Montana

Residents sue Gianforte administration for not equalizing residential property taxes • Daily Montanan

Published

1 year ago

October 22, 2024

Residents sue Gianforte administration for not equalizing residential property taxes • Daily Montanan

Residents from Silver Bow and Gallatin counties are asking a state district court judge to force the Montana Department of Revenue to recalculate residential property taxes in the Treasure State because they claim that the Gianforte administration has violated the law and the state Constitution by allowing taxes for homeowners to skyrocket while most business classes saw a reduction.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Butte-Silver Bow County District Court, attorneys for Thomas Powers, Cinder Lord-Powers and Ryan and Elizabeth Swenson are also seeking a class-action certification on the lawsuit, as well as asking the district court judge to halt anymore residential property tax collection until they say the rates can be equalized.

The issue of residential property taxes may not have been the defining issue of the 2023 Legislature, but it soon became a contentious issue after the session adjourned as residential property tax bills started becoming due. Part of the rise in residential property taxes followed the COVID-19 pandemic when Montana experienced sizable in-migration to the state, sending property values soaring.

While Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte proposed and the Legislature passed a rebate program where some homeowners could get as much as $675 back per year, many have criticized the system which was technologically cumbersome, and may not have offset the increases.

The Republican-controlled Legislature was also the target of criticism for not adjusting residential property taxes during the 2023 session when the Montana Department of Revenue warned that not doing so could — and in fact, did — cause sticker shock for Montana homeowners.

Meanwhile, Gianforte, a Republican, took aim at local and county governments throughout the state, many controlled by the GOP, for what he described as out-of-control spending, a debatable point that put many in the governor’s own political party at odds with the administration.

The new lawsuit claims that regardless of the politics, the Gianforte administration and its Department of Revenue had an obligation to do what the Legislature did not: It should have equalized the rates to make property taxes more equitable.

“The failure is an utter dereliction of the constitutional and statutory duty to perform ‘equalization’ and to ‘adjust’ and ‘do all things necessary to ensure fair, just and equitable taxable valuation’ between those taxpayers and classes of property,” the lawsuit said.

Attorneys for the residents, led by John M. Morrison of Helena, say that the tax burden has shifted hundreds of millions “unfairly and unjustly” to residential taxpayers.

The lawsuit argues that because of the number of houses and the number of sales every year, the State of Montana has accurate, up-to-date, market-rate data for residences. However, because so many businesses do not change or have comparable properties, the state undervalues them. They argue that the assessment process is different and leads to a system where businesses can negotiate their way out of taxes, using a different system, while homeowners are stuck.

“(For) example, valuation of centrally assessed property by the state has excluded intangible value. This intangible value is not precisely defined or precisely measurable. It can vary widely — even wildly. Corporations and tax authorities negotiate values for the intangible and tangible portions of centrally assessed property which values are not equalized with the valuations of other taxable property,” the lawsuit said. “Furthermore, by administrative choice of the Department of Revenue, the parties negotiate these values in secret. Every dollar of intangible or tangible value that is thereby excluded from taxation results in a direct shift of local property taxes to other taxpayers, primarily residential taxpayers.”

The attorneys also argue that the taxable residential rate, by the Montana Department of Revenue’s own calculations, should have been adjusted downward from 1.35% to 0.94%.

“Correspondingly, this memorandum made clear that the failure to make such adjustments would result in a huge tax shift onto residential taxpayers,” the lawsuit said.

The attorneys said that ultimately it is the Department of Revenue’s job and the Gianforte administration’s responsibility to do what the Legislature would not in order to comply with state law and the state constitution.

They point to the specific portion of state law which said that current law requires the Department of Revenue to make the adjustments.

“Montana’s core property tax equalization,” the lawsuit said, “requires that the department ‘shall adjust and equalize the valuation,’ and ‘do all things necessary to secure a fair, just, and equitable valuation of all taxable property.’”

The lawsuit includes tables and references to the differences of taxation for some of the state’s largest taxpayers.

For example, of the nine business classes that make up property taxes, six saw decreases as a percentage of the state budget, with business equipment seeing a slight increase (from 4.03% to 4.30%); and commercial property seeing a slight increase from 13.1% to 13.4%.

However, the percentage of residential taxes leapt from making up 51% percent of the state’s budget in 2023 to making up 59%. Using the state’s data, that means the revenue from residential property jumped from $1.8 billion to more than $2.7 billion, generating nearly an additional $900 million for the state.

Meanwhile, the attorneys point out that the state’s largest businesses are centrally-assessed, meaning taxes are determined in Helena because these businesses usually spread out across multiple locations and counties. In 2023, centrally-assessed properties contributed more than $864 million to state coffers, which made up 23.8% of the budget. In 2023, that number fell to $809 million, and decreased as a percentage from 23.8% to 17.3%.

For example, NorthWestern Energy, Montana’s single largest taxpayer, is paying about $36 million less in 2023, a 20% decrease. Other large companies like Montana Rail Link and Spectrum are also paying significantly less in taxes.

In addition to asking that the case be certified as a class-action so that any legal action would apply to a larger class, possibly the entire group of Montana residential taxpayers, the legal action also seeks to proceed with the case using the “private attorney general doctrine.” That means if the plaintiffs’ attorneys are victorious in court, the state would pay their attorney’s fees because it says the property owners and the attorneys are just “vindicating the constitutional and statutory right to tax equalization.”

They said that the state has overcharged residents more than $100 million.

The Daily Montanan had not received any comments from the governor’s office or the Montana Department of Revenue prior to publication.

The citizens are being represented by John M. Morrison of Morrison, Sherwood, Wilson and Deola of Helena, and Allan McGarvey and Dustin Leftridge of McGarvey Law of Kalispell.

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Montana pediatrician group pushes back against CDC vaccine changes

Published

4 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Montana pediatrician group pushes back against CDC vaccine changes

This story is excerpted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday.

On Monday, Jan. 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it would downgrade six vaccines on the routine schedule for childhood immunizations. The changes scale back recommendations for hepatitis A and B, influenza, rotavirus, RSV and meningococcal disease.

That decision — shared by top officials at the federal Department of Health and Human Services — took many public health experts by surprise, in part because of how the administration of President Donald Trump departed from the CDC’s typical process for changing childhood vaccine recommendations.

Montana Free Press spoke to Atty Moriarty, a Missoula-based pediatrician and president of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, about her perspective on the CDC’s changes. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MTFP: What happened in this most recent change and how does that differ from the CDC’s normal process for adjusting childhood vaccination schedules?

Moriarty: The way that vaccines have traditionally been recommended in the past is that vaccines were developed, and then they traditionally went through a formal vetting process before going to the [CDC]’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which did a full review of the safety data, the efficacy data, and then made recommendations based on that. Since November 2025, that committee has completely been changed and is not a panel of experts, but it is a panel of political appointees that don’t have expertise in public health, let alone infectious disease or immunology. So now, this decision was made purely based unilaterally on opinion and not on any new data or evidence-based medicine.

MTFP: Can you walk through some of the administration’s stated reasons for these changes?

Moriarty: To be honest, these changes are so nonsensical that it’s really hard. There’s a lot of concern in the new administration and in the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC that we are giving too many immunizations. That, again, is not based on any kind of data or science. And there’s a lot of publicity surrounding the number of vaccines as compared to 30 years ago, and questioning why we give so many. The answer to that is fairly simple. It’s because science has evolved enough that we actually can prevent more diseases. Now, some comparisons have been made to other countries, specifically Denmark, that do not give as many vaccines, but also are a completely different public health landscape and population than the United States and have a completely different public health system in general than we do.

MTFP: Where is the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] getting its guidance from now, if not ACIP?

Moriarty: We really started to separate with the [CDC’s] vaccine recommendations earlier in 2025. So as soon as they stopped recommending the COVID vaccine, that’s when [AAP] published our vaccine schedule that we have published for the last 45 years, but it’s the first time that it differed from the CDC’s. We continue to advocate for immunizations as a public health measure for families and kids, and are using the previous immunization schedule. And that schedule can be found on the [AAP’s] healthychildren.org website.

MTFP: Do any of the recent vaccine scheduling changes concern you more than others?

Moriarty: I think that any pediatrician will tell you that 20-30 years ago, hospitals were completely full of babies with rotavirus infection. That is an infection that is a gastrointestinal disease and causes severe dehydration in babies. I’m nervous about that coming roaring back because babies die of dehydration. It’s one of the top reasons they’re admitted to the hospital. I’m nervous about their recommendation against the flu vaccine. [The U.S. is] in one of the worst flu outbreaks we’ve ever seen currently right now and have had many children die already this season.

MTFP: Do you think, though, that hearing this changed guidance from the Trump administration will change some families’ minds about what vaccines they’ll elect to get for their children?

Moriarty: Oh, absolutely. We saw that before this recommendation. I mean, social media is such a scary place to get medical information, and [listening to] talking heads on the news is just really not an effective way to find medical information, but we see people getting it all the time. I meet families in the hospital that make decisions for their kids based on TikTok. So I think that one of the effects of this is going to be to sow more distrust in the public health infrastructure that we have in the United States that has kept our country healthy.

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Montana Lottery Lucky For Life, Big Sky Bonus results for Jan. 8, 2026

Published

16 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Jan. 8, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Jan. 8 drawing

05-12-13-39-48, Lucky Ball: 13

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from Jan. 8 drawing

05-15-20-28, Bonus: 16

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.

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

Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network.

Where can you buy lottery tickets?

Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.

You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.

Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: jackpocket.com/tos.

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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Montana minimum wage increases to $10.85 | Explore Big Sky

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Montana minimum wage increases to .85 | Explore Big Sky

By Micah Drew DAILY MONTANAN

With the start of the new year, Montanans on the lowest end of the pay scale will get a small boost as the state’s mandatory minimum wage increase goes into effect.

As of Jan. 1, Montana’s minimum wage increased from $10.55 to $10.85.

Stemming from a 2006 law, Montana’s minimum wage is subject to a cost-of-living adjustment, based on the national increase in the consumer price index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to state law, Montana businesses not covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are those whose gross annual sales are $110,000 or less may pay $4 per hour.

Montana is one of 30 states — plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands — that have a minimum wage higher than the federal rate of $7.25.

Twelve states, plus D.C. adjust their wages annually based on set formulas.

Montana has one of the lowest minimum wages that exceeds federal levels, with only West Virginia coming in lower among states at $8.75. The highest minimum wage is in D.C., at $17.25.

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