Property value questions are directed to Department of Commerce
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Editor,
This letter is in response to Mrs. Wilma Bick’s, Wake up, Montana letter to the editor dated Dec. 9.
Yes, my office recently sent out letters to property owners who had protested their 2009 taxes. The letters were sent only to those who have had some sort of adjustment or denial of their values from the Montana Department of Revenue. Normally the money is only held in the protest fund for 90 days before it would be released.
On May 3, 2010 I received a letter from the Montana Department of Revenue to decrease Mrs. Bick’s 2009 tax bill in the amount of $19.66. I processed the request on May 7 and mailed her a revised tax bill of which she paid on June 1. The Montana Department of Revenue should have mailed her a revised assessment of the changes and she would have had 30 days to file another appeal if she disagreed with the new values.
There are programs available through the Montana Department of Revenue for Property Tax Assistance and Elderly Homeowner/Renter Credit, but you have to file before their deadlines. I see where Mrs. Bick is the recipient of Property Tax Assistance for the 2010 tax year to where she had a decrease in her taxes of $408.42 from the 2009 tax year.
Unfortunately my office is the one to take your money but we do not have anything to do with values. My staff tries to be very accommodating but when it comes to answering questions about values we pass that on to the Montana Department of Revenue.
Patti Duford Kugler
Lake County Treasurer
Polson
