HB696

I oppose this bill and the idea, that in a time of financial need for our public education system, the State would intentionally reduce or remove a funding resource. Stop giving breaks to large companies and start providing for the future and investing in the children of this State.

This puts more burden on property tax payers

I am writing in opposition to this Bill IN ITS CURRENT FORM. I served with Rep. Vose on the 2024 HB 458 Commission concerning the Assessment of Generation Assets; and I have served on the several prior Commissions on this subject. The current Bill does not address all of the Commissions concerns as contained in our Commission Report dated November 1, 2024. I urge all of the Committee members to read that Commission Report and modify the current Bill to address the Commissions' remaining concerns. At the very least, the provisions of Section 3 starting on line 20 of the Bill need to be modified so that it is clear that the owners of such property have to file the form with BOTH the DRA AND THE HOST MUNICIPALITY and that such information will be treated as confidential information. As was explained during the Commission's hearings, Municipalities and their assessors receive and hold confidential a myriad of information from a variety of sources. If the owners of multimillion dollar generation facilities are to become exempt from the Utility Property Tax of RSA 83-F, they should at least be required to report various items of information to both the DRA and the Host Municipality in order to assist the Host Municipality in making a fair and accurate appraisal of the subject property. One goal of the Commission was to see what could be done to help eliminate the very costly litigation over the valuation of these facilities; and this reporting was viewed by most if not all of the Commission members (with the exception of the paid lobbyists for the Generators who also served on the Commission) as a way of doing this. This information is usually obtained through the discovery process AFTER a suit has been filed by the Generators against the Host Municipality; but there is obvious benefit in having the information produced DURING the assessment process in the hopes of avoiding the lawsuit in the first place. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter; and thank you for your service to our State. Very truly yours, Christopher L. Boldt, Esq. 603-788-0686