Weyerhaeuser still top taxpayer in SD6

Weyerhaeuser continues to be the largest taxpayer in the Columbia Falls School District 6, but as the company has shuttered mills and sold off property in the past few years, its valuation here continues to drop, school officials note.

The company’s assessed value for 2018 was about $1.902 million, a 13 percent drop from $2.2 million in 2017, noted district clerk Dustin Zuffelato in a recent report to the school board.

Flathead Electric is the No. 2 taxpayer with an assessed value of $1.22 million — a 4 percent drop from 2017.

The remainder of the top 10 taxpayers in the district are, with percentage in value change over last year:

3) Northwest Energy, $722,010 (+ 3 percent)

4) F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber, $652,218 (+8 percent)

5) Burlington Northern Santa Fe, $603,717 (-10 percent)

6) Meadow Lake Resort, $403,340 (less than 1 percent increase)

7) CenturyTel, $216,800 (-18 percent)

8) Verizon Wireless, $192,671 (+6 percent)

9) Charter/Bresnan $188,616 (-23 percent)

10 Nelcon $86,457 (-43 percent)

Zuffelato noted that centrally assessed properties — those properties that were not assessed locally like the utilities and BNSF all had a decrease.

The top 10 taxpayers amount to about 20 percent of the total tax base of the elementary district, which is about $30.163 million. The elementary total tax levy in 2018 was $5.952 million, up from $5.563 million in 2017. The high school levy actually dropped, from $2.574 million in 2017 to $2.510 million in 2018. Voters approved a 10-year technology levy for the elementary schools recently.