by Helena Lovick | Feb 13, 2026 | Contamination, Corporations, Protests, Taxes, Taxpayers
Photo credit David Saslav
Great Falls, MT
A couple of hardy protesters have been protesting outside of the Calumet Montana Refinery every first and third Monday at 7:30 AM. Why are they doing that?
Fair Taxes
We’ve talked before about how Calumet and politicians in Calumet’s pocket are screwing you. Let’s talk about what happened recently with Calumet’s tax protest.
Every year, Calumet pays all of their required taxes into an escrow account because they concurrently protest the tax valuation. The money is then held in that escrow account and not released for use until the tax protest is settled. Calumet’s goal is to make maximum profits by minimizing the amount of tax they are required to pay. Historically, Calumet “wins” in their tax protest and the actual amount of tax they have to pay is dramatically reduced. Meaning they claw back a portion of the amount sitting in that escrow account.
According to the Electric, Calumet will get $1.4 million tax dollars back after they reached a settlement on their tax protest for tax years 2022 to 2024. Another example of how Calumet protests their taxes was a settlement in 2025. As reported in the Electric, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Montana Renewables (the biofuel side of Calumet) settled to increase the tax exempt portion of the refinery and Cascade County will have to pay back the overcharges since the tax exempt adjustment was backdated a few years.
While it may be legal to protest taxes, it hurts our community. It makes it impossible for our schools and city and county governments to budget not knowing how much of the taxes they will ultimately receive. Every dollar Calumet gets out of paying, has to be made up by the rest of the tax payers.
Most taxpayers pay their taxes on time and without protest. Then those same taxpayers give even more back to their community, by contributing to good causes like school PTAs, food banks, and more. Meanwhile, we continue to supply Calumet with roads, bridges, rail access, water, and more. We’re not expecting Calumet to do more than we do ourselves. We’re asking them to be good neighbors and give back to a community that gives so much to them.
If not the tax stuff, what else are they protesting?
This might surprise you but…Calumet could be doing more to respect our environment.
In January 2025, Montana Renewables publicly committed to building an on-site water treatment facility. This would prevent their wastewater from being trucked out and dumped elsewhere. Instead, Montana Renewables is still carrying their pollution down the road with no plans in site for the water cleaning facility. That transportation costs money too, and Montana Renewables is looking at alternative ways to dispose of the waste. One potential pathway for this mystery waste water is a proposed permit to allow wastewater to be injected into inactive oil wells such as by Lake Frances in Montana. The actual chemical composition of the wastewater is unknown and the proposed wells may lead to contamination of the Madison Aquifer, a source of drinking water for hundreds of wells in Montana. Yikes!!
One of the protesters, Donna Williams, pointed out “We’re not protesting; we’re rallying behind our refinery to get it right. Most other SAF [Sustainable Aviation Fuel] facilities have wastewater treatment and we want ours to have it, too.”
As reported in the Montana Free Press, “Montana Renewables’ environmental assessment estimates that its pretreatment unit will produce as much as 232,000 gallons of wastewater each day.” That’s a lot of waste. It’s the right thing to do to process that waste to prevent a bigger problem down the road (literally). Let’s not risk polluting our ground water. Montana Renewables can do the right thing and treat their wastewater.
Sounds like good reasons to protest to me!
Upcoming Protests on the corner of 10 St NE and Smelter Ave NE
1st and 3rd Mondays, 7:30-8:00 AM
- February 16th
- March 2nd
- March 16th
by Helena Lovick | May 29, 2025 | Global Warming, Legislature, Taxes, Town Hall Meeting
Great Falls, MT
On Wednesday May 28th, a group of local organizers, Citizens 4 Government Transparency, hosted a Town Hall with the 2025 Cascade County State Legislators. The legislators present were Jane Weber (D-HD-19), Jeremy Trebas (R-SD-10), Wendy McKamey (R-SD-12), Steve Fitzpatrick (R-HD-24), and Eric Tilleman (R-HD-23). Before I start joking around, I’d like to mention that I do give these legislators credit for being willing to hear from the public. It seems so many legislators, in particular Republicans, avoid their constituents and refuse to face any public backlash. So tip of the hat to these legislators for showing up.
Is Global Warming Real?
About 100 people were present in the audience, and a steady stream of questions were presented to the legislators from the crowd. The highlight of the night was when an audience member asked the legislators if they believe in global warming. Jane Weber quickly raised her hand and said, “I do!” Then hilariously the entire Republican contingent asserted that they didn’t. Seriously in 2025. Truly stupid, bury your head in the sand denialism. But we have people out here not willing to vaccinate their dogs against rabies, so the bar is truly in hell with anti-science beliefs.
So check, climate change isn’t real for Republicans. Hope that works out for them since we’re on a warming planet together. At least the crowd scoffed with me!
Let’s Make Income Inequality Worse
A question I raised during the town hall was about HB 337. As reported by the Montana Free Press: “House Bill 337 reduces the state’s top-bracket tax rate down from 5.9% to 5.4% over the next two years. It also raises the maximum threshold for the state’s lower tax bracket, where income is taxed at a lower 4.7% rate, and expands a tax credit available to lower-income working families.” All of the Republicans present voted for it, and the governor signed it into law in April.
I asked, if we have to make cuts to essential services in the future, would the Republican delegation be willing to reverse the income tax cuts they had made? Of course, not a single one of them answered that question, they just talked around it.
Then Representative Steve Fitzpatrick started talking about how making $41,000 a year isn’t rich, so people making that wage should get a tax cut. Cool, cool. Quick question, why are people making $41,000 annually lumped in with people making $250,000+ annually? As you can see in the table below, in Montana, all income from $41,000+ is taxed exactly the same.
Crazy idea, but we could and should focus on distinguishing between people making only $41,000 a year from millionaires so that the tax rates can be cut for the middle and lower class income earners and NOT CUT FOR THE ULTRA RICH. Instead, Gianforte is aiming for a flat tax rate to help the rich get even richer. (A flat income tax applies the same rate to all taxpayers, regardless of their income). How much more can you squeeze out of people below the poverty line, you damn ghouls?!
And on that note, let’s focus on electing representatives that want a fair tax system and legislation to actually help address the inevitable effects of global warming. A girl can dream.
by Ken Toole | Nov 20, 2024 | City, Elections, Taxes
The successful attempt by Rick Tryon to take money from the library and give it to public safety in Great Falls has less to do with protecting the public and more to do with the attack on public libraries here in Montana and across the country. Let’s recap the attack on our local library.
Remember The Library Mill Levy
In February of 2023, the city commission voted unanimously to place a levy on the ballot to increase funding for the library. The proposed levy would raise $1.5 million. In April, anti-library activists, including members of the Pachyderm Club and other loosely affiliated individuals, formed a political action committee to raise money and oppose the levy. They ran a very nasty and aggressive campaign with lots of misinformation and false allegations. Sandra Merchant’s administration of the election was so suspect that a judge appointed a special monitor to assure that the election was conducted properly. The election was held on June 6th. The proposed increase in mills was approved by voters.
Tryon and McKenney Seek Revenge in Board Appointments
The first indication that Tryon and his supporters were going to “get even” with the library came in July with the next appointments to the library board. Based on recommendations from the library board, Jerry Hopkins, a current librarian for the school district, and current board member Anne Bulger came before the city commission for appointment. All of a sudden Tryon, accompanied by Joe McKenney, raised concerns about the “process” used to appoint board members. They wanted to see the positions advertised, something that had not been required in the past. In fact, both Tryon and McKenney had voted to reappoint two members of the Business Improvement District just two weeks before. Neither raised any concerns about the “process” in making those appointments. https://wtf406.com/2023/08/city-commission-changes-the-rules-for-library-board-appointments/
The library went through the new selection exercise, advertising the openings, conducting public interviews, and came back with a recommendation to appoint Bulger and Hopkins to the library board. Rather than accepting the library board’s recommendation, Tryon, McKenney and Eric Hinebauch voted to appoint Noelle Johnson without interviewing any of the applicants. Johnson had pointed out in her application that she had opposed the library levy. After forcing the library board to jump through the hoops of advertising and interviewing 11 applicants and then ignoring their recommendations, the Electric reported that Tryon said of his vote that he wasn’t basing it on technical qualifications.
Tryon’s $30 Million Safety Levy Failed Popular Vote
Now let’s take a look at Tryon’s failure to pass a safety levy. In January of 2021, Tryon floated the idea of putting together a task force to examine the needs and costs for improving public safety in Great Falls. In March, Tryon presented a draft resolution to implement the study process to the full commission. The city commission approved setting up the task force. In November, the task force recommendations were presented to the commissioners. The recommendations from the task force presented a long (and expensive) list. In spring and early summer of 2023, the commision authorized placing a $21.17 million public safety infrastructure bond, and a separate $10.7 million public safety operations levy, on the ballot. In November, the public safety levy and accompanying bond both failed by wide margins.
Library Funding Cut Has Little to Do With Public Safety
To recap, the identified need for public safety in Great Falls was estimated by the city to be a little over $31 million. The total raised by the library mill levy passed by voters was $1.5 million. If the city takes back its portion (the library serves the city and county) of the approved mill levy for public safety, it will cost the library $842,800, which is 27% of its total budget. That means reducing hours, services and staff. The library board has proposed giving $301,000 to the city as a compromise. The library believes the compromise will still allow it to meet the goals it advertised in the mill campaign, which was approved by voters.
Cutting through all the crap, Tryon and McKenney have dished out about needing the money, the truth is that taking the small amount available from the library budget does almost nothing to alleviate the $31 million needed for public safety. But it does provide a nifty pretext for siding with the far right in their effort to censor our public library.
by Ken Toole | Jul 9, 2024 | Taxes
In November of 2023, the Department of Revenue issued a paper warning legislators and others that Montana was facing dramatic increases in property taxes because of the increase in property values across the state. This was not the first time Montana had seen dramatic increases in property values. In the past, the legislature had avoided people’s bills going up by adjusting the state property tax rate multiplier in the residential property tax formula. It has been a simple fix. For more details follow this link https://dailymontanan.com/2023/07/26/big-corporations-get-tax-benefits-while-montana-resident-get-higher-property-taxes/
As legislators, both Lola Sheldon-Galloway and Steven Galloway were perfectly happy to let property taxes in Montana increase dramatically. But now it seems they were none too happy with the tax they were paying on their own property. Maybe it’s just that all of the public outcry following the last legislature got them thinking they might be able to play the same game large corporations, like Calumet, play in filing appeals then negotiating a “settlement” with the Department of Revenue behind closed doors. (See this editorial about property tax appeals:
https://dailymontanan.com/2024/06/26/there-is-a-way-for-montana-residential-property-taxes-to-go-down/ )
In case you didn’t know it, Galloway Investments owns the Dairy Queen located at 1651 Fox Farm Road. In late November of last year, the Galloways appealed their property taxes. Specifically, they challenged the Montana Department of Revenue’s appraisal of the value of the land the building sits on. After reviewing the appraised value at the request of the Galloways, the Department of Revenue stood by its valuation of the land value of $245,187, rejecting the Galloways’ estimate of the land being valued at $70,882. The Galloways then appealed the Department of Revenue’s valuation to the County Tax Appeals Board. The hearing on the Galloways’ appeal was held in early April. The County Tax Appeals Board denied the Galloways’ ’ appeal and left the valuation of the land at $245,187. On April 13th, WTF406 filed a public information request with the county requesting information on the Galloways’ appeal. The County Attorney’s office provided the information on June 13th.
Despite the fact that the Galloways have owned the property for at least 15 years and the property taxes have slowly increased overtime like many of the rest of us, suddenly they decided they just weren’t going to take it anymore and filed an appeal. And they proposed a dramatic reduction in the estimated value of the land, from $245,189 to $70,882, amounting to a reduction of more than 70 percent ($174,305). Wow!
Their justification in the appeal was that the land valuation is “Ridiculous.” They also argue that the Fox Farm Road Dairy Queen should be similar in value to the Dairy Queen on 9th Avenue, which they also own. According to their appeal, the value per square foot of the Fox Farm property is $17.87, while the 9th Avenue store is taxed at $5.16 per square foot.
The problem for the Galloways is that the Dairy Queen on 9th is not comparable. The Department of Revenue appraises land value of the 9th Street property at $116,250. The locations of the two properties are very different. Specifically, The Fox Farm location is just off 10th Avenue South and faces Fox Farm Rd, one of the busiest intersections in Great Falls. It is across the street from The Heritage Inn. The 9th Street Dairy Queen is tucked away in a mixed use neighborhood with far less traffic than the Fox Farm Road property. Many commercial properties have value based largely on the amount of traffic that can easily access the business.
After hearing the Galloways’ appeal, the local tax appeals board agreed with the Department of Revenue and denied their request for a tax break. They had thirty days from receipt of the local Tax Appeals Board decision to file an appeal with the State Tax Appeals Board. They apparently decided not to appeal.
It is ironic that both Galloways sat in legislative seats while the property tax crisis was tumbling through the 2024 legislature and did nothing. Lola Sheldon-Galloway sat on the House Taxation Committee for two sessions of the legislature, and Steven Galloway sat on the House Business and Labor Committee. They both had an opportunity to address Montana’s increase in property taxes. They chose to ignore it.
by Guest Writer | Jun 1, 2024 | Taxes
By Ryan Busse
Greg Gianforte raised your property taxes. And he did it deliberately, in order to give the wealthy and corporations huge tax cuts. That’s a simple truth that our governor doesn’t want you to hear, but it’s important for all Montanans to understand as we decide whether Gianforte deserves a second term.
Just last year, Gianforte and his supermajority in the Montana Legislature faced an important choice: Should they follow the recommendation from Gianforte’s own Department of Revenue, which suggested lowering the residential property tax rate from 1.35% to .94%in order to keep property taxes neutral — as previous Republican and Democratic governors have done? Or should they ignore that suggestion and bow to the lobbyists of wealthy corporations who pleaded for millions in tax cuts to bolster their profits?
Gianforte, of course, chose Option Two, walloping Montana homeowners and renters with the highest tax hike in state history so corporations could get their tax cuts. It hit the rest of us hard. The Gianforte Tax Hike is pinching Montana families at a time when our state is already facing a housing crisis.
Under Gianforte’s watch, Montana is the most expensive it’s ever been. And then he made it worse.
Only one Montanan — our governor — is ultimately responsible for raising property taxes. But that’s not what Gianforte wants you to believe. “It’s the counties’ fault,” he falsely claims. Or “city governments spend too much money,” he says. Those are lies. Just ask the countless elected Republican county commissioners and municipal leaders across our state who are furious that Gianforte is blaming them, willfully bearing false witness against his own neighbors.
Speaking of his neighbors, Gianforte is faring pretty well through his own tax hike, and that raises even more serious questions about whether he deserves a second term.
Public records show Gianforte’s next-door neighbors in Bozeman got slapped with a tax increase of nearly 71% in 2023, bringing their annual property taxes to over $11,680. But Gianforte’s mansion only got a tax increase of 19%, totaling $7,088. And it gets much, much worse.
Gianforte owns another mansion in Helena. According to a blistering investigation by MTN News, property taxes on every one of the 75 homes surrounding his privately owned mansion in Helena shot up dramatically. One of his neighbors got hit with a 62% tax hike. But what happened to Gianforte’s own property taxes? You guessed it. Somehow the tax bill on his Helena mansion went down nearly 7%. He gave himself a tax cut.
All of this is incredible but none of it is conjecture. It’s all easily verifiable with a few clicks on publicly available tax databases. And the governor hasn’t denied any of this. He refuses to answer questions about it.
Perhaps he believes it’s just his right to make things easier for wealthy people and harder for ordinary families. Perhaps he is proud of giving himself and his wealthy friends millions that could fund our public schools or provide tax relief to working people across this state.
Perhaps we should just take him at his word. After all, he warned us what his approach would be when he proclaimed, “the fairest tax is the one you pay and the one I don’t.”
One thing is for sure. As Montana faces another historic budget surplus, Greg Gianforte cannot be given another opportunity to make things even worse for the rest of us. He’s promised to stack the deck for people like him. We should believe him.
Ryan Busse, a former firearms executive, is a Democratic candidate for Montana governor.
by WTF 406 Staff | Oct 16, 2023 | Elections, Taxes
Despite repeatedly claiming that they are “fiscal conservatives,” our property taxes have increased under Republican control at the state and local level over just the last couple of years. And not just a little bit.
Proponents of mill levies (here and elsewhere) routinely tell us the impact of their proposal is a relatively small amount on a given home. They also routinely provide examples of low value houses. For example, Rocket Homes estimates the average value of a home in Cascade County is $305,581, not the $200,000 value that is being used by promoters of the City of Great Falls Safety Levy. Here’s a statement from their web page: “The Great Falls Public Safety Levy will cost approximately $280.11 a year for a home with an assessed market value for tax purposes of $200,000 if milled to the maximum.”
County Safety Levy + $56.00 Per Year
Last November voters approved a County Safety Levy which was promoted by Sheriff Jesse Slaughter and the County Commissioners, majority Republicans. The proposal was for raising $2.46 million annually. The estimated impact of the County Safety Levy on a $300,000 house in Great Falls was $56.00 per year. (As an aside, Sheriff Slaughter got a 35% raise after the levy passed).
https://theelectricgf.com/2022/08/19/county-sending-2-46-public-safety-levy-to-november-ballot/.
Library Levy + $60.00 Per Year
Next up is the local library mill levy which passed this year. This levy added an estimated $60.00 per year to a $300,000 home. It’s important to note that $300,000 of the money from this levy did not go to the library and instead went to the city’s general fund.
https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2023/06/07/public-library-mill-levy-passes-by-52-to-48-margin/70297030007/
Great Falls City Safety Levy +420.00 Per Year If Passed
Next up is Commissioner Rick Tryon’s pet project, the City of Great Falls Safety Levy, which will be decided in November. This is from the Safety Levy website: “Great Falls residents will see an annual increase in their property taxes. When fully implemented, the Great Falls Public Safety Levy will cost approximately $140.06 per year ($11.67 per month) for a home with an assessed market value for tax purposes of $100,000, and $280.11 per year ($23.34 per month) for a home with an assessed market value for tax purposes of $200,000 if milled to the maximum.“ Remember, the average cost of a home in Great Falls is over $300,000. If you use that value, the cost to an average homeowner will be more like $420.
Great Falls Safety Infrastructure Bond +$66.60 Per Year If Passed
But wait, there’s more. In addition, the City is proposing a bond election on the November ballot. The Electric describes the proposed bond election this way: “The bonds may be sold in one or more series, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed Twenty-One Million One Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($21,175,000.00), bearing interest at rates to be determined at the time of the sale, payable semiannually over the term not to exceed twenty years for each series of bonds.”
Depending on the assumptions one makes about the interest rate on the bonds and total valuation of property in the City, the property tax increase will be $66.60 per year for a $300,000 dollar home. https://theelectricgf.com/2023/06/23/city-commissioners-vote-to-send-public-safety-infrastructure-bond-to-the-november-ballot/
How Does all of this affect a below average citizen?
Just for fun let’s take a look at how this state property tax increase affects the property tax of the biggest promoter of the City’s Safety Levy, City Commissioner Rick Tryon. To do this, we took Rick’s house through the www.taxshiftmt.com web based property tax calculator. The value of Rick’s house is considerably below the average value for Cascade County, weighing in at $227,900. Rick’s total property tax increase thanks to the Governor and the Republican legislature is $371.83. Rounding his home value down to $200,000 to simplify the math, Rick will pay an additional $280 per year if the City Safety Levy passes. The Library levy added an additional $40, and the County safety levy added $37. The safety levy bond issuance would add an additional $44.40 per year. Add all that together and it’s an increase of $772 to Rick’s property taxes. In 2022, Rick’s property tax bill was $1962. When all of these changes take effect, it will be about $2734. . .almost a 40% increase in just one year.
State Legislature’s Increase Statewide Average Increase 45%
The Republican Montana Legislature in 2023 was a virtual orgy of tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations, while giving the average homeowner the largest property tax increase in recent memory. On average, a Montana homeowner’s property tax increase is 45% thanks to the Legislature and Administration.
Republicans had a supermajority at the legislature, and all Cascade County’s legislative seats are held by Republicans. The county commission and the sheriff are all Republican. Though the Great Falls City Commission is technically non-partisan, Republicans hold a majority on the Commission. Councilman Joe McKenney is a former Republican Legislator. Councilman Eric Hinebauch is Chair of the local Republican Central Committee, and Councilman Rick Tryon, who routinely spews right-wing talking points from his perch as a writer for a local blog and from his seat on the City Commission, has also run for office as a Republican.
Who’s the tax and spend party?
-KT
Note: In this article, we are talking about local mill levies, so we want to point out a couple of things. Figuring out the exact impact of mill levies can be difficult, because they usually just allow local jurisdictions to levy up to a maximum. They do not automatically result in a set amount of tax increases. The impact of mill levies also changes over time based on a number of things, including valuation of the jurisdiction’s entire tax base. Bottom line numbers can be squishy. Our figures are mostly taken from articles by The Electric and various websites.
