A Flathead County resident who says he'll likely lose his home because of the skyrocketing property taxes was just one of many who spoke up at a Thursday night meeting in Bigfork.

Montana Representative Scott Reichner says that over last couple months been he's been inundated with phone calls, letters and emails complaining about the state's recent property tax reappraisals. 

The Republican told us that people are upset, and rightfully so. “I guess the straw that broke the camel's back for me was when I had a letter from a lady, a widow from the east shore of Flathead lake, that her property tax estimate went from $477,000 in 2002 to 2.7 million…I think it's morally wrong to tax people out of their homes."

Montana appraises its property taxes every six years, but when residents got their latest appraisals over the summer, most saw huge increases because of Flathead County's real estate boom from a couple years ago.

One lifelong Montana resident says his property taxes went up so much that he was forced to apply for property tax assistance to survive. Dan Framnes of Coram got up and proposed a solution to the problem, even drawing applause.

"What we need to do in Montana is If you are native your taxes do not evaluate to where you cannot pay them. They stay the same until you sell that property and buy a new house then you assume the taxes of that house."

The Flathead County State Representatives who were on hand Thursday night say the meeting is just the first step, and that they plan to schedule another bigger meeting with the whole county before taking their solutions to the legislature.