Calumet Refining applies to reduce property taxes

The Great Falls City Commission will consider an application by Calumet Montana Refining to use a tax benefit for new and expanding industry that will reduce the company’s property taxes on a $450 million expansion that included four new processing units.

The Great Falls City Commission meets at 7 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Commission Chambers at the Civic Center.

The tax benefit would reduce the oil refinery’s property taxes for the next decade. Calumet would pay property taxes on half the value of the expansion’s taxable value for the first five years and then incrementally more each year for the next five years.

If approved, the tax benefit would mean Calumet’s property tax bill on the expansion over the next 10 years would be reduced from $68 million to $46.5 million.

Great Falls Planning and Development Director Craig Raymond recommends denying Calumet’s application for the tax benefit.

Although department staff have support such applications in the past, those projects were different, Raymond wrote in his report.

Previous projects using the tax benefit had far less impact on tax roles and are not categorized as “high hazard” in the city’s emergency response plan, he wrote.

Previous projects were recruited to Great Falls using the tax benefit in economic incentive packages and Calumet’s expansion was not contingent on approval of a tax abatement package, he added. The expansion is almost complete.

During the work session before the City Commission meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Gibson Room of the Civic Center, commissioners will get an update on the city’s emergency management, as well as fire department updates and emergency response needs reports.