Ask Jim

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Marti:

I agree as you do; property taxes are too high threatening Montanans' hopes of private property ownership. I have said many times at many forums and community discussions that I would use revenue realized through efficiencies in state government and business expansion, including natural resource development, to eliminate business equipment tax and wean K-12 education from the property tax roles. This will be, depending on where you live, between 40 and 65 percent reduction. With the revenue potential from natural resource developement we could realistically see property tax and personal income taxes decrease significantly. Mirroring what Alaskan residents have seen in their state.

I have worked inside government for six-and-a half years and through the natural attrition of state government employees, combined with my policy of not automatically rehiring employees, I had almost 200 positions that the legislature said I could hire, not filled.  I can honestly say the state is over staffed by at least 20 percent. Taking the policy I had at MDT and applying it state-wide, the cost savings to Montana residents would be over 200 million dollars in just wages and benefits alone. I will use these savings in spending to wean K-12 education from the property tax roles taking a major step forward in reducing property tax significantly.

If you have any questions or need more clarification please feel free to give me a call. 406-253-4937. If you like what I have to say, don't hesitate to forward this conversation to your contact list.

Thank you again for your question, all my best, Jim

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Lee, I will have a plan to wean the cost of K-12 education from property tax, resulting in a 40 to 65 percent decline in property taxes, depending on where you live. This will make home ownership affordable even on a fixed income. Keep in mind taxes cannot be discriminatory. My plan comes very close to what you are intending with your question, at the same time treating all property ownership the same.

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Dave,

Thank you for your question and I apologize it took me this long to reply. I support the use of school vouchers to fund private schools.  Also, I support home schooling, if that is the decision of the parents. Our public school system needs to be competitive. Giving families choices, assures our public school system will remain competitive with other education opportunities available and improving on the quality of education they provide for our kids. Let me know if you have any more questions. - Jim

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Brian, thank you for your question. I will answer your question first, then I will give my position if elected governor. That policy was made by directors and legislatures  long before me. MCS officers were not armed when I became the director and with in the MCS ranks the idea of being armed is not accepted by all.  However, As Governor I will support legislation and the additional certification and continued training needed to make MCS officers armed law enforcement officers in the State of Montana. Not only will it give MCS added safety, it will put additional armed officers on the road with very little additional cost to the tax payer. These officers with full training can be instrumental in working with other law enforcement keeping the peace, and in Eastern Montana oil patch activity as well. I hope this answered your question. Thank you again for your service to our great state. Look forward to meeting you again. Feel free to share my answer with anyone. All my best. Be safe, Jim

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Michelle, Thank you for your question. I am on the road from Lewistown to Hamilton and I am responding by my I-Phone. Don't worry I am  not driving. I pulled over to respond.

I am pro life. I believe in the science, life begins at conception. A great society should do everything it can to protect life.

As for the military, I  support our Troops. My father was a WWII veteran. My wife Pam was an Army Nurse and my two sons served their country proudly in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one son  is still on active duty in the US Army.

Thank you for your question.

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Greg, thank you for your question, and thank you for your service to our country.

I support Military Retirement Pay
being exempt from state income tax. Thank you, Jim

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I am pro life. I believe the science. Life begins at conception.

I do not support physician-assisted suicide.

I would support logical requirements put in place to protect women and unborn children, like the ones you have mentioned; waiting periods, pre-abortion ultrasounds, and laws prohibiting the coercion of women to have an abortion.

Your last question is similar to the second question, and my answer is "No".  Physician-assisted suicide should not be made legal by legislation in Montana.

Please feel free to give me a call or email me if you have any other questions or need further clarification.

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Under my leadership, we would  streamline permitting. We would establish a pubic sector review system to get permitting and fees processed in the most efficient manner possible, and focus regulatory oversight to pertinent and reasonable issues like safety.  The state also needs to facilitate public private partnerships like the Tongue River Drainage Monitoring Program, that pair agricultural and environmental interests with mining interests to ensure cooperation rather than confrontation. These partnerships ensure that natural resource extraction can happen, rather than preventing it from happening. Getting Montana businesses to work, generating growth and jobs need to be our priority.  The faster the business can put their operation in service the sooner it starts its return on those up front costs.  We should pride ourselves on being business friendly. This attitude will bring new business and expand existing business in Montana.

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The oil, coal, and gas sector without a doubt can be a major economic growth engine for our state.  Agriculture is obviously the largest economic engine today, but serious natural resource development is the quickest way to increase economic growth for Montana. It is very timely as we support a smaller federal government, which will no doubt decrease the federal dollars funding necessary publics services in our state.  If Montanans want to continue those services we can only do this through new revenues from the development of our state’s treasures. Natural resource development, new business start-ups, current business expansion, and strong agricultural markets will all bring the new financial resources Montana needs, to off set expected decreases in Federal spending.  The administrators of state and federal regulations must have an attitude of cooperation and urgency to support business development and expansion.   The major change needed is the attitude of state agencies. We must return our government  to the people of this state. It is a very easy fix and it starts with a Governor that recognizes he too has a job to serve the residents of Montana.

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Tourists need infrastructure improvements and facilities to serve their needs, or they will not come back. Montana tourism is dependent on repeat customers.  Under my leadership, Montana Department of Transportation grew its contractor payments from 237 million per year for road projects to over 400 million per year without increasing the gas tax. For my first three sessions, when approached by the construction industry to support an increase in gas tax, I said no. Instead, through efficiency and prioritizing expenditures we were able to almost double the improvements to our highways.

By not supporting that fuel tax increase and prioritized budgeting, MDT still aggressively improved highway conditions and safety. As a result, the Montana tourism industry received a tremendous Benefit.  It was reported to the Highway Commission in September of 2011; Montana Highway infrastructure is in the best condition "ever".  In 2010 Montana Highways were the safest they have been since 1996.  My administration will efficiently and effectively service the tourism industry needs, as I did as your Director of Transportation. All state agencies collectively need to work with the same sense of urgency our tourism industry is working with. Permitting needs streamlined, unnecessary government programs need to be cut or eliminated, and the money saved needs to be reallocated to higher priority programs, or go back to the residents in the form of infrastructure spending, or better yet, tax relief. Montana agencies need to give the business owners what they truly need, and then get out of the way.

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Educating our children is one of the most critical responsibilities we all own.  The time of doing things the same old way is over.  We need to be aggressive in rooting out the
problems, no matter which side of the political spectrum they lay, and ensure that our education system is at the cutting edge and competitive with other forms of education available.  There are many factors that come in to play that affect the quality of education we offer and children receive. A child that has a stable home in which one or more parents are thoroughly involved with motivating and monitoring the education their child is receiving on average find that their children succeed in the classroom. But what happens to the child that lacks this opportunity? We must challenge models in education that have become obsolete, and establish systems that ensure quality education reaches all our children.  We all remember the teachers in
our lives that were truly exceptional. They did more than just prepare us for exams and college. They prepared us for life. Unfortunately, we don't have a system that rewards those types of teachers. As governor, I will work with local school boards, educators, families and students to change that.  My budget will fund education. My
funding model will include funding to assist local school boards to establish incentive and merit pay systems, that are not just about test scores, but recognize a real honest and dedicated effort in educating and reaching our kids.

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Great question, and the answer is emphatically yes. I have done it. At MDT, we put a great deal of private sector employees to work when we increased contractor payments from 240 million dollars to 400 million dollars.
Included in those 400 million dollars was an increase in the state funded construction program from 10 million dollars to 40 million dollars, achieved primarily through operating efficiencies and reduced expenses in MDT.  That increase of 160 million dollars in construction projects went a long way to sustain, and sometimes increase private sector jobs.  And this is just one agency.  Imagine the savings and additional private sector investment we could have if every agency did what MDT did.

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Many different ways, but the priority for us was to understand our costs.  Often times we get so focused on how we do things that we slowly lose sight why we do things and what makes us efficient.
The old saying “this is how we have always done it” becomes easier than asking each of us over and over again, “Why are we doing it this way. “
If we lose sight of the “why “, then we lose an opportunity to be efficient and deliver the product the customer wants.   I asked “why “ a lot.  The answers I got allowed us to concentrate overhead expenditures and processes on activities that generated revenue.
At MDT I was known as the Director with 41 questions.  I asked “why “at MDT as well, and it led to a sense of urgency and accountability to use our resources on the priorities of our customers, the citizens of Montana.