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I’ve learned a couple of things working as a data reporter and editor at Montana Free Press. One is that numbers are often mind-numbingly boring. Another is that, in the right circumstances, they can put your jaw on the floor.
A project we published in collaboration with High Country News this week, looking at how thousands of high-value homes claim a property tax benefit intended to support working farms and ranches, produced several of those jolting moments.
To recap that story: Most Montanans who own houses pay taxes on the home lots beneath the structures they live in based on how much state tax officials think that land would be worth if put up for sale, a figure that’s often north of $100,000 for even modest lots. Agricultural land, in contrast, is taxed based on how much the state thinks someone can earn farming or ranching it, a figure that’s typically much, much less. As a result, if an owner can persuade the state revenue department their home should be classified as a farm, they can typically save hundreds or thousands of dollars a year on their tax bill.
While researching the story over the last six months, HCN reporter Nick Bowlin and I learned that the annual farm income threshold necessary to secure an agricultural tax designation, $1,500, hasn’t been updated since 1986. That was one jaw drop.
Later, I calculated the effective land tax rate for smaller properties, those less than 20 acres. Non-vacant residential properties in that size bracket typically paid about $1,609 an acre in annual land taxes. The number for small agricultural properties? $6.61 an acre. That pennies-on-the-dollar disparity knocked my jaw even lower.
Then, I figured I should take a look at the Bozeman-area property where Gov. Greg Gianforte makes his home. His house and garage, valued at $1.3 million, sit on 11 acres of land along the East Gallatin River. While the governor pays a four-figure tax bill on the structures, I calculated that his agricultural designation means the 11 acres cost him only about $66 a year in land taxes — less than what 97% of Montana’s urban homeowners are taxed for their home lots. At that point I resigned myself to needing a good orthodontist.
Our reporting indicates that the governor is part of a large class of exurban and rural property owners who have found a way to claim a tax benefit that’s by and large unavailable to Montanans who own homes in towns and cities. It looks to me like many of those rural property owners exist in a gray area that blurs the lines between a working farm and luxury real estate. The governor’s office, I should note, told us Gianforte and his family use their Bozeman-area land, which includes other parcels, to grow barley and alfalfa and board horses and mules.
I should note, too, that both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have expressed frustration with the state’s current ag tax rules. As we discuss at some length in this week’s story, a few of them have been working on bills that could make it harder to qualify for the agricultural designation and increase land taxes on ag properties in high-value areas. Because those measures could raise taxes significantly on those who benefit from the current system, however, even proponents of those bills seem skeptical about their prospects of making it to the governor’s desk. But then again — who among us hasn’t been shocked before?
READ MORE: Montana’s agricultural tax rules slash bills for thousands of million-dollar homes.
— Eric Dietrich
Hot Potato 🥔
A heated dispute between a school official and a drama teacher dominated this week’s meeting of the Whitehall public school board as the teacher denounced recent administrative efforts to distance the district from the high school’s latest theater production.
The dispute had been brewing for days, with district administrators initially attributing their concerns about the play to a four-year-old sex education law, only to backtrack and cite the production’s suicide themes. None of the explanations satisfied drama teacher Elizabeth Pullman, who sought to set the record straight for trustees Tuesday night.
Students have been rehearsing the show for months in preparation for their appearance at the Montana Thespian Festival Jan. 24 and 25 in Missoula. But school administrators this month instructed Pullman to move a local performance off school property due to the content of the play they’re set to perform, “I Don’t Want to Talk About It.” The production is a series of coming-of-age monologues and scenes by playwright Bradley Hayward dealing with topics including bullying, gossip and suicide.
According to Pullman, the back-and-forth started after Whitehall school officials reviewed the script in early January and told her some of the material could run afoul of the 2021 Legislature’s Senate Bill 99. Since its passage, the law’s limits on sex- and relationship-centric conversations with students have reportedly chilled educators’ ability to respond to student-led inquiries.
Pullman, who owns and operates the Whitehall Ledger newspaper but has not reported on the situation due to ethical conflicts, shared emails with MTFP documenting the administration’s stance that sections of the script may not conform with recent Montana law. School leaders informed Pullman the play could not be performed on school grounds, recommending instead that it be moved to the local Star Theatre, which Pullman also owns, as a community production.
The national American Civil Liberties Union challenged the district’s legal assessment, and a letter of support from Hayward noted that the play — previously performed by hundreds of drama groups throughout the country, including three Montana schools — has helped individual students struggling with complex and sensitive issues.
This week the focus of the Whitehall administration’s hesitancy about the script shifted away from SB 99. During the school board meeting, Superintendent Hannah Nieskens said that after reading the play herself, she believes the content does not meet state standards for suicide awareness and prevention in schools.
“There was no message of hope, resilience or how to ask for help in the play, which must be included as part of that experience,” Nieskens said. The superintendent reiterated her stance in an email to MTFP on Thursday, writing that the district “does not have a Senate Bill 99 issue with the play” and that its decision reflected guidance from suicide prevention specialists at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Pullman pushed back on that position too. After speaking independently with experts at DPHHS and the state Office of Public Instruction, she was already planning to include a trigger warning and on-site suicide awareness resources during the production. Pullman added she would have been open to selecting a different play if school officials had reviewed the script earlier. But at this point, the students have developed a strong attachment to their lines and roles, and they’ve run out of time to rehearse something new.
“I wasn’t given that opportunity, and now we’re, what, two weeks out from festival?” Pullman said, noting the drama team is scheduled to travel Jan. 23. “I can’t tell these kids they have to learn a new play. There’s no way.”
— Alex Sakariassen
Your Two Cents
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is soliciting public input as it develops the Montana Emissions Reduction Roadmap, which will identify sources of climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions and highlight actions the state can take to rein them in.
DEQ is developing the roadmap as part of a $50 million federal grant Montana received in July to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the agriculture and forestry industries. Montana was one of 13 state governments tapped for the grant, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said will “reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice and accelerate America’s clean energy transition.”
The road map will build off of the Montana Climate Pollution Reduction Priorities the state submitted to the EPA last spring. That document is a high-level look at climate solutions that favored voluntary, projects with short lead times over regulatory efforts to reduce emissions.
“This is a highly collaborative effort, and we need to hear from you regarding priorities for your community,” DEQ said of the 10-minute survey. It’s open to all Montana residents through 5 p.m. Jan. 31.
— Amanda Eggert
Verbatim 💬
“We’re getting there. What we’re working through right now are a number of very complex capital or construction projects at the main hospital in Warm Springs. I expect that once those are completed, and right now the estimate is anywhere from 12 to 18 months, that the department will be well positioned to apply for the federal recertification through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.”
— Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Director Charlie Brereton, speaking to lawmakers on the House Human Services Committee on Jan. 7.
A year ago, Brereton told lawmakers the department aimed to apply for recertification for the Montana State Hospital by early 2025. While responding to a question from Committee Chair Ron Marshall, R-Hamilton, during the first week of the legislative session, Brereton said that staff recruitment and retention continue to be hurdles for the Warm Springs psychiatric facility, in addition to the ongoing construction projects, pushing the recertification process back significantly.
The Gist 📌
On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it plans to maintain Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears — with some changes to the outlines of the population it seeks to recover and how it will handle bears that get into conflicts with people.
Gov. Greg Gianforte, who petitioned USFWS to delist the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzlies, and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, who made a similar request for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population, criticized the agency’s decision.
“The full recovery of the grizzly bear across the Rocky Mountain region should be acknowledged and celebrated – period,” Gianforte said in a statement. “It’s time for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to catch up with the science, follow the law, and return management of grizzlies to the states, where it belongs.”
Environmental groups largely celebrated the decision, which thwarts the plan Montana developed to initiate a grizzly hunting season five years after a return to state management.
“With ongoing federal protections, grizzlies in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades will have a real chance at long-term recovery, instead of being gunned down and mounted on trophy walls,“ Andrea Zaccardi with the Center for Biological Diversity said in an emailed statement.
USFWS highlighted two significant changes it will pursue in grizzly management. First, it will change the outlines of the “distinct population segment” it’s trying to recover. Instead of looking at the health of smaller populations — i.e., the nearly 1,000 bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem anchored by Yellowstone National Park or the roughly 1,100 Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bears living within a couple of hundred miles of Glacier National Park — USFWS will examine how grizzlies are doing across a much larger swath of the Northern Rockies. All of Washington, most of Montana and Idaho, and about half of Wyoming are incorporated in the revised distinct population segment.
Chris Servheen, a Missoula-based wildlife biologist who wrote the federal government’s early grizzly delisting proposals as USFWS’ first grizzly bear recovery coordinator, said the change favors the long-term survival of Lower 48 grizzlies. Managing for “island populations” isn’t enough to sustain grizzlies’ presence on the landscape long-term given the pressures grizzlies are facing from climate change and increasing human encroachment into their habitat, Servheen told MTFP.
“I think it’s important to manage them all as one functional meta-population,” said Servheen, who recently submitted a petition asking for a management shift similar to the one USFWS unveiled Wednesday. “Thinking about doing it that way will allow the bears to be much healthier — and around — 100 years from now.”
The other big change in grizzly management addresses how bears that get into conflict with people are handled. By changing what’s known as the 4(d) rule, USFWS aims to give people who run into issues with grizzlies, like livestock producers facing sheep or cattle losses, more tools and flexibility to relocate or kill problem bears.
USFWS is taking comments on both components of its proposal from Jan. 15 through March 17. After the agency has sifted through comments, it’s expected to outline the particulars of its plan. More information on the proposed rule, including a list of meetings USFWS is hosting to discuss the change, is available here.
— Amanda Eggert
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- The building housing the Choteau Acantha newspaper burned, but the paper’s owners vowed to continue publication.
- Operations in the Montana Senate ground to a halt as lawmakers fought with each other.
- Medicaid expansion is going to be a major issue before the state Legislature. Here’s what you need to know.
On Our Radar 
Eric — Gov. Greg Gianforte’s third State of the State address is slated for this coming Monday. Here’s an annotated look at the analogous address Gianforte’s Colorado counterpart, Gov. Jared Polis, delivered Thursday, courtesy of the Colorado Sun.
Mara — I spent last weekend getting reacquainted with the slopes of Great Divide, the mom-and-pop ski slope just northwest of Helena. It was fun but deeply humbling. If your ski ego (skego?) and actual body are similarly bruised after returning to the slopes, allow me to pass along some expert advice.
Zeke — It can be hard to find energy over winter weekends. The Cars 1978 self-titled debut album will energize your Fridays and Saturdays with a classic rock sound infused with an invigorating sense of motion.
Brad — One occupational hazard of a job in journalism is overloading the reading diet with nonfiction. I decided over the holidays to change things up and bought Samantha Harvey’s 2024 Booker Prize-winning novel “Orbital” in the Bozeman airport. It imagines a day in the life of a multinational team of astronauts orbiting Earth at 17,000 mph on a soon-to-be-retired space station. By the time my flight landed, I’d been utterly transported in more ways than one.
Holly — There’s a song by a now-defunct Canadian folk band I find myself listening to at the start of every legislative session I’ve covered. Like most sessions, the music starts cheerfully, builds to a level of franticness, and all gets resolved in the end.
Amanda — Watching “A Complete Unknown,” the film about Bob Dylan’s rise to fame, led me to a recording of a press conference Dylan gave in 1965. I especially liked the bit where he evaded a reporter’s question about whether he considered himself more of a writer or more of a musician.
JoVonne — It’s been about a year since Montana’s own Lily Gladstone made history by winning a Golden Globe. With award season in full swing again, Gladstone received another nomination for the Screen Actors Guild awards for Outstanding Performance for a Female Actor for a Television Movie or Limited Series with her performance in the crime show, Under The Bridge, ICT reported.
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