[ilbegone]

Montana tax burden continued:

Buckley's house was assessed at $649,000 in 2002, but its value rose to $2.8 million with the new appraisals. That means an increase in his taxes from $6,500 last year to about $18,400 in 2014. Buckley's only income comes from Social Security and withdrawals from his individual retirement account.

"That's probably 25% of our spendable income," he said.

Many here worry that long-term, year-round residents will disappear, and Whitefish will become another Jackson Hole, Wyo., or Vail, Colo., catering to tourists and part-time homeowners.

"We have a business here. We raised four kids here. What happens to a community when people like us go?" said Debbie Biolo, who also faces a big tax hike. "I'll tell you: You turn into a facade. You turn into a Vail. You turn into one big Disneyland."

There have been widespread calls for a California-style measure like Proposition 13 to limit annual increases, or tie taxes to what owners paid for a property. But six-year reappraisals are mandated by the Montana Constitution, which requires the state to regularly appraise and equalize assessments on property based on market value.

Some homeowners are preparing to gather signatures for a ballot measure to amend the Constitution; others are circulating ideas for a lawsuit.

Going to the Legislature for a quick fix doesn't appear to be an option. Montana's lawmakers meet only once every other year, and after much debate before they recessed last April, they passed a bill that provided only limited taxpayer relief, largely because many residents, especially easterners with shrinking tax bills, have little sympathy for multimillion-dollar property owners in western resort towns.

"It's an east-west battle," said state Sen. Verdell Jackson, whose district straddles the counties of Flathead and Lake.

Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer ordered that the new assessments should not result in a windfall for the state. Tax rates were lowered to make sure of that. In addition, the Legislature adopted a mitigation package that provides partial exemptions for homeowners and phases in the tax hikes over six years.

Dan Bucks, director of the Department of Revenue, said the state was also beginning to implement programs that would help low- and middle-income taxpayers and senior citizens on their property taxes.

"The full effect of these programs has not yet been seen," Bucks said.

State officials are quick to point out that Montana, which also gets revenue from robust oil and gas development, has weathered the economic downturn with far less turmoil than most other states. And even some of the most vocal foes of the new tax reappraisals say they don't want to follow blindly in the footsteps of California, whose property tax rollbacks have been singled out as one of the culprits in the state's current fiscal crisis.

But even if additional aid does come, for some it may be too late.

"People have already been selling their homes because they can't afford to pay the taxes, and that has been happening since the assessments in 2002," said California transplant Dudley Mahler, who moved from Woodland Hills to Whitefish in 1995 and saw his appraisal go up this year from $331,875 to $2.39 million.

His taxes will increase from $5,616 to $13,996.

"What we're faced with is making a decision. I could probably pay it. I can manage it," Mahler said. "But I'm not sure I want to. If you're living in a state that doesn't care about their people, and are willing to force out the longtime homeowners, is this really where you want to be?"