Supplemental property tax sparks confusion across Flathead County

Kalispell resident David Maas said he pays his taxes in full every year, so learning a lien had been placed on his property for failure to pay came as an unwelcome surprise.

After receiving the notice in the mail, Maas went to the office of the Flathead County Treasurer for answers. He found a line of around a dozen other people, all carrying a similar letter, he said.  

“Of all the people there, we were all in the same situation,” Maas said.  “I received the lien letter based on the fact I hadn't paid some additional money, which I didn't know I had to do, because I never was given a notification.” 

The outstanding payment that Maas was unaware of was a supplemental bill sent out in March, the result of a court bout between 49 Montana counties and the state.  

County commissioners across Montana, including in Flathead County, decided to charge a lower number of school equalization property tax mills for the 2023 tax year, arguing that the Department of Revenue’s desired amount was too high for inflation. The Montana Department of Revenue, who argued that the state had the authority to impose the requested number of mills, took the counties to court — and won.  

That courtroom victory prompted the circulation of a supplemental tax bill that filled the missing mill gap. 

Around 64,000 supplemental tax bills were sent out across Flathead County with a payment deadline of May 31, according to Flathead County Treasurer Adele Krantz.  

But Maas said he never received notice in the mail and was never notified of the pending lien.  

“People didn't get notified, so therefore they didn't have any way to respond.” Maas said. “We don’t feel that’s right.”   

Fortunately for Maas and others like him, the roughly 4,700 tax lien certificates that were sent out across the valley on Aug. 2 are being rescinded, according to Krantz. Not all tax lien certificates sent out were attributable to unpaid supplemental taxes, but all liens were rescinded regardless, Krantz said.  

Last year, about 2,000 delinquent tax notices were sent out, according to Krantz, and the increase is because of the supplemental bill.  

“I’ve told many of the taxpayers, because of some people saying that they did not receive this extra tax bill because it was in March, for some reason, that we wouldn’t file those liens until later in August instead of the beginning of August,” she said. 

The new deadline for payment of all delinquent taxes, whether due to the supplemental tax or not, is Aug. 29 at 5 p.m. Once the new deadline passes, any remaining unpaid taxes will be subject to liens. 

UNDER MONTANA code, all taxes not paid before May 31 at 5 p.m. are delinquent and “draw interest at the rate of 5/6 of 1% a month from and after the delinquency until paid, and 2% must be added to the delinquent taxes as a penalty.” 

Penalties incurred for payments not made by the original May 31 deadline are still required to be paid, said Krantz. 

While Maas’s penalty amounted to no more than a couple of dollars, he said that some people in the treasurer’s office that day had higher penalties.  

“In my case, probably the postage would be more than the penalty I paid, but there are others who paid substantially, and they should be reimbursed,” he said.     

But that’s not how state law works. 

“There isn’t any grace period for any penalty interest,” Krantz said. “The law even says that if they don’t receive a tax notice, they still have to pay penalty interest if they don’t pay it by the deadline.” 

Hundreds of tax notices have made their way back to Krantz’s desk after failing to reach their destination.  

“My staff tries to find them. But in the law, I’m only required to send tax notices out to the last known address,” she said. “I’ve got hundreds still sitting here, you know, trying to find where those people are.” 

“It’s not even actually my department to handle addresses. All addresses are done in the plat room,” Krantz added.

The Flathead County Plat Room is the official source of land ownership information and handles change of owners’ addresses for tax purposes, according to its website.  

“The main question is, where did the mail go? It went to the post office, but where did the mail go? I don’t know,” Krantz said. 

Several hundred outstanding payments were due to misinterpretation of the supplemental bill as a revised second installment, according to Krantz.  Some taxpayers thought the bill was a lowered version of the second half of their bill due May 31.  

Part of this confusion, she said, came from the formatting of the supplemental bill, which was created by Tyler Technologies, a software vendor. 

Other than the extension, Montana’s tax code remains unchanged, and any unpaid taxes after the Aug. 29 deadline will result in tax lien certificates and after three years go into public auction. 

Krantz said that while taxpayers may not have received notification in the mail, other avenues are available to check their tax status.  

“It’s always online. Anybody can see their tax bill anytime, 24/7. They can see what their taxes are and what the status is on that,” she said.  

Krantz said notification of the supplemental bill was posted on Facebook, the website for the office of the Treasurer and placed in the pages of the Daily Inter Lake. 

This supplemental bill is the first of its kind, and Krantz said that she has heard from several treasurers in the state that it has been the hardest tax season they’ve ever experienced.  

“It’s been the worst tax season that they’ve ever had because of confusion,” she said. 

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at junderhill@dailyinterlake.com and 758-4407.