County Commissioner Joe Briggs is making the rounds with a menu of potential cuts aimed at reducing local property taxes. Briggs recently distributed the information shown in the graphics above and below at a local Pachyderm Club meeting.
Most of us would probably like to see our property taxes reduced. Most of us also want to retain at least some of the services Briggs has identified as potential cuts. The truth is that local governments have been put between a rock and a hard place by restrictions imposed by the legislature. Rigid limits on local-government funding have forced cuts to many local services—regardless of how necessary or popular those services are in the community.
On top of that, local business-development and recruitment efforts have turned into a legalized Ponzi scheme, providing tax breaks and deferrals to large corporations that often ignore the needs of the communities where they operate. Calumet is a master of this game. (See our previous post: https://wtf406.com/2025/05/how-large-industrial-corporations-like-calumet-are-screwing-you/ )
Janicki Industries is another recent example. The Electric reports that, under state law, Janicki’s property will be taxed at 50 percent of its taxable value for the first five years. Each year thereafter, the percentage will increase by equal increments until the property reaches its full taxable value in the tenth year.
Janicki also wants phased approval, allowing each phase to receive a separate tax-abatement period. Local county commissioners chose to give Janicki the minimum tax abatement allowed under state law: 80 percent. You can thank local legislator Steve Fitzpatrick for this particular gift to large corporations. See our post on Fitzpatrick’s legislation: (https://wtf406.com/2025/04/calumets-got-lawyers-and-politicians/ )
This situation is a direct result of Republican trickle-down economic theory. The idea is that reducing taxes frees up capital for businesses to expand. That expansion creates economic activity, which increases the tax base and helps pay for public services and amenities.
It sounds nice, but reality doesn’t work that way. Businesses have stronger incentives to increase returns for investors. They do that by increasing profit margins—often through higher prices, cutting expenses, such as employee benefits and wages, and shifting costs onto others in the community by failing to clean up their messes. They also use the political process to advance all of those goals.
And that leaves us with Joe’s chart of the budget and list of possible cuts.
In a place where the majority of officials are Republicans who believe the trickle down mythology, public services take a back seat to attracting big businesses. So Joe Brigg’s Wheel of Fortune offers nothing but cuts to services which erode the quality of life in Great Falls. But in fairness to Joe, there is not much he can do about it because the legislation passed by Steve Fitzpatrick and other corporate shills in the legislature tie his hands with state law.