Senate Bill No. 268
(By Senator Snyder)
____________
[Introduced February 16, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §7-11B-2, §7-11B-3, §7-11B-4 and
§7-11B-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all
relating to permitting Class III municipalities to participate
in the West Virginia Tax Increment Financing Act.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §7-11B-2, §7-11B-3, §7-11B-4 and §7-11B-7 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 11B. WEST VIRGINIA TAX INCREMENT FINANCING ACT.
§7-11B-2. Findings and legislative purpose.
(a) It is found and declared to be the policy of this state to
promote and facilitate the orderly development and economic
stability of its communities. County commissions
and
municipalities need the ability to raise revenue to finance capital
improvements and facilities that are designed to encourage economic
growth and development in geographic areas characterized by high
levels of unemployment, stagnant employment, slow income growth, contaminated property or inadequate infrastructure. The
construction of necessary capital improvements in accordance with
local economic development plans will encourage investing in
job-producing private development and expand the public tax base.
(b) It is also found and declared that capital improvements or
facilities in any area that result in the increase in the value of
property located in the area or encourage increased employment
within the area will serve a public purpose for each taxing unit
possessing the authority to impose ad valorem taxes in the area.
(c) It is the purpose of this article:
(1) To encourage local levying bodies to cooperate in the
allocation of future tax revenues that are used to finance capital
improvements and facilities designed to encourage private
development in selected areas; and
(2) To assist local governments that have a competitive
disadvantage in their ability to attract business, private
investment or commercial development due to their location; to
encourage remediation of contaminated property; to prevent or
arrest the decay of selected areas due to the inability of existing
financing methods to provide capital improvements and facilities;
and to encourage private investment designed to promote and
facilitate the orderly development or redevelopment of selected
areas.
§7-11B-3. Definitions.
(a)
General. -- When used in this article, words and phrases
defined in this section shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless a different meaning is clearly required either
by the context in which the word or phrase is used or by specific
definition in this article.
(b)
Words and phrases defined. --
(1) "Agency" includes a municipality, a county or municipal
development agency established pursuant to authority granted in
section one, article twelve of this chapter, a port authority, an
airport authority or any other entity created by this state or an
agency or instrumentality of this state that engages in economic
development activity.
(2) "Base assessed value" means the taxable assessed value of
all real and tangible personal property, excluding personal motor
vehicles, having a tax situs within a development or redevelopment
district as shown upon the landbooks and personal property books of
the assessor on July 1 of the calendar year preceding the effective
date of the order or ordinance creating and establishing the
development or redevelopment district.
(3) "Blighted area" means an area within the boundaries of a
development or redevelopment district located within the
territorial limits of a municipality or county in which the
structures, buildings or improvements, by reason of dilapidation,
deterioration, age or obsolescence, inadequate provision for
access, ventilation, light, air, sanitation, open spaces, high
density of population and overcrowding or the existence of
conditions which endanger life or property, are detrimental to the
public health, safety, morals or welfare. "Blighted area" includes any area which, by reason of the presence of a substantial number
of substandard, slum, deteriorated or deteriorating structures,
predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot
layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness,
unsanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other
improvements, diversity of ownership, defective or unusual
conditions of title or the existence of conditions which endanger
life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of
such factors, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of
a municipality, retards the provision of housing accommodations or
constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the
public health, safety, morals or welfare in its present condition
and use, or any area which is predominantly open and which because
of lack of accessibility, obsolete platting, diversity of
ownership, deterioration of structures or of site improvements, or
otherwise, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of the
community.
(4) "Conservation area" means any improved area within the
boundaries of a development or redevelopment district located
within the territorial limits of a municipality or county in which
fifty percent or more of the structures in the area have an age of
thirty-five years or more. A conservation area is not yet a
blighted area but is detrimental to the public health, safety,
morals or welfare and may become a blighted area because of any one
or more of the following factors: Dilapidation; obsolescence;
deterioration; illegal use of individual structures; presence of structures below minimum code standards; abandonment; excessive
vacancies; overcrowding of structures and community facilities;
lack of ventilation; light or sanitary facilities; inadequate
utilities; excessive land coverage; deleterious land use or layout;
depreciation of physical maintenance; and lack of community
planning. A conservation area shall meet at least three of the
factors provided in this subdivision.
(5) "County commission" means the governing body of a county
of this state and, for purposes of this article only, includes the
governing body of a Class I,
or II
or III municipality in this
state.
(6) "Current assessed value" means the annual taxable assessed
value of all real and tangible personal property, excluding
personal motor vehicles, having a tax situs within a development or
redevelopment district as shown upon the landbook and personal
property records of the assessor.
(7) "Development office" means the West Virginia development
office created in section one, article two, chapter five-b of this
code.
(8) "Development project" or "redevelopment project" means a
project undertaken in a development or redevelopment district for
eliminating or preventing the development or spread of slums or
deteriorated, deteriorating or blighted areas, for discouraging the
loss of commerce, industry or employment, for increasing employment
or for any combination thereof in accordance with a tax increment
financing plan. A development or redevelopment project may include one or more of the following:
(A) The acquisition of land and improvements, if any, within
the development or redevelopment district and clearance of the land
so acquired; or
(B) The development, redevelopment, revitalization or
conservation of the project area whenever necessary to provide land
for needed public facilities, public housing, or industrial or
commercial development or revitalization, to eliminate unhealthful,
unsanitary or unsafe conditions, to lessen density, mitigate or
eliminate traffic congestion, reduce traffic hazards, eliminate
obsolete or other uses detrimental to public welfare or otherwise
remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration;
(C) The financial or other assistance in the relocation of
persons and organizations displaced as a result of carrying out the
development or redevelopment project and other improvements
necessary for carrying out the project plan, together with those
site improvements that are necessary for the preparation of any
sites and making any land or improvements acquired in the project
area available, by sale or lease, for public housing or for
development, redevelopment or rehabilitation by private enterprise
for commercial or industrial uses in accordance with the plan;
(D) The construction of capital improvements within a
development or redevelopment district designed to increase or
enhance the development of commerce, industry or housing within the
development project area; or
(E) Any other projects the county commission or the agency deems appropriate to carry out the purposes of this article.
(9) "Development or redevelopment district" means an area
proposed by one or more agencies as a development or redevelopment
district, which may include one or more counties, one or more
municipalities or any combination thereof, that has been approved
by the county commission of each county in which the project area
is located if the project is located outside the corporate limits
of a municipality, or by the governing body of a municipality if
the project area is located within a municipality, or by both the
county commission and the governing body of the municipality when
the development or redevelopment district is located both within
and without a municipality.
(10) "Economic development area" means any area or portion of
an area within the boundaries of a development or redevelopment
district located within the territorial limits of a municipality or
county that does not meet the requirements of subdivisions (3) and
(4) of this subsection and for which the county commission finds
that development or redevelopment will not be solely used for
development of commercial businesses that will unfairly compete in
the local economy and that development or redevelopment is in the
public interest because it will:
(A) Discourage commerce, industry or manufacturing from moving
their operations to another state;
(B) Result in increased employment in the municipality or
county, whichever is applicable; or
(C) Result in preservation or enhancement of the tax base of the county or municipality.
(11) "Governing body of a municipality" means the city council
of a Class I,
or Class II
or Class III municipality in this state.
(12) "Incremental value", for any development or redevelopment
district, means the difference between the base assessed value and
the current assessed value. The incremental value will be positive
if the current value exceeds the base value and the incremental
value will be negative if the current value is less than the base
assessed value.
(13) "Includes" and "including", when used in a definition
contained in this article, shall not be deemed to exclude other
things otherwise within the meaning of the term being defined.
(14) "Local levying body" means the county board of education,
and the county commission, and includes the governing body of a
municipality when the development or redevelopment district is
located, in whole or in part, within the boundaries of the
municipality.
(15) "Obligations" or "tax increment financing obligations"
means bonds, loans, debentures, notes, special certificates or
other evidences of indebtedness issued by a county commission or
municipality pursuant to this article to carry out a development or
redevelopment project or to refund outstanding obligations under
this article.
(16) "Order" means an order of the county commission adopted
in conformity with the provisions of this article and as provided
in this chapter.
(17) "Ordinance" means a law adopted by the governing body of
a municipality in conformity with the provisions of this article
and as provided in chapter eight of this code.
(18) "Payment in lieu of taxes" means those estimated revenues
from real property and tangible personal property having a tax
situs in the area selected for a development or redevelopment
project, which revenues according to the development or
redevelopment project or plan are to be used for a private use,
which levying bodies would have received had a county or
municipality not adopted one or more tax increment financing plans
and which would result from levies made after the date of adoption
of a tax increment financing plan during the time the current
assessed value of all taxable real and tangible personal property
in the area selected for the development or redevelopment project
exceeds the total base assessed value of all taxable real and
tangible personal property in the development or redevelopment
district until the designation is terminated as provided in this
article.
(19) "Person" means any natural person, and any corporation,
association, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability
company or other entity, regardless of its form, structure or
nature, other than a government agency or instrumentality.
(20) "Private project" means any project that is subject to ad
valorem property taxation in this state or to a payment in lieu of
tax agreement that is undertaken by a project developer in
accordance with a tax increment financing plan in a development or redevelopment district.
(21) "Project" means any capital improvement, facility or
both, as specifically set forth and defined in the project plan,
requiring an investment of capital, including, but not limited to,
extensions, additions or improvements to existing facilities,
including water or wastewater facilities, and the remediation of
contaminated property as provided for in article twenty-two,
chapter twenty-two of this code, but does not include performance
of any governmental service by a county or municipal government.
(22) "Project area" means an area within the boundaries of a
development or redevelopment district in which a development or
redevelopment project is undertaken, as specifically set forth and
defined in the project plan.
(23) "Project costs" means expenditures made in preparation of
the development or redevelopment project plan and made, or
estimated to be made, or monetary obligations incurred, or
estimated to be incurred, by the county commission which are listed
in the project plan as capital improvements within a development or
redevelopment district, plus any costs incidental thereto.
"Project costs" include, but are not limited to:
(A) Capital costs, including, but not limited to, the actual
costs of the construction of public works or improvements, capital
improvements and facilities, new buildings, structures and
fixtures, the demolition, alteration, remodeling, repair or
reconstruction of existing buildings, structures and fixtures,
environmental remediation, parking and landscaping, the acquisition of equipment and site clearing, grading and preparation;
(B) Financing costs, including, but not limited to, an
interest paid to holders of evidences of indebtedness issued to pay
for project costs, all costs of issuance and any redemption
premiums, credit enhancement or other related costs;
(C) Real property assembly costs, meaning any deficit incurred
resulting from the sale or lease as lessor by the county commission
of real or personal property having a tax situs within a
development or redevelopment district for consideration that is
less than its cost to the county commission;
(D) Professional service costs, including, but not limited to,
those costs incurred for architectural planning, engineering and
legal advice and services;
(E) Imputed administrative costs, including, but not limited
to, reasonable charges for time spent by county employees or
municipal employees in connection with the implementation of a
project plan;
(F) Relocation costs, including, but not limited to, those
relocation payments made following condemnation and job training
and retraining;
(G) Organizational costs, including, but not limited to, the
costs of conducting environmental impact and other studies, and the
costs of informing the public with respect to the creation of a
development or redevelopment district and the implementation of
project plans;
(H) Payments made, in the discretion of the county commission or the governing body of a municipality, which are found to be
necessary or convenient to creation of development or redevelopment
districts or the implementation of project plans; and
(I) That portion of costs related to the construction of
environmental protection devices, storm or sanitary sewer lines,
water lines, amenities or streets or the rebuilding or expansion of
streets, or the construction, alteration, rebuilding or expansion
of which is necessitated by the project plan for a development or
redevelopment district, whether or not the construction,
alteration, rebuilding or expansion is within the area or on land
contiguous thereto.
(24) "Project developer" means any person who engages in the
development of projects in the state.
(25) "Project plan" means the plan for a development or
redevelopment project that is adopted by a county commission or
governing body of a municipality in conformity with the
requirements of this article and this chapter or chapter eight of
this code.
(26) "Real property" means all lands, including improvements
and fixtures on them and property of any nature appurtenant to them
or used in connection with them and every estate, interest and
right, legal or equitable, in them, including terms of years and
liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise, and indebtedness
secured by the liens.
(27) "Redevelopment area" means an area designated by a county
commission, or the governing body of a municipality, in respect to which the commission or governing body has made a finding that
there exist conditions which cause the area to be classified as a
blighted area, a conservation area, an economic development area or
a combination thereof, which area includes only those parcels of
real property directly and substantially benefitted by the proposed
redevelopment project located within the development or
redevelopment district or land contiguous thereto.
(28) "Redevelopment plan" means the comprehensive program
under this article of a county or municipality for redevelopment
intended by the payment of redevelopment costs to reduce or
eliminate those conditions, the existence of which qualified the
redevelopment area as a blighted area, conservation area, economic
development area or combination thereof, and to thereby enhance the
tax bases of the levying bodies which extend into the redevelopment
area. Each redevelopment plan shall conform to the requirements of
this article.
(29) "Tax increment" means the amount of regular levy property
taxes attributable to the amount by which the current assessed
value of real and tangible personal property having a tax situs in
a development or redevelopment district exceeds the base assessed
value of the property.
(30) "Tax Increment Financing Fund" means a separate fund for
a development or redevelopment district established by the county
commission, or governing body of the municipality, into which all
tax increment revenues and other pledged revenues are deposited and
from which projected project costs, debt service and other expenditures authorized by this article are paid.
(31) "This code" means the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended by the Legislature.
(32) "Total ad valorem property tax regular levy rate" means
the aggregate levy rate of all levying bodies on all taxable
property having a tax situs within a development or redevelopment
district in a tax year but does not include excess levies, levies
for general obligation bonded indebtedness or any other levies that
are not regular levies.
§7-11B-4. Powers generally.
In addition to any other powers conferred by law, a county
commission or governing body of a Class I,
or II
or III
municipality may exercise any powers necessary and convenient to
carry out the purpose of this article, including the power to:
(1) Create development and redevelopment areas or districts
and to define the boundaries of those areas or districts;
(2) Cause project plans to be prepared, to approve the project
plans, and to implement the provisions and effectuate the purposes
of the project plans;
(3) Establish tax increment financing funds for each
development or redevelopment district;
(4) Issue tax increment financing obligations and pledge tax
increments and other revenues for repayment of the obligations;
(5) Deposit moneys into the Tax Increment Financing Fund for
any development or redevelopment district;
(6) Enter into any contracts or agreements, including, but not limited to, agreements with project developers, consultants,
professionals, financing institutions, trustees and bondholders
determined by the county commission to be necessary or convenient
to implement the provisions and effectuate the purposes of project
plans;
(7) Receive from the federal government or the state loans and
grants for, or in aid of, a development or redevelopment project
and to receive contributions from any other source to defray
project costs;
(8) Exercise the right of eminent domain to condemn property
for the purposes of implementing the project plan. The rules and
procedures set forth in chapter fifty-four of this code shall
govern all condemnation proceedings authorized in this article;
(9) Make relocation payments to those persons, businesses, or
organizations that are displaced as a result of carrying out the
development or redevelopment project;
(10) Clear and improve property acquired by the county
commission
or municipality pursuant to the project plan and
construct public facilities on it or contract for the construction,
development, redevelopment, rehabilitation, remodeling, alteration
or repair of the property;
(11) Cause parks, playgrounds or water, sewer or drainage
facilities or any other public improvements, including, but not
limited to, fire stations, community centers and other public
buildings, which the county commission
or municipality is otherwise
authorized to undertake to be laid out, constructed or furnished in connection with the development or redevelopment project. When the
public improvement of the county commission is to be located, in
whole or in part, within the corporate limits of a municipality,
the
county commission shall consult with the mayor and the
governing body of the municipality regarding the public improvement
and governing body of the municipality shall consent to the project
and the county commission shall pay for the cost of the public
improvement from the tax increment financing fund;
(12) Lay out and construct, alter, relocate, change the grade
of, make specific repairs upon or discontinue public ways and
construct sidewalks in, or adjacent to, the project area:
Provided, That when the public way or sidewalk is located within a
municipality, the governing body of the municipality shall consent
to the same and if the public way is a state road, the consent of
the Commissioner of Highways shall be necessary;
(13) Cause private ways, sidewalks, ways for vehicular travel,
playgrounds or water, sewer or drainage facilities and similar
improvements to be constructed within the project area for the
particular use of the development or redevelopment district or
those dwelling or working in it;
(14) Construct any capital improvements of a public nature;
(15) Construct capital improvements to be leased or sold to
private entities in connection with the goals of the development or
redevelopment project;
(16) Cause capital improvements owned by one or more private
entities to be constructed within the development or redevelopment district;
(17) Designate one or more official or employee of the county
commission
or municipality to make decisions and handle the affairs
of development and redevelopment project areas or districts created
by the county commission pursuant to this article;
(18) Adopt orders, ordinances or bylaws or repeal or modify
such ordinances or bylaws or establish exceptions to existing
ordinances and bylaws regulating the design, construction and use
of buildings within the development or redevelopment district
created by a county commission or governing body of a municipality
under this article;
(19) Enter orders, adopt bylaws or repeal or modify such
orders or bylaws or establish exceptions to existing orders and
bylaws regulating the design, construction and use of buildings
within the development or redevelopment district created by a
county commission or governing body of a municipality under this
article;
(20) Sell, mortgage, lease, transfer or dispose of any
property or interest therein, by contract or auction, acquired by
it pursuant to the project plan for development, redevelopment or
rehabilitation in accordance with the project plan;
(21) Expend project revenues as provided in this article; and
(22) Do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the
powers granted in this article.
§7-11B-7. Creation of a development or redevelopment or district.
(a) County commissions and the governing bodies of Class I,
and II
and III 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 county commission shall 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 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) 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) 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) 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 permit Class III
municipaliities to participate in the West Virginia Tax Increment
Financing Act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.