Montana’s at-large House member for a couple of terms. He decided not to run for a third term due to vision issues. He was succeeded by Denny Rehberg, who built up seniority and held that seat from 2001-2013. But then he wanted more and ran for the U.S. Senate and lost. There went the seniority. Then Steve Daines took over and “seniority” took another backseat as Daines only served in the House for one term before running for U.S. Senate. Then came Ryan Zinke who served in the House from 2017-2019 when he was picked by Donald Trump to be Secretary of the Interior. Zinke was succeeded by the one and only Greg Gianforte who held the seat until 2021 when he decided to run for Governor. Rosendale replaced Gianforte.
So Daines talking about Rosendale building seniority rings hollow. If there’s one thing I have noticed in all the years I have been involved in and writing about politics is that politicians (from both parties) have big egos. Deep down they all crave the attention that being elected to office gives them. Republicans in Montana over the years have shown that don’t give a crap about building up seniority in the U.S. House but are more interested in stroking their own egos. I have written several times that Montana needs someone who will stay in the seat and build up seniority.
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE:
During my short walk to my mailbox yesterday, there was a slight breeze. My grass looked nice, and the birds were singing. It was a very nice day.
As I opened the mailbox, I saw it; A letter from the Montana Department of Revenue with bold blue letters across the front of the envelope that informed me: “Important Property Tax Information Enclosed Time Sensitive Material Please Open Promptly Thank You.”
As a true Patriot (with a capital P) I did as I was instructed and opened it promptly.
The current assessed value of my home went up almost $50,000 from the previous assessed value. Those new gutters must have done the trick! I’ll now have to pay more taxes and with what the city is proposing in a safety and bond levy, I’ll be paying out of the nose for years to come. My utilities will be going up and the city has increased other fees, too. By the way, the county already got its levy approved.
It was still a nice day – you can’t let these things get you down, but off-grid living is looking better all the time.
MTN News did a story about property appraisals that you can read HERE.
There was some good news coming out of the Montana Department of Revenue. MTN News reported:
Montana income taxpayers may see money coming back to them next month as the state begins to issue recently approved tax rebates.
The Montana Department of Revenue says they will begin issuing rebates of 2021 individual income taxes to more than 530,000 qualifying Montana taxpayers beginning July 3, 2023.
MTN News also explains the “Property Tax Rebate” in their story, which you can find HERE.
PERFECT GAME:
In case you missed it, New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán pitched the 24th perfect game in major league history Wednesday night, retiring every Oakland batter in an 11-0 victory over the Athletics.
According to several reports, this is the first perfect game since 2012.
Read the Associated Press (AP) report HERE.
The Western Word 
Did you catch the story on Property Taxes Explained from Montana Free Press? https://montanafreepress.org/2023/06/22/property-taxes-explained-with-pictures/
The article explains that if you look closely at the fine print in your appraisal notice, you’ll see that the tax estimate is based your new taxable value and LAST year’s millage rate. Last year’s millage rate, however, is based on last year’s taxable values. And, when property values have risen dramatically across the board, that means the current year’s tax base is going to be much larger than last year’s, meaning taxing jurisdictions will most likely assess fewer mills of taxes.
Additionally, state law caps how quickly local governments can expand their tax collections, limiting the growth of taxes cities, towns, and counties can collect on existing properties to half the rate of inflation.
The key message here is that the reappraisal notices showing that property values have risen by 30% to 50% or more, does not mean property taxes will rise that much and none of us will know for sure until county treasurers send out tax bills this fall.
The appraisals were inaccurate and misleading and most likely the start of an all out war on property taxes which fund essential services like fire, police, roads, sewer & water, K-12 schools, emergency response, and more.
I got my notice about property tax as well. I was gratified that the department of revenue included information, at least the names, of programs to assist people with their tax burden. I qualify for one of those programs and my tax next year is 1/3 what it was this year. I guess there are some advantages in getting older!