Department of Revenue introduces leadership team, emphasizes nonpartisan data and outreach

Brendan Beatty, director of the Montana Department of Revenue, introduced his leadership team to the House Taxation Committee and framed the agency's role as providing factual, nonpartisan information to lawmakers throughout the legislative session. "I'm an appointed bureaucrat. I am not an activist," Beatty said, adding that his goal is for legislators to tell the agency "exactly how" they want laws executed so fewer administrative rules are required.

Beatty and deputy Scott Mendenhall highlighted several outreach efforts that staff will offer to legislators, including "lunch and learns" and tours of processing facilities at the Donovan Building. Division administrators then gave high‑level overviews and statistics: Jill Hamilton (information management and collections) described return processing and collections volumes; Paula Gilbert (property assessment) said the division values more than 800,000 parcels and explained a two‑year mass appraisal cycle and the statutory basis for assessment work; Kristen Barber (cannabis control) provided program statistics including estimated sales and tax collections; Derek Bell (business and income tax division) reviewed bureau responsibilities and growth in filings.

Key figures cited to the committee included roughly 600,000+ individual returns processed last year, billions in collections (DOR staff cited several billion dollars in payments handled), an information management unit that scans millions of paper items, the cannabis control division licensing hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of cardholders, and the property assessment division's staffing and workload (289 employees and appraisal responsibilities across 800,000+ parcels). Beatty urged members to use department staff as a resource during the session and invited legislators to attend offered trainings.