Letters to the editor July 13

The way it was

Now that I’m an old man and have too much time to think, I wish that I could change things.

I have lived here in the valley almost 50 years and came here fro the way it was. I quit an $80,000 a year job to move here, that was a lot of money at that time so it should be obvious how much I wanted to be here. I swept floor at Kmart and went as far as Houston and northern Arizona for work just o be able to keep a home here.

Where is it written that our cities or county have to provide hosing for those who come here? I know why they do it — it’s called money. It come in the form of taxes and campaign donations. Are houses and apartments more important than crops? Some farmers share the blame and it was for the almighty dollar when they sold their land to developers. We had a small farm and it is still crops and pasture. Our current one is 20 acres (no, it’s not for sale). We now have a governor who wants to see Montana look like every place else.

I cannot understand why you would trade quality of life for money. Growth brings more crime, and I don’t remember a homeless problem when we moved here. Yes, there will always be folks who find themselves without a home, but most will work any type of job rather than panhandle. Growth and all of it’s accompanying problems is not progress.

Our medical care when we moved here was not provided by a corporate monopoly. And if we can find an independent doctor, we are still forced to go to Logan Health for testing and surgery.

I do so miss this valley the way it was. So many will never know how great this place was.

— Glen Hook, Kalispell

Tax blame

Montana Legislature did not raise our property taxes.

In Sunday’s paper former Gov. Brian Schweitzer sounds off against our current state government because he thinks they are raising our property taxes. This is false.

I did a few minutes of research on the internet and found: the Montana Legislature does property appraisals every two years and sets the taxable value of different classes of properties. This is not the same as the tax paid. Local governments and school boards actually set the tax millage rate on this taxable value, not the Legislature.

Blaming higher taxes on the Republican Supermajority is misleading and incorrect. The reason your property tax is going up is that your property values are going up. Why have property values gone up? Higher demand for housing and inflation.

The percentage of taxes paid by individual property owners has been going up for the past 24 years. This is not new. Montana property taxes are not high compared to the rest of the nation, we are ranked No. 34.

Do we need residential property tax correction? Most likely yes. Will this ever happen? Most likely no, no matter which party is in power.

— William Fry, Kalispell