Editorial: Little pity for cabin site leaseholders

The Montana Land Board recently raised the rent for leaseolders of cabin sites on public lands.

The 15-year leases generate money for Montana schools and the state veterans home.

The rents had been based on the appraised value of the sites. As many of the sites shot up in value since the last appraial in 2003, so did the expected cost of the rent.

Some leaseholders complained, and the Department of Natureal Resources and Conservation decided to review the cabin-site lease system

The land board subsequently decided to scrap the system tying the rents to appraisals and instead will increase them by 6.5 percent a year - the state's historic real estate appreciation index - to "catch up" with 2009 values.

In the future, the rents will be tied to that index averaged with the Consumer Price Index.

The upshot is that the rentals won't go up as much as they would have under a strict appraisal-based system, but they will increase an average of 43 percent.

Of the 158 responses we received to our Question of the Week -"Do you feel sorry for the cabin leaseholders who had their rent raised by the state?" - 114, or 72 percent, said "no."

There were 44 "yes" responses, 28 percent of the total.

Here are some of the responses we received:

• I feel leaseholders of public ground should pay the state on an equal basis as any other land with a taxable value.
• No. Not at all. They have had a great deal on some prime cabin sites for a long, long time now. Even with a raise in their rental fees, it is still a relatively inexpensive way to "own" a piece of some pristine Montana property. If the renters don't like the rent increase, they can always give up the property and allow some other people in on the good deal.
• Public lands are suffering physical damage to vegetation, wildlife, soils and water from drug grow operations, off-trail tavel, OHV extreme riding and general vandalism.
• The state of Montana cannot possibly monitor its land holdings. Before they jack the lease rates on cabins too high, they should factor in the benefits they receive from on-site observations by citizen lease holders.
• We have a cabin site, which we have leased from the state of Montana for almost 30 years. The lease site is east of Lincoln. The site is about an acre in size and is nowhere near a lake or even a creek.

The land is good for nothing but a cabin site, and the money we pay for the lease goes to support the schools. The proposed rate hikes are going to drive people in our neighborhood out, and then the schools will not get that money. Taxes on the local folks will have to go up in order to support the schools.

All leaseholders have a strict list of rules for keeping their leased land neat and tidy, thereby reducing fire danger.

We feel we have been good stewards of the forest for almost 30 years. Isn't that better than driving people out and letting the forest become full of dying pine needles and other fire fuels?

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Source: http://www.helenair.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_a6c20c32-c779-11de-b3a7-001cc4c002e0.html