The primary election race for House District 4 in Whitefish features candidates William Geisse, Damon Pace and Derek Skees as contenders for the Republican slot on the November ballot.

On the Democratic side, Will Hammerquist has no opponents since incumbent Mike Jopek and a third candidate, Trevor Caudill, dropped out of the race.

The primary election is June 8; early voting begins May 10.

All fiscal conservatives, Geisse, Pace and Skees agree that jobs, property taxes and fixing Montana’s economy rank as the top issues they hear from voters at political forums and while knocking on doors.

On dealing with the forecast of a state budget deficit, candidate have a range of views.

Geisse said leaders have just two choices: Raise taxes or reduce expenses.

“I’m a fiscal conservative,” he said. “I say reduce the budget. There were no tax increases while I served as a city councilman in Billings.”

Geisse said he would protect allocations for public safety and education. He said he knows cutting the budget isn’t easy.

“So many programs are vital to people in the state,” he said. “That’s why people elect you — to make the difficult decisions.”

Pace said Montana has an advantage since it doesn’t face the extreme budget cuts required in some other states. He proposes learning from the mistakes and successes of other states struggling to stem the tide of red ink.

“We need to eliminate the gimmicky budget tricks and find real ways to make the state government more efficient without cutting services,” Pace said.

He added that he would not “begin playing games with the state’s investment and pension funds.” Pace said they should be preserved for the people who earned them.

Skees said that his research reveals that the state may face a budget deficit as large as $500 million. He said he has become totally frustrated with government.

“I’m principally a businessman — I want to make Helena do the right thing,” he said. “We need to treat government like a business in distress. We must reduce the state’s need for our money.”

According to Skees, Montana’s budget has ballooned by 40 to 50 percent in 10 years while the population remains rather consistent at just under a million people. He said Montana needs to cut baseline spending by looking for ways to consolidate departments.

“Government should have to justify every dime they ask from us,” Skees said.

He said that includes education funding. Skees said citizens have to cut expenses to meet finite revenues and government must do the same.

All the Republican candidates pointed to the recent property tax reappraisal as a flash point for House District 4. Geisse placed it at the top of the list of hot-button issues.

“I know people on Whitefish Lake, older people, who are being taxed out of their homes,” Geisse said.

He said he doesn’t know which approach — market- or sales-based — makes the most sense. Geisse suggested looking into reappraising each time a home sells, based on the actual selling price rather than letting listing prices skew values.

Pace, who makes his living helping real estate professionals use the Internet, places a top priority on revising the state’s reappraisal requirements. He wants to look into capping options.

He was critical of Jopek for sponsoring a bill to address tax reappraisals, losing control of it then voting against it. Pace said property taxes were used as a pawn in a political game in Helena with the state’s residents ending up as the losers.

“There’s something wrong with a tax code that punishes you if a millionaire moves in next door to you,” he said. “We need to find ways to fix that or we’ll face the same problem in another six years.”

Skees would solve the reappraisal problem by addressing skyrocketing costs due to inefficiency. He pointed out that two-thirds of property taxes are set aside for education.

He said that Montana schools rank 49th for the fewest schools per district in the country. Skees wants to eliminate high administrative costs, not reduce teachers’ salaries.

“They’re top heavy,” he said. “If you consolidate part of the overhead, you free up more capital for teachers and classrooms.”

As this election season draws near, the issue of jobs trumps  every other concern, according to all three Republican candidates. Pace makes the jobs issue the focal point of his campaign.

“There are not enough jobs here, but more important — there are not enough careers here,” he said.

Pace said the unfriendly business environment ties directly to Montana’s college graduates having to leave the state for real careers or try to survive by waiting tables, bartending or working at other jobs outside their chosen careers.

He sees the state’s tax structure as an obstacle to attracting the kinds of businesses that offer careers.

“I want to put a five-year moratorium on the business equipment tax,” Pace said. “That would give a new business an opportunity to move here and build their business.”

He called this a pragmatic approach to attracting new business without destroying the revenue side of the budget by eliminating the tax.

Geisse agrees that Montana’s equipment tax serves as a disincentive for businesses but he wants to drop the tax. He points to nearby states such as North and South Dakota that have jobs and thriving businesses.

“Why do they go there? It’s the tax structure,” Geisse said. “Number one is to repeal the business equipment tax.”

He said businesses should pay taxes on their profits, not their equipment.

Skees agreed that Montana needs to model states that have succeeded in attracting business and learn lessons from those, like Oregon, which have adopted heavy taxes triggering an exodus of businesses.

He said Montanans have arrived at a critical “Y” in the road.

“If conservative businessmen get involved in Helena, we can become a business haven,” Skees said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.