BILLINGS - Property owners across Montana are seeing home values go up and early estimates indicate that will likely lead to higher taxes for many.
It's not just homeowners who may be affected, but also renters.
Those who know about property taxes say increased property values don't necessarily mean higher taxes.
However, Jeremy McCune, the landlord at the Cozy Stay Apartments, is anticipating higher taxes.
And he says it's not just the taxes that will affect his tenants.
With property tax valuations rising by an average of 40 percent across Montana, many homeowners are fearful and worried tax increases will soon follow.
"Everything else has gone up 20 to 30%," said McCune. "I definitely foresee taxes going up in my lifetime. I haven't seen taxes ever go down."
McCune is no exception, but he'll be impacted more than some.
He owns at least half a dozen rental properties across Billings and already knows the impact that a major property tax increase could have.
"As far as property taxes, utilities, landlords have to try to keep up with that," McCune said. "But that ultimately gets passed on to the renters themselves."
According to the Department of Revenue, residential property valuesare increasing by 32% on average in Yellowstone County, commercial properties are up 17%.
And Yellowstone County Treasurer Sherry Long says she expects to hear from concerned residents who fear how that will impact their property taxes.
"Questions really would need to be then directed to the Department Of Revenue or our finance department, county commissioners," Long said.
Kory Hofland, administrator for the property division of the DOR, says Montana hasn't seen increases like this in 15 years.
"2008 might have been a little bit bigger as far as a percent increase," Hofland said. "But back then we were under six year reappraisal cycles and there was a lot of sticker shock that would occur after six years of sales being compiled and put into models. So they changed it to two years to kind of help with that sticker shock but that's kind of what we're seeing."
Shock for both homeowners and tenants, some fear they may be forced to find a new place to live if rent is raised as a result of raising taxes.
"There's been quite a few instances where I've tried to help our tenants to try to keep their rent low because they are at spot," McCune said.
