MACo Associate Director, Barbara Zektick, testified in support of Senate Bill 397, “Local Income Tax Overpayments – Local Reserve Account Repayment – Forgiveness,” before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on February 15, 2017.

Over this past year, due to an issue concerning misclassified addresses, the Comptroller’s Office has identified $21 million in local income tax revenues which were distributed to counties and municipalities incorrectly for tax years 2010-2014 – resulting in overpayments to some local governments and underpayments to others.  This bill repeals the requirement that local governments must reimburse the Local Income Tax Reserve Account for overpayments of local income tax revenue distributions made by the Comptroller. This bill allows for funds to be drawn from the Account, rather than local government budgets, to rectify errors for which they are not responsible.

From MACo testimony:

MACo supports this bill because it alleviates local governments from bearing the burden for unpredicted liabilities due to no fault of their own. Such liabilities could potentially compromise a local government’s ability to provide funds for needed programs and services.

Follow MACo’s advocacy efforts during the 2017 legislative session here.