August 29, 2023
Greetings Everyone,
Well, it’s a deep subject—property taxes in Montana. We’ve discussed how Hometown might address this complex topic in a meaningful way some Thursday morning? We’ve determined to turn to our local elected officials—county and city commissioners—as they finalize their budgets; and ask them to tell us how they dealt with the reappraisals in the context of their 2024 budgets. We think that’s about the best we can do right now with this important subject.
At the end of the day, it all rolls downhill, which is to say it rolls to your local property tax (and assessments) bill. We’ll see if our local leaders, including the school superintendents, can join us this fall and help us understand how it all shook out at the local level, right here in Helena, East Helena and Lewis and Clark County.
We did see another useful article on the property tax reappraisals: the August newsletter from the Montana Taxpayers Association, authored by former Montana Senator Robert Story. It’s included here for your reading enjoyment, or for those wanting to learn more and take a deep dive into the Byzantine world of Montana's property tax system.
The grand opening of the new Leo Pocha Clinic at the Helena Indian Alliance (HIA) last Friday was a wonderful, day-long celebration. There were dignitaries from the City of Helena, Montana’s Tribal Nations, Montana DPHHS, Pureview Health. The national director of the Indian Health Service, Ms. Roselyn Tso, was present to mark the occasion, The Magpie Drummers were there, as always. Many other individuals, agencies and organizations were also on hand. Mike Touchette, Chair of the HIA Board and HIA Executive Director Todd Wilson each welcomed everyone with very heartfelt, moving remarks. Mr. Wilson’s family came up from the Crow Nation to take part in the celebration, which included a smudging ceremony and a quilt gifting to many long standing leaders of Helena’s Native American community.
Meanwhile, it’s back to school week and we’re happy our school superintendents—Rex Weltz and Dan Rispens, from Helena and East Helena respectively, are able to join us this Thursday for a discussion of enrollments, facilities, programs, and upcoming events at all the K-12 schools in the community (See Below). Besides the teachers getting their classrooms ready, the principals getting their teachers ready, the cooks getting their cafeterias ready and the custodians getting the schools themselves ready, these two gentlemen are the busiest guys in the county right now, so we really appreciate them making time for us.
Hope you can join us Thursday morning, either in person on the 6th floor of the Montana or via the miracle of Zoom, courtesy of Pinion Global, Inc. and Aja Rail.
Jim Smith
406-949-1002
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