PRIVTE PROPERTY

Landowner Rights and Responsibilities are Back in the News Again

By Headwaters News, 7-12-06

The rights and responsibilities of private landowners have always been contentious in the West, harking back to the days of homesteading, when the federal government gave away land in exchange for people settling it. The mantra has long been: “you gave it to us; it’s ours. Now leave us alone and let us do with it what we want.”

That idea has evolved somewhat over the years, and today’s property rights issues may be different than yesterday’s, but the premise of “it’s ours” remains.

The two biggest contentious property rights issues today are the effect of energy development on private lands and spiking real estate valuations that are sending property taxes sky high.

The federal government is working on a plan to increase transmission lines and pipeline routes to move energy from Western states to the populated areas on the West Coast, and many of those routes pass over and under private lands. Landowners are increasingly worried about whether the government will use eminent domain to force landowners off their land or at least commandeer portions of it in order to lay gas and oil pipes or string electrical wires.

And as energy production continues to increase across the region, many landowners are wrangling with energy companies that own the minerals under the land and want to collect their bounty.

In Colorado, one real estate agent has grown so frustrated at the state Legislature's failure to enact laws that better protect property owners in split estate situations with energy and mineral companies, he is spearheading a group that wants to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would help property owners.

John Gorman and his Colorado Land Owners for Fairness are pushing for a change to the state constitution that calls for mineral companies to pay fair market value for damage done by mineral development. Right now, the law requires that companies give landowners 30 days notice that drilling will begin and urges them to work out their own deal. If that fails, companies must pay a $2,000 bond for surface damages and a $5,000 bond for irrigated property before they can begin drilling.

Gorman says those bonds do little to compensate landowners, which is why he is pushing for the change.

Besides split estate and eminent domain issues, the other big issue affecting private property across the region is property taxes. As many towns are experiencing unprecedented growth to the real estate market, homeowners who bought years ago are seeing their property taxes skyrocket to a point where many can no longer afford them, and lawmakers in several states are calling for reform, or rebates, or both.

Property tax reform has been a hot issue in Idaho, especially during the last legislative session, but no reforms were passed. Now, reports the Twin Falls Times-News, Idaho Gov. Jim Risch said he wants a property-tax relief proposal in place before he calls lawmakers back for a special session. Idaho Democratic lawmakers, though, are accusing Republican lawmakers of working out a tax-relief plan in secret.

And at a public meeting on property tax reform in Coeur d’Alene, property owners told state officials they were ready for some reform, and supported a ballot initiative that calls for a 1 percent cap on property tax increases. State officials listened, but countered with their own need to find a balance between relief and making sure state needs remain met.

State Rep. Bob Nonini also reminded attendees at the meeting that Idaho law prohibits the use of initiatives to change the state’s Constitution. The Idaho Constitution can only be changed with a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate. Nonini said that since none of the property tax bills garnered more than a 50 percent vote during the last legislative session, he doubted that the spending cap measure would pass either.

And in Montana, reported the Bozeman Daily Chronicle yesterday, Bozeman and other towns and cities want the state to give them the power to enact sales tax as a means of lowering property taxes — a plan that has proven itself in West Yellowstone — but right now, only Montana’s resort towns can levy sales taxes.

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