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House debates property tax-deferral loan for older homeowners; sponsor asks Appropriations review
Summary
Lawmakers heard a detailed proposal to allow eligible Montana seniors to defer property-tax increases through a state-backed loan; sponsor said the program is designed as a lien-based, repay-on-sale loan with administrative costs and an appropriation request. The bill was sent to the Appropriations Committee.
Representative Rosenzweig, the bill sponsor, introduced House Bill 836 on the House floor as a program to let certain older Montanans defer property-tax increases by taking a state-backed loan secured by a lien on the home.
Rosenzweig said the program would be targeted to borrowers age 62 or older who have lived in their homes at least five years, that the loan would be payable on sale or from an estate, and that spouses could remain in the home under the same loan terms. “This is a state sponsored line of credit at 5% simple interest that will keep seniors in their home,” Rosenzweig said. She described the design as a lien-based loan rather than a tax forgiveness program and said the Board of Housing and other state agencies stand ready to implement it.
The sponsor told lawmakers the program would allow borrowers to reset their base property-tax amount to their 2022 level if they choose, and walked legislators through an example showing how a loan balance might accrue over ten years in a rising market. Rosenzweig said personnel operating costs were estimated in the fiscal note at roughly $244,000 per year for personal services and that an internal estimate of roughly $1.5 million per year would cover expected program costs during initial years.
Lawmakers pressed the sponsor on program scope and cost. Representatives asked whether home appreciation would continue to accumulate as owner equity (Rosenzweig: “Absolutely. Yes.”) and sought clarity about the fiscal-note assumptions, take-up rates, and whether the program would shift local tax burdens. Rosenzweig and committee discussion participants said the bill is intended as a loan program with liens, not a general tax credit, and said the Board of Housing’s income and purchase-price limits would determine eligibility.
On the House floor later in the day, Majority Leader Fitzpatrick moved to re-refer House Bill 836 to the Appropriations Committee for further review and funding-level adjustments; the motion was adopted without objection.
The bill as presented would require writing administrative rules and a small operations team to administer applications, servicing and lien recording; Rosenzweig asked the House to send the bill to Appropriations to set the appropriation and review the fiscal note in detail.
Votes and next steps: The House re-referred House Bill 836 to the Appropriations Committee; that procedural motion passed without objection, which sends the bill out of the chamber to a committee that will evaluate funding and oversight details.
