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Sponsor: Bill would keep voter-approved school levies and bond debt out of TIF calculations
Summary
Rep. Mark Thane said HB 451 would exclude new voted levies, including school mill levies and general obligation bond debt service, from tax increment financing calculations so that revenue raised by voters goes to the ballot-stated purpose rather than the TIF increment. Proponents from education and municipal groups urged passage.
Rep. Mark Thane (House District 89) told the House Taxation Committee HB 451 would exclude certain new voted levies from the calculation of tax increment financing (TIF) so voter-approved mill levies and debt-service revenue go to the purposes stated on the ballot, not to TIF increment funds.
The bill’s sponsor walked the committee through TIF basics and said the measure is intended as a narrow cleanup: when a school district or other taxing jurisdiction runs a bond or levy election, the mills voters approve to service that debt should fund the bond debt service or levy purpose and not be absorbed into a TIF increment. The bill replicates prior statutory exemptions with an updated effective date and adds explicit exclusions for school district levies under 20-9-502 and levies to pay debt service on general obligation bonds, the sponsor said.
Supporters from education and local government groups told the committee HB 451 improves transparency and preserves funding for schools. Rob Watson, executive director for the School Administrators of Montana, said the bill protects school funding by keeping proceeds from voted levies available for their intended local uses and avoids shifting the tax burden to other taxpayers in the district. Jennifer Olson of the Montana League of Cities and Towns and municipal representatives from Bozeman and Great Falls described the bill as a drafting cleanup that restores the intended treatment of post-formation voted levies.
Department of Revenue staff (property assessment and tax policy analysts) were present to answer technical questions. In a brief round of committee questioning, Thane summarized the effect in plain terms: when voters approve a levy to service a GO bond or a school reserve, the revenue generated by those voter-approved mills would be excluded from TIF increment calculations and therefore be used for the stated ballot purpose rather than to fund the increment.
The hearing closed after proponents and informational witnesses completed testimony. The committee did not take executive action on HB 451 during this session.
The next procedural step for HB 451 will depend on the sponsor’s request for executive action; the committee record shows proponents urging a due-pass recommendation.
