Earlier this year, public land ownership and use were big topics in the news. The issue divided many Montanans on how best to use and manage these lands. I’m an avid user of public lands and fully support keeping them open to the public, but I also want to shed some light on how they’re funded at the federal level.

The federal government is obligated to pay local jurisdictions some form of property tax on the land it owns. There are complex formulas and programs used to calculate those payments, and each year Congress must appropriate the money in the federal budget before it can be distributed to local areas.

In Beaverhead County, where I live, we have just over 2,000,000 acres of public land. Part of that is the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, which totals 48,787 acres in Beaverhead County. In 2010, the appraised value of that land was $23,988,920. Based on U.S. Code and the required formulas, the tax payment to Beaverhead County should have been $179,917. What the county actually received was $38,501—just over 21% of what was owed.

For fiscal year 2023–24, the total due was $194,059, but the county received only $43,432. Between 2008 and 2024, Beaverhead County has been shorted roughly $2.26 million. A large portion of those funds would have gone to the Lima school system.  Lima is a small town of 220 people in southern Beaverhead County.  They have their own school system with less than 60 students total and approximately 18 in the high school.  The school board is doing all they can to keep the high school open and fear they may have to close it soon due to lack of funds.  This underpayment from the federal government is one of the main culprits of their problems.   

It’s important to remember this isn’t a “tax bill” the county sends to the federal government. The dollars owed are determined by U.S. law and federal formulas. When Congress fails to appropriate the full amount owed for wildlife refuges nationwide, the reduced funds are divided up and sent out to local jurisdictions.

This is a prime example of Washington bureaucracy affecting us personally. At a time when hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being sent overseas for various programs, this should raise alarm bells. Our federal government is funding education and literacy initiatives in other countries, yet it’s shortchanging the taxpayers who fund those programs and the schools here at home. That kind of fiscal mismanagement shows where the government’s priorities truly lie.

As a fiscal conservative, I fully support cutting waste and eliminating unnecessary programs that have grown over the past few decades. But this is different—this is money legally owed back to local communities and should be made right immediately. For many national wildlife refuge communities, the shortfall might not be noticed, but for rural areas like ours, it’s a major hit to local schools and essential services.

I encourage everyone to reach out to our elected representatives and senators in Washington and let them know you support cutting unnecessary overseas spending while fully funding the programs that are legally owed to local communities. If the federal government is going to own and manage so much land across the United States, then it should also follow the law and pay what it owes to the people who live and work on those lands.  How would you be treated if you only paid a portion of your property taxes each year?

One last thing to consider: with more than 2,000,000 acres of public land, Beaverhead County receives just $0.55 per acre each year in PILT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) —Holding the Federal Government one of the lowest rates in the state. That’s another issue worth revisiting soon.

Representative Shannon Maness

HD 70

The post Op-Ed: Public Land Ownership – When the Feds Don’t Pay, Small Communities Suffer appeared first on NorthWest Liberty News.

It has been brought to my attention that the publisher of Montana Daily Gazette, embattled pastor and podcaster Jordan Hall, removed all of the articles and videos that I produced from his online news website concerning the many crimes that have been committed by Whitefish Credit Union (WFCU), Montana’s largest credit union.

Hall, pressured by the bankruptcy court, agreed to remove the material to avoid future litigation by WFCU against himself, Montana Daily Gazette, and Hall’s publishing company, Gideon Knox.

Removing the videos and articles from Hall’s website and online video platform presents several problems that I intend to address in this opinion piece.

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One of the main issues with Hall’s retraction is that Hall didn’t do the investigations, Hall didn’t produce the videos or conduct the interviews, and, except for minor changes on a few articles, Hall didn’t write the numerous articles published on Montana Daily Gazette. I did, and I am saying now that I do not retract anything I published, wrote, or produced regarding the organized crime ring operating in Flathead Valley, of which WFCU is a participant.

Another issue with Hall’s retraction, and the subsequent trumpeting of WFCU’s innocence throughout the majority of Montana’s fake news outlets, is the Allen Carver report. Carver, who has spent a lifetime in the credit union business, including a 33-year career as the regional director of the National Credit Union Association, clearly outlined the malfeasance perpetrated by WFCU against Dennis Thornton and his company, Thorco Inc.

I have included several excerpts from Carver’s report below, along with a link to the full document at the bottom of the quotes. It would be helpful to note that the crooks inside the Flathead County District Court sealed Allen Carver’s report so it could not be used in Thornton’s defense.

From pages 6 and 7 of the Carver Report:

According to Call Reports filed with the NCUA, as of September 30, 2013, WFCU was reported to be Montana’s largest credit union with 56,527 members, assets of 1.2 billion dollars, and a branching structure of six offices…It is believed that Whitefish is one of the 250 largest credit unions in the United States. Those (same) Call Reports showed WFCU engaged in potentially high-risk Member Business Loan activities that increased dramatically from $63 Million as of March 31, 2003, to $317,320,126 as of March 31, 2009. Carver goes on further regarding Kenyon: Charlie Abell, Whitefish’s long-time Chief Executive Officer, resigned and was replaced by Jim Kenyon in September 2009. When Whitefish’s Board of Directors hired Mr. Kenyon, they mandated that he “take care” of problems with loans, delinquent loans, but especially development type or commercial loans. The board enacted a policy in 2009 of not loaning any more money on development loans until circumstances were worked out that were causing a problem. It was disclosed that newly hired CEO Kenyon perhaps went beyond the board’s policy and said that there was a new policy adopted by him and followed by the credit union regarding this no new lending on ongoing development loans. Carver continues, It is important to note that borrowers with Member Business Loans were not notified by WFCU that they would not be loaning any more money on development loans, including existing loans.

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Carver summarizes his report with the following statement…

In summary, it is my professional opinion, based on my 48 years in the credit union industry (33 years as a regulator and 15 years as a consultant), that WFCU clearly committed and violated not only a verbal agreement to finance the entire Thornton project to a total of approximately $7 million but also committed a Breach of a Written Contract involving the loaning of $500,00 and subordination of their lien as shown in the March 11, 2009, Whitefish letter outlining the general terms of the financing agreement signed by Doug Johnson, WFCH Vice President, Member Business Loan Officer to the Thorntons and usual customary procedures dealing with Member Business Loans. As a large, billion-dollar asset credit union, the WFCU Board of Directors and Senior Staff knew or should have known how to reduce their Member Business Loan Portfolio.

No doubt their handling of this issue created unnecessary financial hardship for impacted borrowers, such as the Thorntons, their employees, and the inability of these borrowers to enjoy the profits that a full-completed development would have provided.

YOU CAN READ THE PREVIOUSLY SEALED REPORT FROM FORMER NCUA REGIONAL DIRECTOR ALLEN CARVER BY CLICKING HERE

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Yet another issue with the removal of the WFCU material and the companion claims of WFCU’s innocence is the fact that former FBI investigator and sitting Montana Senator David Howard looked at the information in the Thornton case and determined that WFCU was guilty of criminal racketeering. You can see Howard in his own words by clicking the link below.

Dennis Thornton, who I will highlight in greater detail later, is not the only victim of the predatory lending practices exercised by WFCU. In fact, for WFCU to dismiss Thornton’s claim and declare that their hands are clean they are essentially dismissing the numerous other victims who I have also interviewed, and who have provided documentation to prove their claims. I will link to some of the other victims below.

Randy and Toni Mitchell: My very first exposure to the criminality perpetrated by WFCU on their unsuspecting members. Essentially, WFCU inserted Toni Mitchell’s other property into her loan documentation on a second home for her daughter, then WFCU foreclosed on both of them

The post Op-Ed: Despite Whitefish Credit Union’s Hollow Victory with Hall Retraction, Facts are Still Facts appeared first on NorthWest Liberty News.