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The total amount of tax revenues under protest in Yellowstone County amounted to almost $30 million as of the end of 2011, including $13.35 million "for just this year."

It's almost 10 percent of total property tax collections and it is having a significant impact on the districts and jurisdictions which would normally receive the tax revenues, said Scott Turner, Yellowstone County's Director of Finance, on Tuesday.

That percentage, will likely increase next year, if ExxonMobil joins with the other two refineries, in the county, in protesting a portion of their property taxes.

Exxon postponed plans to protest last year, but conversations with company officials indicate they plan to proceed this year, said Turner. "We will know for sure sometime in June or July," he added.

There are two main industries which are protesting taxes – oil refineries and communication companies. Conoco protested 31 percent of their total tax bill in 2011, and CHS (Cenex) protested 63 percent. The communication companies are protesting about 85 percent of their total tax bills. Protesting communication companies include Bresnan, ATT Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and Alltel. MDU and Puget Sound Energy also have protests lodged.

The mounting totals, extended as they are, over multiple years, is starting to take its toll, according to Turner, especially for districts that rely heavily on just one major property owner.

Some of those districts, mostly schools, are drawing against the protested taxes held in trust, in order to meet budget obligations, but if the cases are resolved in favor of the property owner, those districts could face a serious dilemma. "The amounts for potential refunds could be substantial and devastating to the tax levy," said Turner.

Districts which drawn against the trust funds, would have the option to pay back the funds by levying the needed amount back on the rest of the tax base. If the sums are significant that could be a substantial increase in one year for the taxpayers, explained Turner, adding, "There has been some discussion of whether they could spread it out over multiple years," but that is currently not allowed for by law. Turner pondered whether "some kind of legislation might be proposed, before it happens."

If school districts do not draw against the funds in trust, even if the cases are decided in the favor of the Department of Revenue, the money will flow to state coffers because schools are not allowed to carry funds over from one year to the next. For other kinds of tax jurisdictions the money will be returned.

County-wide school levies are reduced by $7,038,517 because of the protested taxes.

Billings School District 2 is down $4.45 million, while School District 7 in Laurel is down $5.4 million. Custer School, $67,273; Broadview $216,169; Huntley Project, $389,846; Shepherd $202,015; and Lockwood $384,712.

The County's general fund is one of the largest impacted funds in the county with a projected tax protest balance of $1,795,330 by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2012.

All county budgetary funds will have a total of $7,760,115, sitting in trust, which includes almost $1.5 million each for the Sheriff's Department and the Road Department.

Tim Bronk, Superintendent of Laurel Public Schools, announced that on February 1, Laurel School will host a public forum to which they are inviting concerned people from neighboring counties and communities. Present, also, will be representatives from the Office of Public Education and the Department of Revenue to answer questions.

As of the end of 2011, Conoco had protested $3,855,400; CHS, $12,838,035; Bresnan Broadband, $6,503,824; ATT Mobility, $1,635,406; Verizon Wireless $1,910,425; MDU, $596,563; Puget Sound Energy, $1,471,757; WWC Holdings (Alltell), $1,020,873.