In 2002 in a TV interview with a proponent for the proposed coal mine development in Musselshell County it was stated “Musselshell County has only one non-reservation Montana County with a lower per capita income”. I-105 was passed by a vote of the state in 1998 which set a cap on the number of mills that could be taxed by counties allowing only the raising of mill levels by the inflation rate in 2002. Any tax hikes above the cap had to be by a vote of the county’s voters. Past Musselshell County Commissioners saw little reason to increase mills because of a unique situation brought about by the production of coal in our county. Musselshell County was in a privileged situation because of large increases in non-tax revenue. Also, the county taxable evaluation doubled (as well as the total tax money received) almost over night mostly because of Signal Peak’s newly added taxable assets. Our mill value went from $6,869 per mill in 2002 to $13,029 this year so our taxable revenue has doubled on the same number of mills. Also, when federal coal is mined, we receive royalty which is another source of non-tax revenue. There is more than $900,000 currently in our mineral account which is only for infrastructure. Musselshell County gets yearly around a million to million and a half in coal gross proceeds to our county and schools each year and we have over the years also received millions from Coal Board grants for improvements and upgrades of roads, equipment and county buildings which is non-tax revenue. We received $500,000 for the Musselshell County Central Commons alone from the Coal Board. All of this is non-tax revenue and is at no cost to the county taxpayers. The Signal Peak Foundation adds another $300,000 each year in grants only to Musselshell County projects. Other non-coal counties don’t have this coal generated revenue so when they must raise taxes, they must vote levees to exceed I-105. We have improved roads, equipment, buildings and increased employee’s wages and numbers all with little or no tax increases since coal came to our county. Our non-tax revenue blew up I-105 in Musselshell County. We “old” commissioners passed up taxing 48 or more mills that could have been used to raise the budget unnecessarily over the years. Now our two liberal commissioners are going back to collect all these old mills without the permission of the taxpayers. They are making a money grab on the backs of the residents of Musselshell County to pay for amenities most taxpayers won’t use. Only people connected directly or indirectly to the mine have improved their lot in life. Most other property owners are still in the same place they were in 2002 and now with an added unnecessary tax hike. We feel that we have saved the taxpayers $13 million dollars, not lost it over the years.
The problems raised saying the audit affects the budget is a red herring, as an audit has little or no affect on forming a budget. The county receives the taxable evaluation from the state revenue department. The state after some time derives the value of the mill which this year is $13,029. The mills are multiplied by each evaluation and the tax is computed. Add up everyone’s tax liability ($13,029,000) and that is the taxable revenue for the county which is added to nontax revenue for total revenue. This is a known amount. The audit is not involved. In the past the “Old” commissioners would call in each department with their old budget in hand and ask them if any increases were needed and why. Each department at the discretion of the commissioners received a budget in mills or dollars with a goal of no increases. If the value of the mill dropped a little, then it may take an extra mill or 2 increase in the overall budget to have it balance. A budget is a look forward and is not affected by an audit as an audit is a look back. The look back is for errors in transfers between funds which should equal out or for possible double payments. Audits may also uncover fraud which has a legal remedy. In fact, an absent or an incomplete audit will not preclude an accurate budget.
It should be noted that an audit is the responsibility of the commissioners and they hire the auditors and they sign the contract. We have hired ineffective auditors in the past mostly based on cost, we may have again.
Robert Goffena
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