Biography:
I come from several generations of Montanans: my father grew up on a ranch outside of Miles City, and my mother grew up in Whitefish and Libby. I was born in Missoula and grew up in the University District. After attending college at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, I lived in San Francisco for two years while I worked as a legal assistant, then attended law school at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colorado. Being in the Rocky Mountains for law school felt like coming home, and while in law school I met my husband, Andrew Koenig, also a law student, who was a year ahead of me.
Following law school my husband and I lived in Ventura, California, where I practiced civil litigation (family law, construction defect and insurance defense) law for seven years. My three children, Chase, Kate, and Rex, were born in California, and in 2004 we moved to Montana to raise our family and be close to relatives.
Now I practice law part-time, writing federal court appeals for Social Security Disability cases, and spend many hours each week on City Council, attending meetings, researching issues, and meeting with constituents.
Platform:
As Chair of the Parks and Conservation Committee, I support and spearhead many of these efforts. But I must confess that my favorite project is our Urban Forest. Missoula is a beautiful place because of the trees that were planted with foresight by prior generations on our boulevards and in public areas. Our trees help eliminate carbon and pump out oxygen; they cool our city in the heat of summer; they cleanse storm water before it returns to our aquifer and our river system. Plus, they create beauty and serenity, both of which are much needed in our fast-paced world. I will continue to work on more funding and creative collaborations for our Urban Forest.
Further, we need to acknowledge that legislative decisions made for the last few decades have shifted the burden onto commercial and residential property taxes. For example, for decades the legislature has pared back Business Equipment taxes, in order to grow business in Montana. Yet when a source of revenue is cut, but not replaced with a new source, the burden shifts to the remaining taxes (property tax), in order to fill the void.
Additionally, federal and state cuts in spending in numerous areas have pushed costs down to the local level. For example, three years ago the legislature severely cut the Department of Public Health and Human Services, eliminating many mental health services in Montana. The City of Missoula has experienced high increases in calls for police and fire specifically because of this state action.
When combined with a tax system tied to property values, our rising Missoula property values create the perfect storm. We will continue to see dramatically rising property taxes, yet have difficulty funding our local schools, county and city government. It is not fair to our citizens for local government to be the backstop on taxes. But if we are the backstop, then we should be given tools by the legislature so we can broaden our tax base and get revenue from sources other than property taxes. This means being able to decide, as a community, if we want a local option sales tax targeting tourism dollars and luxury spending. Revenue from this type of local option sales tax would go far to sufficiently fund local government, while also refunding up to 25% of property taxes, thus making property taxes lower, and less need to raise taxes in the future.
As a second term city councilor, I intend to communicate with other communities in Montana to push for necessary changes at the state level, to make our tax system function well again. The Legislature passed a tax study bill this last session, and I plan on giving public comment in that committee this fall as to the urgent need for tax reform.
These are my priorities for a second term; I support a well-funded fire and police department, well maintained roads and infrastructure, and ensuring that our City can deliver essential services well. Much of this goes back to the core issue of tax reform, which impacts all city services.
Paid for by Gwen Jones for City Council, P.O. Box 1762, Missoula, MT 59806, Lori Webster,Treasurer.
I come from several generations of Montanans: my father grew up on a ranch outside of Miles City, and my mother grew up in Whitefish and Libby. I was born in Missoula and grew up in the University District. After attending college at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, I lived in San Francisco for two years while I worked as a legal assistant, then attended law school at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colorado. Being in the Rocky Mountains for law school felt like coming home, and while in law school I met my husband, Andrew Koenig, also a law student, who was a year ahead of me.
Following law school my husband and I lived in Ventura, California, where I practiced civil litigation (family law, construction defect and insurance defense) law for seven years. My three children, Chase, Kate, and Rex, were born in California, and in 2004 we moved to Montana to raise our family and be close to relatives.
Now I practice law part-time, writing federal court appeals for Social Security Disability cases, and spend many hours each week on City Council, attending meetings, researching issues, and meeting with constituents.
Platform:
- Affordable Housing is a huge problem in Missoula. Council has created a general policy, and now must start the hard work of implementing specific facets of the policy through zoning changes, ordinance changes, and other tools. Affordable Housing is an area of policy where it is easy to create unintended consequences. As the City of Missoula works to preserve affordable housing, create new affordable housing, and house those without homes, we must also strive to not worsen any economic impacts via our policies that could negatively affect our housing stock.
- Climate Change is here and we need to do the best we can to minimize our ecological footprint while also proactively adapting . We have a City of Missoula Conservation and Climate Action Plan, a Zero by Fifty waste reduction plan, and we recently passed a Resolution calling for 100% Clean Energy by 2030. City staff works hard to make our city facilities green. The Energy and Climate team continues to work on advising the City on how to become more green, including creating plans for a large scale solar installation. Climate Smart Missoula, the County and the City have spent the last year collaborating with the public to create a Climate Resiliency Plan. Many plans have been created, we need to work hard to implement them.
As Chair of the Parks and Conservation Committee, I support and spearhead many of these efforts. But I must confess that my favorite project is our Urban Forest. Missoula is a beautiful place because of the trees that were planted with foresight by prior generations on our boulevards and in public areas. Our trees help eliminate carbon and pump out oxygen; they cool our city in the heat of summer; they cleanse storm water before it returns to our aquifer and our river system. Plus, they create beauty and serenity, both of which are much needed in our fast-paced world. I will continue to work on more funding and creative collaborations for our Urban Forest.
- Tax Reform Property taxes are rising in Missoula. Yet our local governmental entities of the County, the City and Missoula County Public Schools struggle to keep up with the needs of a growing population. We need to do a better job of explaining how our archaic, obsolete and dysfunctional tax system must be reformed, as it is based on historical natural resource industries such as timber and mining, which have receded. Our future depends on pulling dollars from our growth industry in Montana: Tourism.
Further, we need to acknowledge that legislative decisions made for the last few decades have shifted the burden onto commercial and residential property taxes. For example, for decades the legislature has pared back Business Equipment taxes, in order to grow business in Montana. Yet when a source of revenue is cut, but not replaced with a new source, the burden shifts to the remaining taxes (property tax), in order to fill the void.
Additionally, federal and state cuts in spending in numerous areas have pushed costs down to the local level. For example, three years ago the legislature severely cut the Department of Public Health and Human Services, eliminating many mental health services in Montana. The City of Missoula has experienced high increases in calls for police and fire specifically because of this state action.
When combined with a tax system tied to property values, our rising Missoula property values create the perfect storm. We will continue to see dramatically rising property taxes, yet have difficulty funding our local schools, county and city government. It is not fair to our citizens for local government to be the backstop on taxes. But if we are the backstop, then we should be given tools by the legislature so we can broaden our tax base and get revenue from sources other than property taxes. This means being able to decide, as a community, if we want a local option sales tax targeting tourism dollars and luxury spending. Revenue from this type of local option sales tax would go far to sufficiently fund local government, while also refunding up to 25% of property taxes, thus making property taxes lower, and less need to raise taxes in the future.
As a second term city councilor, I intend to communicate with other communities in Montana to push for necessary changes at the state level, to make our tax system function well again. The Legislature passed a tax study bill this last session, and I plan on giving public comment in that committee this fall as to the urgent need for tax reform.
These are my priorities for a second term; I support a well-funded fire and police department, well maintained roads and infrastructure, and ensuring that our City can deliver essential services well. Much of this goes back to the core issue of tax reform, which impacts all city services.
Paid for by Gwen Jones for City Council, P.O. Box 1762, Missoula, MT 59806, Lori Webster,Treasurer.
