Tax bills were further delayed, but have been mailed; available online
Several readers asked The Electric about why they hadn’t yet received their Cascade County property tax bills in the mail.
The Electric asked County Treasurer Diane Heikkila, who had heard the same questions.
She said her office called the vendor on Dec. 2 to find out why property owners hadn’t received their bills.
The bills were supposed to be mailed on Nov. 25.
Property tax bills have been available online since Nov. 16 can be paid through that system.
Bills can be paid online as well as in the county treasurer’s office and payments are due by Dec. 31.
County tax bills available online; mailed by Nov. 25
Bills were in the mail on Dec. 2, Heikkila said the vendor told her, and there were many circumstances leading to the delay that weren’t the faulk of their vendor, Master’s Touch.
The Calumet tax abatement review, and recertification of property tax values for Great Falls Public Schools, Great Falls Transit and county mills, were the major delays.
Heikkila said the county had to wait for the Montana Department of Revenue to redo their figures, and the local taxing jurisdictions also had to recertify those numbers.
County hires new printing vendor for tax bills [2022]
Once that was done, Heikkila’s office got the tax bill files to Master’s Touch, which was supposed to mail the paper bills by Nov. 25.
Heikkila said the company informed her office that a file didn’t go through correctly and the county IT department had to get involved to help fix the file pushing the work back a few more days, taking them to Nov. 29 with the holiday and Master’s Touch was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
She said tax bills were mailed Dec. 2 and property owners should start receiving them this week.
GFPS, County adjusting taxable values after Calumet revision; tax bills delayed
In October 2022, Cascade County Commissioners approved an agreement with Master’s Touch to print and mail property tax bills.
The Spokane company provides e-notice signup, second halfbill reminder emails, address tracking and mailing of multiple parcels in one envelope or flat for those with the same name and address, according to the county.
In late 2022, the contract was $31,145, which at the time was a cost savings of about $8,000 from the system between the county print shop and Innovative Postal Services, according to the county.
IPS has since closed and the future of the county print shop is in flux.
County discussing future of print shop operations
Heikkila told The Electric that the payment to Master’s Touch is adjusted annually by the number of property tax bills needing to be printed.
She said that Master’s Touch “has been a very positive agreement made with Cascade County. It has saved us so much time and money since we initiated the contract with them.”
Heikkila told The Electric that she would like to see the county print shop up and running again to help with printing needs in her office and countywide.
The Cascade County Treasurer’s office initially sent property tax bills to the printer on Nov .15
County tax bills are typically mailed out in October and due in November to the county treasurer’s office, which then distributes funds to the appropriate local agencies, such as the City of Great Falls, Great Falls Public Schools and Great Falls Transit District.
Heikkila told The Electric in October that her office has been waiting on final tax valuation numbers to process tax bills, but a change in values from the Montana Department of Revenue in October forced the county, GFPS and GFT to adjust their numbers, delaying the process.
The Montana Department of Revenue notified Cascade County, Great Falls Public Schools, Great Falls Transit and the City of Great Falls officials on Oct. 25 of their revised certified taxable value due to an “industrial appeal settlement.”
Calumet considers appeal of 2024 taxes
The adjustment appeared to be related to the department’s recent request for clarification of Calumet’s tax abatement approved by the city and county rather than an actual appeal settlement, according to county officials.
DOR officials told GFPS officials in October that the adjustment was due to ongoing appeals with Calumet.
DOR responded to The Electric’s Oct. 25 questions for clarification on what specifically was the reason for the adjustment in an email on Nov. 18.
DOR officials said the adjustment stemmed from the appeal process, which begins with an informal review.
In October, DOR issued 2024 Post AB-26 Assessment Notices to Calumet and Montana Renewables.
The AB-26 is a request for informal classification and appraisal review, which must be submitted within 30 days of the date on the taxpayer’s classification and appraisal notices, according to DOR.
Once submitted, DOR reviews the request and if it determines valuation adjustments are warranted, applies those to the current tax year.
If an entity misses the 30-day deadline, they can submit a request for informal review that will occur the following tax year.
DOR told The Electric that the notices to Calumet and Montana Renewables provided updated values for the 2024 tax year, reflecting additional information provided by those taxpayer entities during the AB-26 process, along with adjustments to the tax abatements authorized by the city and county and a revision to the assets granted the pollution control exemption authorized by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
According to the DOR, Calumet and Montana Renewables can still file a protest of this year’s taxes with the Cascade County Tax Appeal Board.
The city capped their 2022 tax abatement at $50 million and did not receive a revised valuation with the the other local taxing jurisdictions on Oct. 25, according to the city finance office.
Calumet still has two pending appeals before the Montana Tax Appeal Board for 2022 and 2023 taxes and said in Oct. 18 filings that it was still considering whether to protest its 2024 taxes.
Montana Renewables, Calumet’s subsidiary, has an appeal pending before the state tax board of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s decision not to certify the entire Great Falls facility as tax exempt. The DOR is not involved in that matter.
The Oct. 25 adjustment lowers the taxable values of each jurisdiction by about $4 million.
GFPS board approves request to access protested Calumet taxes
City officials were were told my DOR that the city’s valuation change was less that one percent, so they didn’t have to recertify their taxable values, City Manager Greg Doyon said during their Nov. 6 meeting.
Doyon said that when the city doesn’t recertify and there’s less tax revenue, they make up the difference with fund balance.
City policy is to maintain a 22 percent fund balance, which equates to about a two and a half month’s worth of operating expenses so the city can ensure cash flow in the event of a major unanticipated expense.
City Commission approves tax increase, budget
In the current budget, commissioners adopted a slightly higher fund balance at 24.5 percent, since they’re anticipating a continued significant tax protest from Calumet.
In the current budget, the city is projected to end the year with a $9,912,051 fund balance, above what would be a 22 percent fund balance of $8,979,234.
Melissa Kinzler, city finance director, said the city wouldn’t have that cash flow right now without CARES Act, or federal COVID relief, funds.
Montana Renewables, Calumet have pending tax appeals before state board
The city typically receives the first half of property tax revenues in November, but the recertification due to Calumet has delayed that and since taxes aren’t due now until the end of December, the city won’t likely get most of its revenue until January.
Kinzler said during the Nov. 6 commission work session that as of the end of September, the city had about $2.5 million of cash in the general fund and one city payroll cycle is $1.1 million so her office is projecting that they’ll be in a deficit by the end of December.
She said the “we’re very close to not being able to have cash flow,” and the Calumet tax protest filed last year and pending before the state tax appeal board is tying up about $1.1 million of city tax revenue in last year’s budget and again this year, according to city finance officials, making the general fund shortfall more pronounced.
The Great Falls Public Schools board voted during their Oct. 28 meeting to adjust their budget for the revised tax valuations.
County board upholds state’s revised tax valuation for Calumet
The revision lowered the amount in the elementary district by $4,130,446 and in the high school district by $4,129,255.
That changes the district’s taxable valuation that was issued by DOR in August, and used for the district’s budget, from $182,603,795 in the elementary to $178,473,349; and $185,329,633 to $181,200,378 in the high school.
The district submitted their budget to the state in August and will be updated.
The adopted budget amounts won’t change, but the the mills levied will increase due to the decrease in taxable valuation, creating “a tax shift from Calumet to the district taxpayers,” according to Brian Patrick, GFPS’ business operations manager.
The school board adopted a budget in August with a tax reduction of $75.27 on a house with a $300,000 taxable valuation, according to GFPS.
Taxpayers will still be paying less toward GFPS this year, but that reduction will be slightly less with the taxable valuation revisions.
Calumet appeals county tax board denial to state [2023]
Now, a taxpayer will pay $53.59 less than last year on a house with a $300,000 taxable valuation, according to GFPS.
On Oct. 30, the Cascade County Commission is scheduled to conduct a special meeting to address the tax revision.
Commissioner Joe Briggs said he believes the adjustment is the Calumet abatement issue DOR sought clarification for over the summer and that commissioners voted on Oct. 15.
He said that the adjustment is larger than the estimate DOR had provided, which was a $2.9 million reduction in taxable valuation. Briggs said the county based their budget on that estimate so their budget officer is preparing an analysis of the impact.
“In each of the last few years we have had an adjustment downward in the taxable valuations after we have set the mills due to various tax appeals at the state level and we have not redone our mills, but have instead reduced spending as necessary and adjusted the budget as needed,” Briggs said.
The revision impacts the county’s general fund and countywide levies, which totaled 141.48 mills.
County requests tax recertification for GFPS budget, Calumet tax reduction [2021]
The revision translates to a reduction in revenue from what was budgeted of about $125,000 in the general fund and about $3,000 for the public safety levy.
The change only affected values in the newly taxable category, Briggs said, so it doesn’t change the number of mills the county can levy and doesn’t require a public hearing to adjust the mills.
Briggs said commissioners can modify the budget later if needed to reduce the spending levels to match the new tax estimates.
Great Falls Transit holding budget, mill levy hearing Aug. 23 [2023]
County Commissioners held another special meeting Nov. 8 to adjust the mills for the Great Falls Transit District, which is a standalone entity that is not part of the city or county. It’s primarily funded through federal programs, but is also funded through local taxes, that were approved by voters in the 1970s.
