There’s not a Montanan you’ll talk to who doesn’t feel the impact of how our state is changing — from our rural places to our urban centers. As a state representative from my home town of Bozeman, I hear from my constituents every day about how the housing crisis impacts them — from the families who can no longer afford the property tax hikes on their family homes, to the young Montanans unable to purchase a home in the town where they grew up, to young families trying to find housing in the community they want to live and work in. Soaring property values have made the home ownership dream impossible for working people.
We need representation at every level that deeply understands this pivotal moment for our communities and our state. But recent news makes it more clear than ever that Republican U.S.
Senate candidate Tim Sheehy is part of the problem — not the solution. While most of us in Montana were hit with sky-high property tax increases, Tim Sheehy used his business associate to appeal the property value of his vacation mansion in Big Sky — and succeeded. The property value of Sheehy’s ski-in, ski-out chalet dropped by an astronomical $2 million.
As a result, his property taxes dropped as well — by tens of thousands of dollars. Mine have skyrocketed. It’s hard not to feel like rich politicians play by a different set of rules — and that certainly bears out when you look at what else Sheehy has been up to since he moved to Montana.
While Montanans a.
