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2011 Top Legislative Issues For the City of Missoula The 2011 Montana legislative session promises to be a challenging one for municipalities as lawmakers grapple with a budget shortfall of close to $400 million (A new estimate is expected in mid‐November, but likely won’t improve considerably, and may worsen). With a clear Republican majority after the Nov. 2 election, focus is most certainly going to be on belt‐ tightening measures, incentives intended to assist business growth and general efforts to revise property taxes that likely will not favor local governments. There should be no expectation whatsoever of additional monies, and efforts will likely need to be focused on defending existing funding and programs. As also outlined by the Montana League of Cities and Towns, we see several key areas where advocacy efforts on behalf of the City of Missoula will be essential: 1. Local government guarantees: The Legislative Fiscal Division has recommended that the “entitlement payments” local governments receive be frozen at their current levels to help the state deal with current economic conditions and budget shortfalls. The City of Missoula will need to work closely with the League, representatives of other communities and its legislative members to push back at this effort. Currently, there’s no strong indication one way or the other whether legislative leaders will push this idea, but have indicated that all options are going to be on the table in 2011. Local governments have strong arguments against touching the entitlements, and may have some strong allies in the Republican majority. However, the list of lawmakers who were around in 2001 when this entitlement system was supported and enacted is rapidly declining. 2. Property taxes: Property tax revisions, none of which would be beneficial to local governments, are already in draft. Among them: bills to cut the tax rate on business equipment and exempt other classes of property from taxation. Property taxes remain the single most important revenue source for local governments and while cutting them is always a popular mantra at the Legislature, local governments need to put such cuts in perspective and explain their consequences. Arguments will be made by proponents that cutting certain taxes, such as the business equipment tax, will spur business expansion and job opportunities. The City of Missoula will need to work with its allies and counterparts to clearly and concisely spell out the consequences: increased levies on a lot of other property classes. 3. Tax‐increment financing: The City of Missoula should expect legislation that would remove the 95‐mill state school equalization levy from TIFs. This move would certainly eliminate TIFs as an option for economic development efforts. Missoula’s “Sawmill District,” the 46‐acre Champion Sawmill site remains one of the best examples of use of TIF. The site sat vacant and contaminated for 15 years. TIF funding totaling more than $1.1 million covered close to half of ---PAGE BREAK--- the environmental remediation work, which cleared the way for residential development, commercial development and a 15‐acre park. Missoula and its allies will need to highlight the great results of TIF projects and defend against any efforts that would restrict the use of this option in the future. Other Issues: While we expect the issues enumerated above will take center stage and likely require the most attention, Missoula should expect a slew of other legislation with economic and/or social impacts. It will be important for the City to work with its allies on all these issues as well, and we will call on, and require the assistance of, key people in city government on some of these measures. In 2009, we coordinated with the city and its departments to have key staff with expertise address the Legislature on certain issues. That approach worked well, and we would recommend the same again in 2011. Some of the issues to be aware of: The City can expect a number of bills to address Montana’s voter‐approved medical marijuana law. The League has taken a position that it will support legislation to restrict the use of marijuana for “all but legitimate medicinal purposes,” and will support any efforts that give local governments clear authority through zoning, licensing, etc. As home to more medical marijuana providers than any other city in the state, Missoula needs to examine this issue closely and determine what it feels is the best approach and which efforts it will want to support or oppose. The City will need to work closely with counterparts across the state who may have different ideas as well. Land‐use issues – specifically zoning and subdivision rules – ended up consuming a significant amount of energy for the City’s lobbyist in 2009, and we should expect to see further efforts to modify or clarify these issues I 2011. The City of Missoula worked closely with Missoula County, the Montana Association of Counties, other local government representatives, planning and zoning experts and third‐party advocacy groups on bills in the 2009 session. That coalition approach helped push back on the most onerous bills. We would expect to engage with many of the same stakeholders in 2011. Public Safety issues will also be on the agenda in 2011 and we are prepared to represent the City’s interest in those. Likely issues include seat belts (primary enforcement), funding for health inspections, carrying of firearms and presumption of covered disease for safety workers. All of these are “holdover” issues from 2009 that will likely come up again for consideration or revision.