State News

The Montana Department of Revenue has calculated the entitlement share growth factor for Fiscal Year 2021. For cities, counties, and consolidated governments, the growth factor for the entitlement share will be the maximum factor allowed by law.

In 2013, the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy put Advanced Authentication (AA) requirements in place. To date, many agencies and organizations haven’t implemented this security requirement. AA requires the use of two of the following three factors of authentication: something you know (e.g. password), something you have (e.g. physical, like a hard token), something you are (e.g. biometric).

$2.5 million is available for 9-1-1 grant awards for state fiscal year 2020.  The grant process will begin after January 1, 2020, when a  notice for the application submittal time period will be issued and grants will be awarded by June 30, 2020.

Local governments must submit formal notification to the department of the creation or change to a taxing jurisdiction or special district by January 1 of the year in which the taxes or fees are to be assessed per 15-10-321, MCA and 7-11-1014, MCA. The department recognizes signed resolutions as formal notification. Supporting documentation includes, at a minimum, a map and parcel information.

The Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) has finished calculating the number of mills for fiscal year 2020 that the board of county commissioners and other authorized government entities may levy upon all property in the state. 

The maximum statewide school equalization levy remains at 95 mills.  The maximum statewide university system levy remains at 6 mills.  The maximum vo-tech mill levy remains at 1.5 mills.

Montana statute provides that money deposited into the mineral impact account shall be distributed to local governments according to MCA 17-3-240 & 17-3-241. The distribution to eligible counties is based on the proportion of the total amount of revenue generated by mineral extraction in an eligible county to the total money received by the state. The total amount to be distributed to the counties from fiscal year 2019 is $6,731,148.37 A list of the distribution amounts is also attached.

The Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) Property Assessment Division (PAD) has successfully completed its annual requirement to certify taxable values of property. The certified values include mobile homes, personal property business equipment, real property, and centrally assessed properties.

The INTERCAP Loan Policy has been updated to align with House Bill 299 (Generally revising laws related to improvement district bonds) that became law during the 2019 Legislative Session.

During the 2019 Legislative Session, HB 175, Provide for state employee pay plan, passed and is effective July 1st.  HB 175 changed the state meal reimbursement rates.