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Supplemental Tax Bills Heading Toward Many Montana Property Owners – Flathead Beacon

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Supplemental Tax Bills Heading Toward Many Montana Property Owners – Flathead Beacon


Last year, during a dispute with Gov. Greg Gianforte over the state’s “95 mill” school equalization property tax, officials with 49 of Montana’s 56 counties chose to reduce their fall tax bills against the wishes of the Montana Department of Revenue. This month, after landing on the losing side of a November Montana Supreme Court ruling, those counties’ treasurers are left with the thankless task of sending supplemental property tax bills to hundreds of thousands of property owners across the state.

The supplemental bills will increase the amounts homeowners and other property owners owe for the second half of calendar year 2023, payments that are due at the end of May. The exact amount will depend on property type and tax valuations, with homes assessed at a market value of $450,000 owing about $104 extra, according to MTFP calculations.

Terri Kunz with the statewide county treasurer’s association said in an interview Wednesday that county treasurers are coordinating to send out the supplemental bills in the second half of March so people who own properties in multiple counties will receive notices at roughly the same time.

The 95 mills, which collect about $128 for every $100,000 of a home’s assessed property value, are collected statewide to fund part of a state program that equalizes funding between tax-base-rich and tax-base-poor school districts. They represent a minor component of most property tax bills, which also include collections for local school levies and the operation of city and county programs.

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The 95 mills became a flashpoint last year after the revenue department’s two-year reappraisal cycle for residential properties reported extraordinary tax valuation increases for homes across the state of 40% on median. While the way local government budgets are apportioned among taxpayers means tax bills didn’t ultimately rise in direct proportion to that increase, the reappraisals produced widespread concern and did contribute to notable tax increases for many homeowners. According to an MTFP estimate, the median residential property in Montana saw its tax bill rise by 21% in 2023.

The governor and local government officials have sparred repeatedly over the property tax issue in recent years, with the governor trying to blame rising taxes on local government spending, and many local officials arguing that the governor and state Legislature have failed to take state-level action that could ease homeowners’ tax burdens.

During last year’s tax angst, many county officials came to the conclusion that an obscure provision of the state tax code limits the growth of collections from the 95 mills, which are somewhat distinctive in that they produce a tax in direct proportion to property value. Despite a directive to the contrary from the revenue department and the governor’s budget office, the county officials argued they could legally collect the school equalization tax only at a lower, 77.9-mill level. Counties maintained that the difference, about $80 million statewide, could be readily offset by the state’s flush General Fund.

The dispute produced months of political back-and-forth as well as several lawsuits, with counties touting their dedication to lightening the load on taxpayers and the governor arguing he was defending an essential piece of the school funding system. The Supreme Court ultimately concluded the lawsuits by ruling in favor of the Gianforte administration, noting that the revenue department had used a consistent methodology for calculating the 95 mills for two decades. 

Normally, counties mail property tax bills once a year in the fall, sending notices that specify amounts for fall and spring payments. The Supreme Court ruling, however, came after counties had already sent their fall 2023 mailings with what the court deemed incorrect amounts, necessitating the supplemental bills this spring.

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The seven counties that didn’t collect the reduced amount for the 95 mill tax, and are now spared from supplemental collections, are Broadwater, Deer Lodge, Glacier, Madison, Meagher, Teton and Toole.

Counties where taxpayers can expect the supplemental bills span Montana’s largest cities: Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell and Helena.

County treasurers said this week that they expect the unusually timed bills to produce widespread confusion among taxpayers.

Missoula County Treasurer Tyler Gernant, for example, said he worries that residents who are accustomed to paying their tax bill once a year may end up in a bind because they discount the new notice, assuming it’s either a scam or a notice for a tax bill they’ve already paid. He said he’s particularly worried about snowbird residents who head south for the winter after paying their fall tax bill and who might not be keeping a close eye on their mailbox in Montana.

“Our biggest concern is people aren’t going to necessarily know about this,” Gernant said.

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Unpaid tax bills incur late fees and, in extreme situations that develop over time, can result in owners losing their properties.

While all Montana property owners receive mailed tax bills, most homeowners with mortgages on their properties have their taxes bundled into their monthly housing payments. Gernant and Kunz both said treasurers will notify mortgage companies of the updated tax bills, though Kunz encouraged homeowners to reach out to their banks with questions.

Kunz, who also serves as the Jefferson County treasurer, asked that members of the public who call their local treasurer’s office with questions about the new bills keep in mind that the decisions that produced them weren’t made by the line staff who will be picking up the phone.

“It’s really nobody in our office’s fault. We’re just doing our best,” she said.

“My local team members don’t need to get beat up with this,” she added.

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This story originally appeared in the Montana Free Press, which can be found online at montanafreepress.org.





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Montana Lottery Mega Millions, Big Sky Bonus results for June 23, 2026

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The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at June 23, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from June 23 drawing

48-51-60-63-66, Mega Ball: 20

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

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Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from June 23 drawing

06-21-22-31, Bonus: 13

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
  • Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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Man Driving Giant Banana Gets Pulled Over in Montana

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Man Driving Giant Banana Gets Pulled Over in Montana


We cover lots of hard news here at The Drive. Y’know, the stuff that keeps you updated on the automotive industry and enthusiast scene. Other times, we don’t. Other times, we write silly car-related stuff because it’s fun. This is one of those times. A giant banana recently got pulled over in Montana, and as the Cowboy State Daily put it, it wasn’t its first time.

According to the Montana State Police, the giant banana car and its driver, Steve Braithwaite, were pulled over near Billings because part of the license plate was blocked. He did not receive a ticket. Also, the plate reads “SPLIT.”

“We’ve stopped speeders, distracted drivers, and even a few unusual vehicles… but this one definitely stands out.
The Big Banana Car was stopped cruising near Billings today. While it may be apPEALing, traffic laws still apply to fruit. 😎 🍌
Safe travels, Montana,” said the Montana State Police’s Facebook page.

According to the report, Braithwaite has been pulled over hundreds of times over the decade he’s been driving his banana car across the country. In fact, he believes that during the first few years he had the thing, he was one of the most frequently pulled-over men in America.

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“Driving around in a banana and having all these people, all these smiles and waves, affects me. It actually does something fantastic,” he told the outlet.

He even claims to have been pulled over once for “peeling out,” which was, of course, a joke.

Another report claims that Braithwaite began working on the fiberglass banana in 2008 and finished it in 2011. It’s based on a 1993 Ford F-150 and is a bout 23 feet from tip to tip.

Keep on keepin’ on, Steve.

Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com

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As deputy editor, Jerry draws on a decade of industry experience and a lifelong passion for motorsports to guide The Drive’s short- and long-term coverage.




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The Latest ‘Sustained Yield’ Scam Will Devastate Montana’s National Forests

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The Latest ‘Sustained Yield’ Scam Will Devastate Montana’s National Forests


Log landing, western Montana. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

Way back in 1995 Bob Brown, the Republican president of the Montana Senate, called me into his office.

He had co-sponsored a bill with a pro-logging Missoula Democrat to establish a “sustained yield” level of logging on Montana’s state trust lands – and he was worried it wasn’t working out the way he hoped.

Bob was right to be worried then and Montanans are right to be worried now because Trump’s Forest Service Chief and former timber industry lobbyist Tom Schultz, has just unleashed the “sustained yield” scam on Montana’s National Forests.

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To appreciate Brown’s concerns, it’s important to understand that the 1995 Montana legislature had two-thirds Republican majorities in the House and Senate and Republican Marc Racicot in the Governor’s Office.

Those majorities put Montana’s environment in the cross-hairs with a raft of industry-friendly deregulatory bills.  That included the timber industry, which was losing the “timber wars” in large part because Plum Creek Timber, one of the largest private forest landowners in the West, had decided to “liquidate” its “timber assets” – also known as “forests.”

That decision resulted in massive clearcuts since there were virtually no regulations on logging private land.  Plum Creek scalped the forests of northwest Montana, including the lands around Bob’s home in Whitefish, leaving barren, knapweed infested stumpfields that remain to this day. His goal was to protect the lands around the trout streams he’d fished growing up and hoped the bill would do that.

It was the closing weeks of the session and Bob wanted to know if it was possible to reduce the environmental impacts of his bill since it had been heavily amended to favor extraction, not “sustained yield.”  My advice was to let the bill die because he didn’t have the votes to remove the amendments the timber industry lobbyists stuck on the bill.  But he didn’t take that advice, the bill passed, and the logging level for Montana’s state forests was set at 52 to 55 million board feet per year.

Two years later, Tom Schultz went to work for Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, heading the trust lands timber division and earning the sobriquet “Chainsaw Tom” for his pro-logging zeal.  Like the stumpfields, his dedication to the timber industry remains to this day – only now he’s in charge of the United States Forest Service and bringing chainsaws to millions of acres of our remaining intact forests.

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If you believe that “sustained yield” is supposed to be a carefully calculated determination of how many millions of board feet of timber can be logged every year on a sustainable basis that means limiting logging to the pace at which the forests can regrow – regardless of the demands of the rapacious timber industry.

In the “old days” loggers liked to refer to forests as “100 year gardens.”  But of course forests aren’t gardens, they’re complex ecosystems – and the timber industry doesn’t wait a century for forests to regrow.

It’s unlikely that quaint misnomer is even applicable in today’s climate with hotter, longer summers, minimal snowpack, and extreme drought.  Yet, Montana’s “sustained yield” is now nearly 10 million board feet a year higher than when Brown’s bill passed, defying logic and science and justifying his concerns from 30 years ago.

“Chainsaw Tom” Schultz has now reappeared and demands that 350-500 million board feet of Montana’s national forests be logged over 10 years. Schultz’s timber industry lobbyist background offers a clue as to where that “sustainable yield” number came from — and the reason we will likely be left with nothing but stumpfields and knapweed from his “landscape scale” logging of our remaining intact forests.

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