Senate Bill No. 118
(By Senator Boley)
____________
[Introduced February 9, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §7-11B-7 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing that the governing
body of a municipality may not establish a development or
redevelopment district without the formal consent of the
county commission of the county in which the proposed
development or redevelopment district is located.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §7-11B-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11B. WEST VIRGINIA TAX INCREMENT FINANCING ACT.
§7-11B-7. Creation of a development or redevelopment or district.
(a) County commissions and the governing bodies of Class I and
II municipalities, upon their own initiative or upon application of
an agency or a developer, may propose creation of a development or
redevelopment district and designate the boundaries of the
district:
Provided, That a district may not include noncontiguous
land.
(b) The county commission or municipality proposing creation
of a development or redevelopment district shall then hold a public
hearing at which interested parties are afforded a reasonable
opportunity to express their views on the proposed creation of a
development or redevelopment district and its proposed boundaries.
(1) Notice of the hearing shall be published as a Class II
legal advertisement in accordance with section two, article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code.
(2) The notice shall include the time, place and purpose of
the public hearing, describe in sufficient detail the tax increment
financing plan, the proposed boundaries of the development or
redevelopment district and, when a development or redevelopment
project plan is being proposed, the proposed tax increment
financing obligations to be issued to finance the development or
redevelopment project costs.
(3) Prior to the first day of publication, a copy of the
notice shall be sent by first-class mail to the director of the
development office and to the chief executive officer of all other
local levying bodies having the power to levy taxes on real and
tangible personal property located within the proposed development
or redevelopment district.
(4) All parties who appear at the hearing shall be afforded an
opportunity to express their views on the proposal to create the
development or redevelopment district and, if applicable, the
development or redevelopment project plan and proposed tax
increment financing obligations.
(c) After the public hearing, the county commission, or the
governing body of the municipality, shall finalize the boundaries
of the development or redevelopment district, the development or
redevelopment project plan, or both, and submit the same to the
director of the development office for his or her review and
approval. The director, within sixty days after receipt of the
application, shall approve the application as submitted, reject the
application or return the application to the county commission or
governing body of the municipality for further development or
review in accordance with instructions of the director of the
development office. A development or redevelopment district or
development or redevelopment project plan may not be adopted by the
county commission or the governing body of a municipality until
after it has been approved by the executive director of the
development office.
(d) Upon approval of the application by the development
office, the county commission may enter an order and the governing
body of the municipality proposing the district or development or
redevelopment project plan may adopt an ordinance, that:
(1) Describes the boundaries of a development or redevelopment
district sufficiently to identify with ordinary and reasonable
certainty the territory included in the district, which boundaries
shall create a contiguous district;
(2) Creates the development or redevelopment district as of a
date provided in the order or ordinance;
(3) Assigns a name to the development or redevelopment district for identification purposes.
(A) The name may include a geographic or other designation,
shall identify the county or municipality authorizing the district
and shall be assigned a number, beginning with the number one.
(B) Each subsequently created district in the county or
municipality shall be assigned the next consecutive number;
(4) Contains findings that the real property within the
development or redevelopment district will be benefitted by
eliminating or preventing the development or spread of slums or
blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas, discouraging the
loss of commerce, industry or employment, increasing employment or
any combination thereof;
(5) Approves the development or redevelopment project plan, if
applicable;
(6) Establishes a tax increment financing fund as a separate
fund into which all tax increment revenues and other revenues
designated by the county commission, or governing body of the
municipality, for the benefit of the development or redevelopment
district shall be deposited, and from which all project costs shall
be paid, which may be assigned to and held by a trustee for the
benefit of bondholders if tax increment financing obligations are
issued by the county commission or the governing body of the
municipality; and
(7) Provides that ad valorem property taxes on real and
tangible personal property having a tax situs in the development or
redevelopment district shall be assessed, collected and allocated in the following manner, commencing upon the date of adoption of
such order or ordinance and continuing for so long as any tax
increment financing obligations are payable from the tax increment
financing fund, hereinafter authorized, are outstanding and unpaid:
(A) For each tax year, the county assessor shall record in the
land and personal property books both the base assessed value and
the current assessed value of the real and tangible personal
property having a tax situs in the development or redevelopment
district;
(B) Ad valorem taxes collected from regular levies upon real
and tangible personal property having a tax situs in the district
that are attributable to the lower of the base assessed value or
the current assessed value of real and tangible personal property
located in the development project area shall be allocated to the
levying bodies in the same manner as applicable to the tax year in
which the development or redevelopment project plan is adopted by
order of the county commission or by ordinance adopted by the
governing body of the municipality;
(C) The tax increment with respect to real and tangible
personal property in the development or redevelopment district
shall be allocated and paid into the tax increment financing fund
and shall be used to pay the principal of and interest on tax
increment financing obligations issued to finance the costs of the
development or redevelopment projects in the development or
redevelopment district. Any levying body having a development or
redevelopment district within its taxing jurisdiction shall not receive any portion of the annual tax increment except as otherwise
provided in this article; and
(D) In no event shall the tax increment include any taxes
collected from excess levies, levies for general obligation bonded
indebtedness or any levies other than the regular levies provided
for in article eight, chapter eleven of this code.
(e) Proceeds from tax increment financing obligations issued
under this article may only be used to pay for costs of development
and redevelopment projects to foster economic development in the
development or redevelopment district or land contiguous thereto.
(f) Notwithstanding subsection (e) of this section, a county
commission may not enter an order approving a development or
redevelopment project plan unless the county commission expressly
finds and states in the order that the development or redevelopment
project is not reasonably expected to occur without the use of tax
increment financing.
(g) Notwithstanding subsection (e) of this section, the
governing body of a municipality may not adopt an ordinance
approving a development or redevelopment project plan unless the
governing body expressly finds and states in the ordinance that the
development or redevelopment project is not reasonably expected to
occur without the use of tax increment financing.
(h)
No A county commission
shall may not establish a
development or redevelopment district any portion of which is
within the boundaries of a Class I, II, III or IV municipality
without the formal consent of the governing body of such municipality.
(i) A governing body of a municipality may not establish a
development or redevelopment district without the formal consent of
the county commission of the county in which the proposed
development or redevelopment district is located.
(i) (j) A tax increment financing plan that has been approved
by a county commission or the governing body of a municipality may
be amended by following the procedures set forth in this article
for adoption of a new development or redevelopment project plan.
(j) (k) The county commission may modify the boundaries of the
development or redevelopment district, from time to time, by entry
of an order modifying the order creating the development or
redevelopment district.
(k) (l) The governing body of a municipality may modify the
boundaries of the development or redevelopment district, from time
to time, by amending the ordinance establishing the boundaries of
the district.
(l) (m) Before a county commission or the governing body of a
municipality may amend such an order or ordinance, the county
commission or municipality shall give the public notice, hold a
public hearing and obtain the approval of the director of the
development office, following the procedures for establishing a new
development or redevelopment district. In the event any tax
increment financing obligations are outstanding with respect to the
development or redevelopment district, any change in the boundaries
shall not reduce the amount of tax increment available to secure the outstanding tax increment financing obligations.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that a governing
body of a municipality may not establish a development or
redevelopment district without the formal consent of the county
commission of the county in which the proposed development or
redevelopment district is located.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
