City Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution during their May 19 meeting authorizing the issuance and negotiated sale of up to $3.8 million of revenue bonds within the East Industrial Park Tax Increment Financing District, more commonly known as AgriTech.

The bond sale won’t be finalized until August, according to city staff.

The resolution sets the terms and limitations of the issuance and sale of the TIF district revenue bonds, which if issued, will extend the TIF district until the debt is paid off.

The AgriTech TIF is currently scheduled to sunset in 2028.

City’s TIF board recommends approval of AgriTech bond for infrastructure installation, reimbursement

The bonds will be used to pay the city’s reimbursement obligations to the Great Falls Development Alliance for infrastructure already installed under a previous agreement and complete about $1.4 million of infrastructure installation along 67th Street North, which is needed for the development of Lots 7-10 in AgriTech:

• Lot 7 – under contract for the existing Ponderosa Solutions operation to expand
• Lot 8 – not under contract
• Lot 9 and 10 – under contract for Janicki Industries

On May 12, City Commissioners approved a tax abatement for Janicki’s proposed project on Lot 1C in AgriTech. The abatement request doesn’t include Lots 9-10, according to city documents.

The City Commission created the AgriTech TIF initially in 2013 and adopted a development agreement with the Great Falls AgriTech Owners Association, which is largely GFDA, in 2015 that provided the association would install infrastructure improvements in three phases and be reimbursed through TIF funds.

City, county approve tax abatements for proposed Janicki development

Under the agreement, once each project was certified as eligible for reimbursement, GFDA receives 85 percent of the city’s TIF funds in the district each year until those reimbursement obligations are met, according to the city.

In 2019, commissioners amended the agreement, which didn’t change the total reimbursement amount of $6,789,867, but adjusted the amounts among build-out phases, reimbursement timing, clarified responsibility for stormwater infrastructure, and that reimbursements would be paid directly to GFDA rather than the association.

The bond will fund public infrastructure needed for Lots 7-10 along 67th Street North for which the city agreed to reimburse GFDA for up to $1,251,528.

City, county commissioners set hearings on Janicki tax abatement request for May 12

The infrastructure to be installed includes reconstruction of 67th Street North, water main extension, and extension of gravity sewer to serve lots 7 through 10.

In 2025, GFDA paid the city to review the construction plans and the bid documents for work that is being competitively bid, according to GFDA’s TIF application.

The total reimbursed amount for AgriTech infrastructure is about $2,846,619, depending on collection of tax increment revenue in June and the actual cost of the improvements for Lots 7-10, according to the city.

City staff have been coordinating with D.A. Davidson on financing options for the proposed debt issuance, which is estimated to be $3.2 million, plus the cost of issuance and required reserves.

City considering tax abatement for Janicki project

Issuing the debt will extend the TIF district beyond its original 2028 sunset date, so city staff is working with Davidson to include an early call feature to pay off the debt quicker and sunset the district.

The purchase price, redemption features, and interest rate on the bonds will be subject to the following conditions and limitations:

• the aggregate principal amount of the Series 2026 Bonds shall not exceed $3,800,000
• the true interest cost of the taxable bonds shall not exceed 7.95 percent per annum, and,
• final maturity of the bonds shall not be later than 21 years from their date of issuance.

The annual debt service is an estimated $379,050 through 2047, depending on the interest rate and other details when the city finalizes the bond in August.

Jolene Schalper, GFDA’s executive vice president, said that when they took on AgriTech, there were no shovel-ready, or rail accessible industrial sites in Great Falls.

She said Great Falls was reaching the point of losing some companies it had at the time that were looking to expand, such as Montana Specialty Mills.

Schalper said the community needs available industrial lots to attract businesses and AgriTech is what drew ADF to Great Falls, even though they went into a different spot.

Story continues below.

Jeni Dodd, a regular city meeting goer, said that she withdrew her earlier support for the Janicki project due to the underhandedness of the city and GFDA extending the TIF district.

Melissa Kinzler, city finance director, said that the terms of the bond, including an early call feature, will depend on the market.

Commissioner Rick Tryon asked what risk the bonds had for taxpayers.

Kinzler said the debt is being issued based on the current increment in the AgriTech TIF district and not relying on future growth. She said there’s enough current increment in the district’s fund to pay on the debt, so that lowers the risk.

She said the city could sunset the district in 2028, but it wouldn’t be able to honor its current agreement to reimburse the AgriTech developers.

Great Falls a finalist for Janicki Industries expansion

Kinzler reminded commissioners that when a TIF district sunsets, the city only receives about 30 percent of the increment, versus all of it as long as it’s a TIF district.

Bridget Ekstrom, of D.A. Davidson’s public finance department, said they’re structuring the bond so that the city will have a call feature at the halfway point, so that, at a minimum, the debt would be paid off within 10 years.

She told commissioners that, as structured, the city has the revenue within the AgriTech district to pay off the debt and if there’s additional development within the district, the city will be able to pay it off quicker.

“We fully anticipate that you’ll have an easy path to calling these bonds early,” Ekstrom said.

During a Feb. 3 work session, Brett Doney of GFDA told commissioners that they started discussions with the city about three years ago to bond against the TIF for infrastructure and to reimburse  GFDA and Pacific Steel for the infrastructure costs they paid up front. At the time, it wasn’t feasible, but D.A. Davidson and the city’s bond counsel now believe there’s enough development to support the bond.

Proposed data center project off [2025]

During the May 8 TIF advisory meeting, Kinzler said, “this isn’t contingent on a new person coming in there, it’s been talked about for a long time. We’ve been talking about that for quite a while.”

It’s not necessarily a best practice to have a tax abatement in a TIF district, she said, but the city has allowed it before, specifically in the downtown TIF district.

Kinzler said that under the agreement with GFDA, the city is required to reimburse GFDA for infrastructure, but didn’t have the increment to issue bonds previously.

If the debt isn’t issued and the district isn’t extended, the city’s existing debts won’t be paid and the infrastructure improvements won’t be completed, she said.

The infrastructure work needs to be done regardless of Janicki’s decision to build in the AgriTech Park, she said.

City’s new TIF advisory board to meet for first time

Jeremy Jones, deputy city manager, said during the May 8 board meeting that the city is working with Malmstrom Air Force Base officials to extend the road from the back gate through the area.

GFDA and Cascade County were recently notified that they’d been awarded a $$788,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through Congressman Troy Downing’s office to extend 18th Avenue North.

Brett Doney of GFDA told The Electric that the funding was initially planned for the proposed data center project in that area, which was withdrawn.

GFDA purchased another 42 acres around 67th Street North and this road construction will open that land to be subdivided into two lots, one of which is east of the existing Lots 9-10 and one to the south.

The roadwork would extend some infrastructure to the large parcel, previously considered for a data center, that Doney said they’d like to see put into future use.

City to create TIF advisory board under new state law [2025]

Doney said they’re working out the funding and design details so the road could be built this season, but it may be delayed to next year, depending on federal timelines.

The property is in the county, but Doney said the road will be built to city standards in the event it’s considered for future annexation.