House bill would remove some mill-levy authority for Garrison Diversion, shift dollars to state; park districts warn $1M bond cap is too low

House Bill 1572 would strip some general mill-levy authority from the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District and county extension service and replace much of those levies with state funding, sponsor Representative Jared Haggart told the House Finance and Taxation Committee. Haggart said the bill also creates a uniform property-tax reporting system and allows electronic opt-in delivery of property tax statements.

The bill would carry a fiscal note of about $19.8 million to hold Garrison Diversion and county extension harmless if their local levy authority is removed, Haggart said; he told the committee the appropriation is split roughly $9.5 million for Garrison Diversion and $10.3 million for extension. “I wanted to give the committee an opportunity to work through some ideas other than caps,” Representative Jared Haggart said in his opening remarks.

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