Committee on Taxation agrees to move property-tax package including two-year 20-mill reauthorization

The Committee on Taxation agreed to accept the conference committee position on bill 02/2025, which would reauthorize a 20-mill property-tax authorization for two years and include related changes to filing fees, revenue-neutral rate paperwork, municipal budget deadlines and the annual tax-statement mailing date.

The committee’s decision matters because the measures affect county clerks, treasurers, taxing units and taxpayers statewide: they touch on how revenue-neutral calculations are presented, when local budgets are due, whether clerks can carry forward prior levies when budgets are late, and when taxpayers receive their property tax statements.

Committee staff summarized the package as five distinct provisions. Eddie, a staff member, said: “There are kind of in essence 5 provisions here. 1 is the reauthorization of the 20 mills, for the next 2 years. The next is the, BOTA filing fee provision that would exclude the filing fee in cases in which a pending an appeal from a prior year is still pending on the same property. The third is the changes to the revenue neutral rate form, that were previously contained in the agreement now effective for 2025, that being the only change to that, and also the extension of the reimbursement of that, calendar year 2025, which is state fiscal year 2026 was already addressed in the budget bill and so this would be for the second year of that calendar 2026 which is state fiscal year 2027.”

Specifically, the committee discussed and reached agreement on the following elements as described by staff and members during the meeting: reauthorization of the 20-mill authorization for two additional years; an exclusion of the Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA) filing fee when an appeal from a prior year is still pending on the same property; modifications to the revenue-neutral rate form and an extension of reimbursement for the cost of printing and postage for an additional year; changing the municipal/local budget due date to Oct. 1 for all taxing entities and allowing county clerks to use the prior year’s levy amount if a taxing unit fails to submit a budget on time; and moving the statutory tax-statement mailing date from Dec. 15 to Dec. 1.

On the effective date for the revenue-neutral form change, a committee member asked for the change to take effect in 2025 rather than waiting another year. Eddie confirmed the staff position that the form changes could be made effective for 2025 and that the committee had already paid for the initial year (state fiscal year 2026), so the action under discussion would fund the second year (state fiscal year 2027).

A committee member said the package included several elements they viewed as noncontroversial, and asked whether any member opposed moving the package forward. Another member replied, “We’re fine on our side also,” and the group indicated informal agreement. One member summarized the outcome: “We absolutely would accept that position on 02/2025,” and later said, “we're in agreement and everybody will sign the report.” The meeting record shows no roll-call vote; the acceptance was confirmed by consensus remarks rather than a formal recorded vote.

The committee also discussed a separate matter arising from a gubernatorial veto. A member noted that the governor had vetoed Senate Bill 18 and said the sponsor respected the veto. The member said they had discussed an alternative: placing a Hunter Nation Foundation license-plate proposal into an available shell bill (identified in the transcript as 02/1935 or similar shells) and asked whether the committee would consider drafting that measure. Members tentatively agreed to reconvene later the same morning to consider drafting language; the group settled on a 10:30 a.m. reconvening time.

Next steps reflected in the meeting record: staff will prepare the conference committee report reflecting the agreed language on 02/2025 and members indicated they will sign the report; the committee planned to reconvene at 10:30 a.m. to discuss the license-plate shell and other potential tax bills. No formal motions or roll-call votes were recorded in the transcript excerpts provided.

Details omitted or not specified in the record include exact bill text for 02/2025 as presented to the committee, an official roll-call vote tally, and any fiscal-note dollar totals beyond the staff explanation of which fiscal years are covered (calendar year 2025/state fiscal year 2026 and calendar year 2026/state fiscal year 2027).