Just about every state is struggling today to balance their budgets.
They’re also wrestling big time with taxpayers who are furious about rising property taxes.
Montana is no exception.
If you live in Montana perhaps you’ve heard about the large number of property tax appeals that swamped the state’s western counties last year. Many homeowners in Flathead, Ravalli, Lake, and Missoula Counties buried government officials in paperwork as thousands protested their property tax valuations.
Significant increases in taxpayer appeals across the state is one of many reasons a Montana legislative panel is considering a proposal to do property tax assessments annually.
That’s a big change from the present system in Montana where residential homes are assessed on a six-year cycle.
Those who are supporting more frequent assessments feel that too much time between appeals leads to inequities in values, taxpayer sticker shock, and in general high levels of frustration with local taxing authorities.
Montana hasn’t helped the information disconnect between what taxing authorities feel a property is worth and taxpayer perceptions of market value. That’s because Montana is one of nine states that keeps home sale prices confidential – usually only realtors with access to prices on the Multiple Listing Service are the only consumers who have the information they need to keep a close eye on market values.
Supporters of annual assessments along with more consumer visibility into home price sales information hope that the result will be less “reassessment sticker shock” in the future.
Regardless of whether Montana stays with the current six year reassessment cycle or moves to an annual system, it is important for you to stay on top of home values in your area.
If you don’t pay attention to your assessed value, you’ll be leaving the fate of your property tax bill in the hands of your local county officials.
