CHS move won't get tax credits

The Montana Community Development Corporation on Thursday said it would not grant new market tax credits to the Core and Rail Redevelopment plan, a joint project between the city of Kalispell and the Flathead County Economic Development Authority.

The groups had asked for $800,000 in assistance from the Montana Community Development Corporation to help fund the relocation of CHS, one of the two rail-served businesses located in central Kalispell.

The new CHS site, which will include a new facility, grain and fertilizer storage bins, is located in the Glacier Rail Park, which is expected to begin development in early summer 2016. A $10 million federal grant will be used to build the rail park and remove the railroad tracks through Kalispell.

Kalispell City Manager Doug Russell laid out a backup plan at Monday’s Kalispell City Council meeting to prepare for the possibility of not receiving the tax credits.

“We’ll go with the Plan B that Doug Russell laid out on Monday,” said Kim Morisaki, a spokeswoman for the Economic Development Authority and one of the key players in the Core and Rail Redevelopment project.

The cost of relocating CHS to the Glacier Rail Park is estimated at $12 million. In lieu of the new market tax credits, Monday’s backup plan included the authority issuing bonds worth about $6 million while chipping in an additional $2 million in cash. CHS has pledged $4 million to the relocation effort.

Morisaki said although the new market tax credits were not awarded to the CHS project, they might not be precluded from funding other pieces of the project.

“If another company came in that made sense within the parameters of the plan, we would use that as an economic development tool,” she said.

In June, the U.S. Treasury Department awarded the Montana Community Development Corporation $65 million in new market tax credits to fund business start-ups and expansions in Montana and Idaho.