Page 25 - Flathead Beacon // 4.29.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM OPINION UNCOMMON GROUND Mike Jopek
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APRIL 29, 2015 | 25
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May 5, 2015 · 11:30 a.m.
New West Health Services, 1203 Highway 2 West, Suite 45, Kalispell
May 5, 2015 · 3:00 p.m.
St. Joseph Medical Center, 6 Thirteenth Avenue East, Polson Byrnes Conference Room
June 2, 2015 · 11:30 a.m.
New West Health Services, 1203 Highway 2 West, Suite 45, Kalispell
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St. Joseph Medical Center, 6 Thirteenth Avenue East, Polson Byrnes Conference Room
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New West Health Services is a PPO plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in New West Medicare depends on contract renewal. Phone hours of operation 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information contact New West Medicare. Benefits may change on January 1 of each year. A sales person will be present with information and application. For accommodations of persons with special needs at sales meetings call 888-873-8044 TTY 711. H2701_NW#2015_602_4-2015 Accepted
THE 64TH SESSION OF THE Montana Legislature is over. Our legislators won’t meet again for two years, unless there is a financial emergency that warrants a call by the majority of members or the governor.
Columbia Falls and Kalispell have two new political champions. Freshmen lawmakers Zac Perry and Frank Garner did well and rose above the bitter grand- standing that often envelops politics. They helped pass laws that matter to people.
Perry sponsored the law that allows school districts to lease property for up to 15 years with options to purchase. Perry also sponsored the law that re- quires better financial reporting of state public lands, which are held in trust for the people.
Garner sponsored the law that re- vised the duties of the public safety council. Garner also sponsored the law to better distribute revenues to counties that have established drinking and driv- ing prevention programs.
Our lawmakers spent the past four months sequestered in Helena debat- ing policy. Often respectful and some- time cantankerous, lawmakers waded through thousands of bills and passed hundred of laws. Viewed broadly, the 64th did well.
Gov. Steve Bullock worked along side a Republican-controlled Legisla- ture. Together the two branches provid- ed oversight to each other, but got stuff done. That’s great news for people look- ing for productivity. Bullock, a Demo- crat, proved adept at working with the Republican Legislature to deliver re- sults.
The Republican Legislature expand- ed Medicaid in Montana. Thousands of working-poor citizens in the Flathead will soon have access to basic medicine. Montana became the 29th state in the nation to accept millions of federal dol- lars to help pay for basic healthcare at the doctors or local hospitals.
Democrat Perry and Republican Garner voted to expand Medicaid. They embraced the bipartisan spirit that Flat- head voters deserve. These lawmak- ers set aside ideological differences and found common ground on tough policy decisions.
Perry and Garner also agreed on dis- closure for election spending in Mon- tana. They helped pass a law that shines light into the darkest of money spent to influence elections, and required that electronic reporting be done accurately and promptly. Transparency will help to clean up some of the dirty shenanigans that have plagued political campaigns in recent years.
On a matter of great cost to home- owners and small business owners, Per- ry and Garner agreed. The 64th Legis- lature proposed to reduce property tax reappraisal cycles from every six years to two years. Perry and Garner opposed reducing reappraisal frequencies.
The 2003 reappraisal cut statewide property taxes by $10 million over the biennium while the 2009 reappraisal in- creased taxes over $6 million. The 2015 reappraisal will up property taxes by $20 million over two years.
The bulk of the latest tax increase comes from homeowners whose market valuations increased at above the state- wide average rate. Homeowner tax valu- ation increases will be applied onto tax bills six times faster, all in the first year of the new two-year reappraisal versus the traditional six-year incremental val- uation increase.
Homeowners whose tax valuation decreased during the Great Recession enjoy tax valuation savings on year one, regardless if the reappraisal frequency is two or six years. But homeowners lose the predictability of having recession re- ductions frozen for the next six years.
Many of our lawmakers buy into the rhetoric that taxpayers want simple math to explain expensive taxes. What people living in their homes deserve are lower property taxes and predictability into the next decade, not simply the next Legislature.
Columbia Falls and Kalispell citi- zens should welcome home the new law- makers they sent to Helena in January. Perry and Garner have a bright future in representingtheirdistrictsanddeserve thanks for their freshman-year perfor- mance. The 2017 Legislature is far away, but Perry and Garner can do a lot of good over the interim to serve their commu- nities.
“TOGETHER THE TWO BRANCHES PROVIDED OVERSIGHT TO EACH OTHER, BUT GOT STUFF DONE.”
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on op- posite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
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