Gallatin County board reduces assessed land value for Bozeman property by $500,000

The Gallatin County Tax Appeal Board on the record reduced the assessed land value of a Bozeman property by $500,000 after a hearing on an appeal by property owner Neil Ganzer.

The reduction applies to Lot 1, approximately 8.094 acres (geocode 06079909201400000), a parcel the Department of Revenue had combined with buildings and appraised at $3,578,338. The taxpayer had asked the board to set total value at $1,532,030 and had proposed a land value of $598,280 while leaving improvement values unchanged.

Why it matters: The case highlights how mass-appraisal models, neighborhood boundaries and city-imposed setbacks can sharply affect assessed land values and annual property tax bills for longtime residents whose property was annexed into the city.

At the hearing, Jeff Green, standing in for the Gallatin County Tax Appeal Board chair, read the appeal and the property description into the record. Appellant Neil Ganzer told the board the parcel was historically used as subirrigated hay ground and argued the county’s land-model neighborhood designation placed his property with dense, in-city lots it does not resemble. The…