Wait to Pay the Extra Missoula Property Tax Until 2nd Half is Due

(UPDATE: 12/1/23 at 10:38 AM)

County Treasurer has More Guidance on how to Pay Property Taxes 

Missoula County property taxpayers are reeling over the increased amounts they have to pay since the recent reappraisals vastly revalued their homes and businesses. 

Once again, KGVO News spoke to Missoula County Clerk and Recorder and Treasurer Tyler Gernant for more guidance on how to calculate their underpaid property taxes and when to send in the payments after the notices were sent out last week. 

“The primary purpose of that was to remind folks about their real property taxes,” began Gernant. “So if you own land or a house, then your real property taxes are due December 8, and I encourage folks to get those payments in before the due date because postmarks do count. So if you mail it on December 8, and it's postmarked on December 8, we will count that as being a timely payment. And you can always pay online, so that's the other way by visiting Missoula taxes.us. Then also to remember, for folks who own mobile homes that those taxes are still due at the end of November, because we did not change that due date.” 

Gernant said there was a slight revision to the amount you must multiply to pay the correct amount still owed. 

“Look at your tax bill that was sent to you,” he said. “In the lower right hand corner, there is going to be a couple of values. One of them is the market value and you don't want to use that, but you're going to take the taxable value and multiply it by point 0173. And I think, Peter, when we spoke yesterday, I gave you the wrong amount because I did not include the Vo-Tech mills increase. So it's going to actually be point 0173 multiplied by that taxable value.” 

For those who want to be proactive and send their payments ahead of time, Gernant advised against it. 

“You definitely want to wait until you get the statement, because we'll send out a revised statement if that's the case, but there are still some balls in the air I guess I would say that could change things,” he said. “We are expecting at the moment to bill that sometime in January or February. But like I said, there's still some open ended questions that need to get answered before we can move forward with that.” 

Once again the amount to multiply your market value has increased to .0173, rather that .0171. 

(First Report: 11/28/23 at 3:48 PM)

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - KGVO News reached out to Missoula County Clerk and Recorder and Treasurer Tyler Gernant on Tuesday to talk about the implications of last week’s Montana Supreme Court decision on property taxes.

It is clear that almost all of Montana’s counties billed property owners less than they should have for the first half of their property taxes, from 77.9 to the full amount of 95 mills, but the question KGVO asked Gernant was ‘what happens next’?

County Treasurer Tyler Gernant on the Extra Property Taxes that Will be Due

“At the moment, the Supreme Court order would mean that Missoula County has to levy an additional 17.1 mills to make up for the difference between what the counties viewed as the maximum mills the state could levy and what the Department of Revenue and Governor Gianforte viewed as the maximum mills that the state could levy,” began Gernant. “There are a couple of different options and I don't think we have settled on which option they will be. The soonest that would happen is that it could get tacked on to your second half tax bill and so the additional 17 mils would be due as part of your May (property tax) payment.”

Gernant said there is a very simple way to calculate the underpayment on the first half of your property tax bill.

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Gernant Supplied an Easy Formula to Calculate the Extra Property Tax Owed

“There is a really easy way to calculate exactly how much this will be for your tax bill,” he said. “If you look at your taxable value, which is in the bottom right hand corner of your tax bill; if you look at that taxable value and multiply it by point 0171, that's going to be your additional tax.”

Gernant said his office along with over 50 other county offices, are dealing with this underpayment challenge.

Gernant said the past Month has been a Challenge for all Montana Counties

“There have been a lot of challenges this year, so this is just another challenge,” he said. “On a somewhat positive note, the earliest we would be able to collect these taxes is in that second half payment, and so we've got a little time to figure it out before the earliest period where we would collect them. We will absolutely have it figured out well in advance of that, and I think we'll get to do a little bit more planning than we did when this was sort of a last minute thing in September and October. But it's it definitely means we'll have to do some more work to make sure that we are collecting the correct amount.”

Click below to read a letter to Governor Greg Gianforte from the Montana Association of Counties regarding the school equalization mills.