$90M in tax credits goes to Montana and Idaho

The Montana and Idaho Community Development Corporation last week received $90 million in new market tax credits allocated from the U.S. Treasury Department, the largest allocation ever received by the dual-state organization. Previously, the largest allocation made to Montana and Idaho CDC was $65 million. 

“I know that we identify great projects all across Montana and Idaho,” said Dave Glaser, president of the Montana and Idaho CDC. “We spend a lot of time in communities across those states and we do a good job of managing those projects. It’s a combination of know how to use the money and then putting together great applications.”

The Montana and Idaho CDC, like other community development entities around the United States, use new market tax credits to draw investors toward business startups, expansions and projects in low-income areas.

More than 230 community development entities applied for the new tax credits, totaling a requested $17.6 billion. Of those, 120 organizations received a total allocation of $7 billion, and only four organizations received $90 million, the highest allocated amount. Montana and Idaho CDC, one of those four, is the only organization that doesn’t serve all 50 states.

Glaser said with last week’s received tax credits, the organization can help finance larger projects, as well as those that are more remote.

“It’s both of those,” Glaser said. “We’ve financed projects as remote as the Fort Peck Reservation and as urban as downtown Billings. This will allow us to do more across the state and Idaho.”

The organization has helped finance two large projects in Northwestern Montana, including the Red Lion Hotel and the Mission Valley Aquatic Center, both in Polson.

The CDC takes applications at any time throughout the year, and then determines which projects to help finance. Glaser said the CDC typically provides 15 to 20 percent of the total project cost.

“We have lots of experience in getting out and finding projects quickly,” he said. “The brass tacks of it will finance $90 million worth of projects with that money. These are projects that otherwise would not have happened. It’s going to catalyze investment from inside and outside the state.”

The Montana and Idaho CDC has received six previous tax credit allocations totaling $430 million, $322 of which has already been reallocated to projects across the two states. Glaser said he expects the seventh allocation to be invested within the next year and a half.

“To be able to bring that level of financial resource to Montana is an amazing thing,” Glaser said. “We are so excited to get out and find projects and help Montanans with this resource.”