Voter Guide: Senate District 2
Doug Adams (R)
Age: NA
Family: Wife, Camie. Sons, Mac, Morgan, Kiefer.
Occupation: Landscaper, vacation rental property owner
Background: Whitefish city councilor and deputy mayor, Whitefish Parks board, Whitefish Pedestrian and Bike Path Committee, Easement Negotiator for Whitefish Bike Path System, youth soccer coach, Cross Currents Christian School board, Upper Thompson Lake Christian Retreat board, Rotary Club member, Glacier Pachyderm Club board, Flathead County Library board, Cub Scout leader, sings in the Glacier Chorale.
What property tax reform policies do you support?
I’ll support tax reform policies that don’t just shift the burden from one group to another, policies that result in less government spending. Everyone says that the government needs to lower property taxes, but no one can figure out “how to pay for it” and keep asking “what will it cost?”. That’s the real problem--seeing it as a cost to government. That mindset tells us that government has a huge sense of entitlement, and we all know that government has an insatiable appetite and can take as much as it wants. Lowering taxes means government gets less money, and working people get to keep more money. How many times have you read in the newspaper that the government is spending some ridiculous amount of money on something that you don’t want to support? Makes you wish you had control of your money, doesn’t it? One main goal of the legislature should be to keep your taxes low. That’s my goal: cut government spending so that you keep more of your money, so that you can decide how and where to spend your money. Americans are the most giving people on Earth. Let us decide how our money is spent. We don’t need government dictating our priorities or our values with our money.
Did the 2023 legislative session do enough to address the state’s housing crunch? Are there other avenues you’re in favor of pursuing?
When government gets involved in private industry issues, you can bet that it will create more problems than solutions. Why is the housing “crunch” any different? Unintended consequences of “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” affect property values and quality of life. Bad government policies have caused inflation. Inflation makes housing, and everything else, unaffordable. If housing is unaffordable, then builders will build less, because they can’t sell their product. What’s the answer? Let us keep more of our money! Therefore, the answer to the question “Did the legislature do enough” is no, because they didn’t quit spending so much. What taxpayers should loudly demand of our state government is to lower the budget, which is currently $19.5 billion dollars over every biennium. Let that sink in: nearly $10 billion spent every year for a population of just over a million people.
Public school districts across the state are facing budget shortfalls. What role can the Legislature play in shoring up public education funding?
This is a touchy subject, because we all want our kids to have the best education they can get, while not feeding government’s insatiable appetite. But we have to apply more than just an emotional, heartstrings-tugging mindset to the issue. Take the emotion out and look at it rationally. School systems are not facing budget shortfalls anymore than private citizens and all levels of government. If they need shoring up, then the solution is to have better government policies, more efficiency, and lower budgets. Schools routinely have bond elections for everything from capital improvements to general operations. Over time, these add thousands of dollars to our property tax bills. Why should the legislature tax you more on top of that? 61% of my property taxes already goes directly to schools. Exactly how much more should they take? Is more money the answer to all the school systems’ needs, or is it just the answer to their desires? What are we teaching our children about financial responsibility when governments, including schools, can’t manage their own budgets and continue to demand more and more of your money? We have to live within our budgets. So should governments, schools included.
How do you view the judicial branch in the state?
Each branch of government has its own role, and each branch should “stay in its own lane”. Our state Supreme Court has been accused of driving in the legislature’s lane by overruling many laws that the legislators, who were elected by you to represent your wishes regarding laws, have made. We call this “legislating from the bench”. I can’t say that I disagree. But I don’t want to do the same thing to them, and I’m doubtful that the legislature could actually do anything to impact what the Supreme Court does anyway. The Court seems to think they’re untouchable. Arrogant, but they’re probably correct. Regardless, two wrongs don’t make a right. If you think that our judges, whether it be the supreme court or lower courts, are unwise, the solution is to vote better people in.
What other policies or issues would you like to address if elected?
I want to outlaw taxes on social security. Not everyone is rich in their old age. For many elderly people, financial insecurity is real. Taxing social security is a double tax. It is immoral. It should be illegal, and the state should be ashamed for doing it. It is driven by greed and a complete lack of respect for lives spent grinding out a living to support their families, lives that need every dollar they earned to support themselves in these tough economic times. The federal government insisted on holding our money for us because they didn’t trust us to handle it ourselves. Now our state government is keeping part of it for themselves. Montana is one of only 10 states in the US that does this. It disgusts me.
Dave Fern (D)
Age: NA
Occupation: Small business owner
Family: Wife Heather, grown children
Background: Eight years in the Montana Legislature, Whitefish School Board
What property tax reform policies do you support?
I was a member of the Property Tax Task Force. We divided into sub-committees and researched the causes of escalating taxes including the appraisal values, municipal and county budget caps and school funding. The mitigation of residential and business appraisals offer immediate relief to small businesses and full-time primary residences through a Homestead and Comstead Exemption. In order for success two things must occur. First, the exemption must be modelled as to meet statewide needs and secondly, the exemption must have political support along with a signature from the next governor. I believe this mitigation strategy meets such goals. As a member of the Tax Fairness Sub-Committee I strongly support such exemptions to provide meaningful property tax relief.
Did the 2023 legislative session do enough to address the state’s housing crunch? Are there other avenues you’re in favor of pursuing?
The legislature addressed the housing crisis through two bills of substance. HB 819 consolidated several bills to offer low interest loans for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing, the formation of a shared equity mortgage buy-down. Recently, through HD 872 and the Behavioral Health Commission, up to one million dollars will be authorized for a section 8 rent study that will yield accurate up to date reimbursements from HUD. SB 382, the Montana Land Use Act, streamlines the zoning and sub-division review and front loads the growth policy process to encourage public participation and robust discussion. Moving forward, the legislature should consider a state low income housing tax credit as a companion to the limited number of federal tax credits awarded to the Board of Housing. We should consider a housing trust fund within the existing Coal Trust Fund through projected ending fund surplus dollars.
Public school districts across the state are facing budget shortfalls. What role can the Legislature play in shoring up public education funding?
Local property taxes fund schools along with approximately 18% of our assessed mills going to the state to equalize funding for low taxable value districts. It is imperative the next legislature enact property tax reforms to assist schools in the passage of levies and blunt the effects of additional budget authority from the legislature. This coming year, 2025, the decennial school funding study shall occur during the interim following the regular 2025 session. This will be a deep dive into our funding formula, including shortfalls that may fail to conform with the state’s constitutional obligation for funding that provides adequate funding and meets equity standards. The next legislature should provide a boost beyond the maximum 3% increase in budget authority to address the short-term effects of covid caused inflation that left general budgets of school districts with inadequate funds. The subsequent legislature should then heed the advice from the decennial study and implement reforms to better meet sustainability.
How do you view the judicial branch in the state?
Montana has an independent judiciary that is obliged to follow our laws unless such laws are deemed unconstitutional. Judges are non-partisan and I support retaining that status. We the people elect our judges and with minimal effort required, there is ample information available concerning the candidates.
What other policies or issues would you like to address if elected?
I am fortunate to have been appointed to the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission, a product of HB 872. We have the potential to utilize 300 million dollars from the surplus from the last biennium to make substantial fixes to our system that provides essential services for Montanan’s with developmental disabilities, behavioral health maladies and co-occurring diagnosis. Twenty-two long-term recommendations have been submitted to the governor’s office following a year of research by the Commission. There are funds to implement the recommendations but long-term sustainable funding will necessitate increased base funding, which will leverage federal funding. Our recommendations center around increased diagnostic and preventative services along with reforms of wait lists and incentives through college reimbursement to increase essential staff such as case workers. With consultation with the executive office, bills will be coming forward in the next session to reform the system. I will be supporting such bills
Doug Adams
Dave Fern