Tuss, Solomon oppose bills changing finance districts

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon and Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss expressed opposition during Tuesday's weekly legislative videoconference to a pair of legislative proposals in the Montana House of Representatives, bills they said would jeopardize the ability of local governments to invest in infrastructure.

Solomon told state Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, and state Sens. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, and Mike Lang, R-Malta, that he is "deadly against" House bills 359 and 134.

Solomon said both House bills would hurt the ability of cities and counties to collect revenue through Tax Increment Finance Districts, or TIFs, which are assessed through property taxes.

As property values within the district rise due to improvements made to property within that area, the increment or increased money gained as a result of the additional taxes is to be set aside to be used for infrastructure projects within that district.

The Montana Department of Transportation website says such districts can last 20 or more years, or enough time to pay back the bonds issued to finance the improvements.

Solomon said passage of the bills would take away one of the few tools local governments have to finance infrastructure improvements.

House Bill 134 is scheduled for a hearing today before the House Education Committee of which Bachmeier is a member.

The fiscal note for HB 134, sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Essman, R-Billings, says the bill would redirect revenue from schools not pledged to the payment of the principal and premiums and interest on bonds before Aug 29, 2016, to a school facility maintenance grant program.

The change would bring in $1.5 million annually to the program, the fiscal note says.

Tuss said that both proposals are "bad bills." and are nearly uniformly opposed by economic development organizations.

"Local governments have so few options for infrastructure development in Montana and this is one of the few options they have," he said.

Bachmeier later said he is against HB 134.

"I think that local governments already have good infrastructure financing options," Bachmeier said later in a Facebook message. "The system works so we don't need to fix it."