Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 77. STATE LANDS

CHAPTER 1. ADMINISTRATION OF STATE LANDS

Part 2. Board of Land Commissioners

Rental Market Valuation Lease Program -- Transition -- Rules

77-1-236. Rental market valuation lease program -- transition -- rules. (1) (a) Subject to subsection (2), the board shall offer all existing cabin site lessees or licensees the option of 15-year lease contracts based on the rental market valuation process provided in 77-1-235.

(b) (i) At least three winning bids made pursuant to 77-1-235 must be referenced against the most recent appraised value of the cabin site property by the department of revenue in order to establish a rental market percentage. All rental market percentages that have been determined pursuant to 77-1-235 must be grouped together by geographic location and averaged together to determine a final rental market percentage for each geographic location. If there are not three winning bids in any one geographic location, then three bids from similar locations may be averaged to establish a rental market percentage.

(ii) The final rental market percentage determined for each geographic location pursuant to this subsection (1)(b) must be applied to the department of revenue's most recent appraised value for each cabin site property in that location that did not go through the open competitive bidding process to determine the initial lease amount for each cabin site property.

(c) If no properties in a particular geographic location go through an open competitive bidding process, the most applicable comparable location, as determined based on professional appraisal standards, must be chosen and the final rental market percentage must be applied as provided in subsection (1)(b).

(2) The lease amount for the first year must be set as provided in subsection (1). The annual lease rental fee for each subsequent year must be adjusted using the average annual consumer price index as published by the U.S. bureau of labor statistics.

(3) By January 1, 2012, the board shall adopt rules for the orderly transition for cabin site lessees or licensees who have chosen the lease option pursuant to subsection (1) that is consistent with the board's constitutional fiduciary duty of attaining full rental market value.

(4) Nothing in this chapter prevents:

(a) an existing lessee or licensee from completing or renewing the lessee's or licensee's current lease or license based on existing methods of valuation as provided in 77-1-208; or

(b) a lessee or licensee that has abandoned a lease or license from bidding on the abandoned lease or license.

History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 401, L. 2011.