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Last week, Montana Free Press got a tip that large numbers of mobile home owners across Montana are about to get hit with dramatic spikes in their property tax bills. That tip spurred me to drop by my local county treasurer’s office to ask whether she had been seeing this trend in Gallatin County.
I hadn’t reached out before I dropped by, but Treasurer Maureen Horton wasn’t surprised by my arrival, or my questions.
Days earlier, Horton noticed that roughly 65% of mobile home owners in Gallatin County were set to see large increases in their property tax bills. She told me she expected reporters to eventually start calling — and had even warned the county commission that this would make the headlines.
The Gallatin County treasurer was not alone in what she was seeing. In the last few days of April, county treasurers from across Montana quietly exchanged emails, telling their colleagues they were also seeing swells in mobile home tax bills.
What these treasurers noticed is the result of two main factors: new property tax laws taking effect in 2026 that require primary residents to enroll for preferential tax rates, and a striking lack of enrollments. If a Montana homeowner missed the deadline to apply for these rates, they will get assessed at a higher rate than in years past, thereby making their tax bills go up. For mobile home owners, those increases included some that nearly tripled. For instance, one residence’s property tax records in Billings went from $678 in 2025 to $1,941 in 2026.
Multiple county treasurers explained that residents often come to their offices, rather than the state’s Department of Revenue, to inquire about tax concerns.
“We’re just going to get chewed on for a little while, which is fine,” said Jefferson County Treasurer Terri Kunz. “They will be calling. I know they will.”
When these treasurers reached out to the Department of Revenue for advice, the department told them to remind the homeowners of the opportunity for refunds in 2027. But to secure that refund, homeowners must pay their 2026 bill in full, a requirement that could push some into a financial bind.
Mobile home owners may not be alone in these higher tax bills. On the state’s annual schedule of property tax collections, mobile home owners see their bills come due months earlier than most other residential homeowners. When the rest of the residential tax bills arrive in the fall, primary residents who did not enroll in the lower rates could see eye-popping increases as well.
You can read my full report about what county treasurers are seeing here. In the coming weeks, we plan to talk to mobile home owners about their experiences. If you’re a mobile home owner who has received a hefty property tax bill, you can reach me at [email protected].
— Victoria Eavis
Following the Law ⚖️
The ongoing dispute between Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is heating up, and earlier this week, the state Supreme Court agreed to weigh in.
The conflict began in early April when Knudsen sent a cease-and-desist to Cromwell, alleging that the Gallatin County prosecutor’s office had a policy not to recognize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a law enforcement agency entitled to receive certain confidential information. Knudsen also lambasted the Gallatin County attorney’s position, calling it “legally incorrect and inconsistent with Montana law.”
(Knudsen sent a similar cease-and-desist to the Helena City Commission in March, prompting the city to rescind its recently enacted resolution that restricted local police from working with federal immigration officers.)
Responding to Knudsen last month, Cromwell said that the information requested by ICE last fall was “nonpublic” regarding an individual in a civil matter. In that case, Cromwell said, her office had determined that ICE was not acting as a criminal justice agency.
The conflict escalated April 30 when Knudsen invoked supervisory control over Cromwell, directing her to share information with ICE and to produce related documents.
Cromwell subsequently called on Knudsen to issue a formal legal opinion to “provide uniformity and clarity across the state.” She maintained that her office does not have a policy regarding sharing information with ICE.
On May 1, Cromwell filed a petition with the state Supreme Court, asking the justices to declare that Montana counties cannot legally share certain information with ICE and to terminate Knudsen’s supervisory control.
While Knudsen ordered the county attorney to drop her own petition, the court this week agreed to hear the challenge and ordered Knudsen to file a response to the petition by May 14.
MTFP will be monitoring the latest battle between state and local jurisdictions over immigration enforcement.
— Nora Mabie
By the Numbers 🔢
2
The vote margin in the Ulm Public Schools levy election, according to unofficial results released Wednesday by the Cascade County elections office. The levy failed on a vote of 138 against and 136 in favor.
The district sought to raise $95,753 for operations at the school, which has 18 students enrolled in grades K-8.
County Elections Administrator Terry Thompson told MTFP that her staff hand-counted the Ulm ballots multiple times for the unofficial tally. There were also four rejected ballots that could have swayed the result. Ballots can be rejected for missing information, like signatures or birth years on envelopes for the mail-only election. But only one of those voters corrected and resubmitted their ballot, Thompson said. That ballot will be addressed during the election canvass, likely next week.
The margin of two votes doesn’t meet the statutory threshold for an automatic recount, which is 0.25% of the total votes cast for a ballot question. Even if the corrected ballot favors the Ulm school levy and brings the margin to one vote, it would still fall outside the recount threshold.
Read about how school levies fared in larger districts across Montana here.
— Matt Hudson
Departed 🥀
Ted Turner, the CNN media mogul-turned-conservationist, died Wednesday at age 87.
Turner made waves in Montana in 1989 when he purchased the Flying D Ranch south of Bozeman and started a decades-long rewilding of the vast property. Turner brought bison and wolves back to the landscape, restored native westslope cutthroat trout to Cherry Creek and welcomed grizzlies when they returned.
News of Turner’s passing spurred a flurry of statements, condolences and remembrances. Local and national environmental groups issued statements praising Turner for his vision — and highlighting some of Turner’s quirks, such as his brashness and famously short attention span. In a Wednesday afternoon statement, Wolves of the Rockies praised Turner for a legacy that “reaches far beyond media and into the very fabric of America’s wild landscapes.”
“Turner understood that conservation was not about preserving fragments, but about restoring systems — bringing back the relationships between land, wildlife and people,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post. “He will be deeply missed by those who believe in a wilder, more complete world, and his impact will endure wherever wildlife still has room to roam.”
Turner’s Montana landholdings total about 130,000 acres. Across the U.S., the Turner family owns about 2 million acres, many of which are in conservation easements designed to prevent habitat fragmentation wrought by residential and commercial development.
The Nature Conservancy holds the easements on Turner’s Montana properties. In an email to MTFP, CEO Jennifer Morris praised Turner’s convictions to protect nature “boldly and at scale.”
“His work helped redefine conservation, proving that private lands and private capital can be powerful sources for public good,” Morris said. “We’re all building on a path he helped create.”
— Amanda Eggert
Say What 🤔
Separatists in Alberta, Canada, said this week they have submitted more than enough signatures to trigger a vote on secession from the nation.
The group has submitted 302,000 signatures, according to the Associated Press. The government office that oversees elections in Alberta will now assess whether the coalition, Stay Free Alberta, has enough verifiable signatures to pass the 178,000-person threshold required to trigger a referendum vote.
But separatists still have to reckon with legal challenges, organized opposition and public sentiment.
First Nations groups — including the Blackfoot Confederacy, which has land in both Alberta and Montana — have challenged the secession in court, arguing that Alberta’s splitting from Canada would violate longstanding treaties. And other opponents of Stay Free Alberta have already gathered enough signatures for their own referendum, which would ask voters whether they want Alberta to remain part of Canada.
According to a poll by Janet Brown Opinion Research published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, only 27% of Albertans support secession.
— Zeke Lloyd
Snapshot 📸
A Yellowstone National Park firefighter takes part in a structural fire training exercise in the park April 3, 2026. This image is courtesy of National Park photographer Jacob W. Frank, and I was drawn to it as I’m thinking more and more about how to prepare for fire as a dry summer draws near.
— Lauren Miller
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
• Lots of news in Glacier this week. Park officials suspect a bear killed a hiker, which would be the first such fatal attack in nearly 30 years, and a federal appeals court gave a California couple the go-ahead to build a home along McDonald Creek.
• Our Amanda Eggert explored whether “forever chemicals” have made the fish in the Fort Peck Reservoir too polluted to eat.
• And, just three weeks after suspending his campaign amid allegations of sexual abuse, Montana state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy is back in the race.
On Our Radar
Amanda — Turning the last few pages of “Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World” the same day Ted Turner died felt a little poetic. Author Hillary Rosner often discusses the private sector’s role in securing wildlife habitat. Rosner will be on a book tour through Montana later this month. You can catch her in conversation with Mountain Journal editor Joe O’Connor May 27 in Bozeman and May 28 in Livingston.
Lauren — Ultramarathoner Rachel Entrekin is the only name you need to know this week. She’s the first woman to win the Cocodona 250, a legendary hardcore 250-mile race through the Arizona mountains and high desert. She went 2.5 hours below the course record and finished over an hour before the first male. Three women also finished in the top 10 this year, the first time that has ever happened. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m only here for the women’s race, baby.
Katie — With a seven-hour-long drive ahead of me this weekend, I’m extremely grateful for the Libby app, through which I can borrow audiobooks from the library. Listen to any compelling books lately? Suggestions for my drive home are welcome!
Zeke — I was happy to see Capital High and Helena High students in downtown Helena last Friday for the Vigilante Parade. But, being a Helena High fan, I was even happier when the Bengals defeated their crosstown rivals in a nail-biter softball game this week.
Mara — So, how clean does your house really need to be before company comes to stay? What if those visitors are close friends? I’m pretty committed to making guests feel welcomed and cared for. I’m less attached to the idea of pretending to be a fundamentally different (read: neurotically clean) person than I actually am. Luckily, Martha Stewart has some hacks for striking the right balance.
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Lowdown is edited by Nick Ehli with additional copy editing by Mara Silvers.