Lawmakers reject changes to property tax-relief bill

HELENA ­­— The Montana Senate rejected changes to a proposal designed to ease property taxes for homeowners along Flathead and Whitefish lakes, voting Tuesday against a means-testing provision added by the House last week.

The measure will head to a conference committee of lawmakers from both chambers to find a compromise.

To qualify for the new tax-relief program, Montana property owners would need to own land worth twice as much as the improvements on it. The House amendments would also have allowed those with annual income substantially less than the value of those improvements to qualify.

Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, who sponsored Senate Bill 94, urged his colleagues to reject the provision during the floor vote and noted the substantial changes the bill has undergone since he introduced it at the start of the session.

“That House amendment generated the bill’s fifth fiscal note, and the House amendment raised the fiscal note 25 percent over the version that left this chamber,” Regier said, referring to the Department of Revenue’s most recent estimate of how much the tax break would decrease state revenues.

The Department of Revenue expected the amended version to provide about $250,000 in total tax breaks once fully implemented, while the Senate version would cost the state roughly $180,000 in property tax revenue.

Sen. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, also supported stripping the means-testing amendment, arguing that it would cause property owners’ tax bills to spike if their income slipped above a threshold in the bill.

Stripping the amendments also restores a requirement that either the landowner or a direct relative own the property at least 30 years before applying for the tax break.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or swilson@dailyinterlake.com.