1999 Legislation
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HOUSE BILL NO. 275 – Auditorium/communty cntr dist/optns

HOUSE BILL NO. 275

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H0275...............................................by REVENUE AND TAXATION
AUDITORIUM/COMMUNITY CENTER DISTRICTS - Amends existing law relating to
auditorium or community center districts to authorize either a facility
construction or marketing option for the type of district which may be
created; to govern procedures for a property owner who petitions to be
excluded from a district; and to specify limits on the hotel/motel room
sales tax rate.

02/17    House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/18    Rpt prt - to Rev/Tax

Bill Text


H0275


                                                                        
 ||||              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ||||
Fifty-fifth Legislature                 First Regular Session - 1999
                                                                        

                             IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 275

                            BY REVENUE AND TAXATION COMMITTEE

 1                                        AN ACT
 2    RELATING  TO  AUDITORIUM  OR  COMMUNITY  CENTER  DISTRICTS;  AMENDING  SECTION
 3        67-4902, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL OPTIONS FOR THE  TYPE  OF  DIS-
 4        TRICT  WHICH  MAY  BE  CREATED;  AMENDING  SECTION 67-4904, IDAHO CODE, TO
 5        REQUIRE THE PETITION TO SPECIFY THE TYPE OF DISTRICT TO BE CREATED; AMEND-
 6        ING SECTION 67-4907, IDAHO CODE, TO GOVERN PROCEDURES FOR A PROPERTY OWNER
 7        WHO PETITIONS TO  BE  EXCLUDED  FROM  A  DISTRICT;  AND  AMENDING  SECTION
 8        67-4917B,  IDAHO  CODE,  TO SPECIFY LIMITS UPON THE HOTEL/MOTEL ROOM SALES
 9        TAX RATE AND TO MAKE A TECHNICAL CORRECTION.

10    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:

11        SECTION 1.  That Section 67-4902, Idaho Code, be, and the same  is  hereby
12    amended to read as follows:

13        67-4902.  DEFINITIONS.  An  auditorium or community center district is one
14    to  build, operate, maintain, market and manage for public, commercial  and/or
15    industrial  purposes  by  any  available  means public auditoriums, exhibition
16    halls, convention centers, sports arenas and facilities of a  similar  nature,
17     and for that purpose any such district shall have the power  
18    or      to   construct,   maintain,  manage,  market  and  operate  such
19    facilities , or both, depending on the option(s) described in  the  peti-
20    tion .
21        A  district  may    be entirely within or entirely without, or partly
22    within and partly without one (1) or more municipalities or counties, and  the
23    district  may  consist of  noncontiguous tracts or parcels of prop-
24    erty   one (1) or more counties .
25        The word "board" as used in this chapter shall mean the board of directors
26    of a district.
27        A "qualified elector" of a district, within the meaning of and entitled to
28    vote under this chapter, is a person who resides in the district and is other-
29    wise qualified under section 34-104, Idaho Code.
30        Wherever the term "publication" is used in this chapter it means  publica-
31    tion  twice,  the  first time not less than twelve (12) days prior to an elec-
32    tion, and the second time not less than five (5) days prior to an election, as
33    provided in section 34-1406, Idaho Code.

34        SECTION 2.  That Section 67-4904, Idaho Code, be, and the same  is  hereby
35    amended to read as follows:

36        67-4904.  PETITION  --  CONTENTS -- AMENDMENTS. The organization of a dis-
37    trict shall be initiated by a petition filed in the office of the clerk of the
38    court vested with jurisdiction, in a county in which the  major  part  of  the
39    real  property  in  the  proposed  district is situated. The petition shall be
40    signed by not less than ten percent (10%) of the qualified electors who reside
41    within the boundaries of the proposed district, and not less than ten (10)  of


                                          2

 1    whom  shall  reside  in  each  election  precinct which is wholly or partially
 2    within the boundaries of any such proposed district.
 3        The petition shall set forth:
 4        (1)  The name of the proposed district consisting of a chosen name preced-
 5    ing the words, "auditorium or community center district."
 6        (2)  A general description of  either  the  facilities   to  be
 7    constructed  or  of the  marketing programs or  of  both
 8     within and for the district   where approval  is  sought  for
 9    both.  In  the case where facilities are to be constructed, the petition shall
10    state where the building plans and feasibility study or studies are  available
11    for review .
12        (3)  The  estimated cost of  either  the proposed facilities or
13     of the  marketing programs or  of    both    where
14    approval is sought for both .
15        (4)  A general description of the boundaries of the district or the terri-
16    tory to be included therein, with such certainty as to enable a property owner
17    to determine whether or not his property is within the district.
18        (5)  A prayer for the organization of the district.
19        No  petition with the requisite signatures shall be declared null and void
20    on  account  of  alleged    defects      clerical  errors   or
21    nonmaterial  errors  in the description of the territory , but the court
22    may at any time permit the petition to be amended to conform to the  facts  by
23    correcting  any    clerical errors or  errors in the description of
24    the territory , or in any other particular . Similar  petitions  or
25    duplicate  copies  of  the same petition for the organization of the same dis-
26    trict may be filed and shall together be regarded as  one  (1)  petition.  All
27    such  petitions  filed prior to the hearing on the first petition filed, shall
28    be considered by the court the same as though filed with  the  first  petition
29    placed on file.

30        SECTION  3.  That  Section 67-4907, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
31    amended to read as follows:

32        67-4907.  HEARINGS ON PETITIONS -- ELECTION FOR ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS.
33    On the day fixed for such hearing or at an adjournment thereof the court shall
34    ascertain from the tax rolls of the county or counties in which  the  district
35    is  located or into which it extends, the total number of taxpayers within the
36    proposed district, who pay a general tax on real property owned by him or  her
37    within the district.
38        If  the court finds that no petition has been signed and presented in con-
39    formity with this chapter, or that the material facts are not as set forth  in
40    the  petition  filed,  it shall dismiss said proceedings and adjudge the costs
41    against the signers of the petition in such proportion as it shall  deem  just
42    and  equitable.  No appeal or writ of error shall lie from an order dismissing
43    said proceedings; but nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the  filing
44    of  a subsequent petition or petitions for similar improvements or for a simi-
45    lar district, and the right so to renew such proceedings is  hereby  expressly
46    granted and authorized.
47        Any  time  after the filing of the petition for the organization of a dis-
48    trict and before the day fixed for the hearing thereon, the owner or owners of
49     any real   taxable  property within the  proposed  dis-
50    trict  may  file  a  petition with the district court stating reasons why said
51    property should not be included therein, why his  land   prop-
52    erty  or any part thereof will not be benefited  directly or  indi-
53    rectly  by the  facilities or marketing programs of the  pro-


                                          3

 1    posed  district, or should not be embraced in said district and made liable to
 2    taxation therefor, and praying that said property be excluded therefrom.  Such
 3    petition  shall  be duly verified and shall describe the property sought to be
 4    excluded. The court shall conduct a hearing on said petition  and  shall  hear
 5    all  objections  to the inclusion in the district of  any lands described
 6    in said petition   said property . In case any owner of 
 7    real estate   taxable property   included  in  said  proposed
 8    district  shall  satisfy the court   establish by a preponder-
 9    ance of evidence  that his    real  estate      property
10    ,  or any part thereof, has been wrongfully included therein or will not
11    be benefited thereby then the court shall exclude such   real  estate  as
12    will not be benefited   property from the district .
13        Upon said hearing, if it shall appear that a petition for the organization
14    of  a  district has been signed and presented as hereinabove provided, in con-
15    formity with this chapter, and that the allegations of the petition are  true,
16    the  court shall, by order duly entered of record, direct that the question of
17    the organization of the district shall be submitted to the qualified  electors
18    of  the  district at an election to be held, subject to the provisions of sec-
19    tion 34-106, Idaho Code, for that purpose, and such order shall appoint  three
20    (3)  qualified  electors of the district as judges of said election. The clerk
21    of the court having jurisdiction shall give published notice of the  time  and
22    place of an election to be held in the district.
23        Such  election  shall  be held and conducted in the same manner as general
24    elections in this state.
25        At any time after the filing of the petition herein referred to and before
26    the day fixed for hearing, nominees for the board of directors of the district
27    may be nominated by the filing of a petition designating the name or names  of
28    the nominee or nominees, signed by at least five (5) qualified electors of the
29    district.  If  upon  the  hearing  as herein provided the court shall order an
30    election for the creation of the district, the court shall also ascertain  the
31    names of persons nominated by the board of directors, and shall order that the
32    names of persons whom the court finds to have been properly nominated shall be
33    listed  upon a ballot submitted to the electors at such election. In the event
34    the court makes its order providing for such election, it shall prescribe  the
35    form  of  the  question , which shall specify the maximum permissible tax
36    rate,  and ballot relating to the election of  the  directors,  provided
37    that  all  matters may be contained upon one (1) ballot to be submitted to the
38    voters.
39        At such election the voters shall vote for or against the organization  of
40    the  district,  and  for five (5) qualified electors, who shall constitute the
41    board of directors of the district, if organized,  one  (1)  director  to  act
42    until the first biennial election, two (2) until the second, and two (2) until
43    the third biennial election.
44        The  judges  of  election shall certify the returns of the election to the
45    district court having jurisdiction. If a majority of the votes  cast  at  said
46    election  are  in  favor of the organization, the district court shall declare
47    the district organized and give it a corporate name by which, in all  proceed-
48    ings,  it  shall thereafter be known, and designated the first board of direc-
49    tors elected, and thereupon the district shall be a  governmental  subdivision
50    of  the state of Idaho and a body corporate with all the powers of a public or
51    quasi-municipal corporation except that districts formed prior to  January  1,
52    1987, or districts with twenty-five thousand (25,000) or more population shall
53    have no power to levy and collect ad valorem taxes.
54          If  an order be entered establishing the district, such order shall
55    be deemed final and no appeal or writ of error shall lie  therefrom,  and  the


                                          4

 1    entry of such order shall finally and conclusively establish the regular orga-
 2    nization  of  the said district against all persons except the state of Idaho,
 3    in an action in the nature of a writ of quo warranto, commenced by the  attor-
 4    ney  general within thirty (30) days after said decree declaring such district
 5    organized as herein provided, and not otherwise.   The  organization  of
 6      said    any  district  established before January
 7    1, 1999,  shall not be directly or collaterally questioned in any  suit,
 8    action or proceeding except as herein expressly authorized.

 9        SECTION  4.  That Section 67-4917B, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
10    amended to read as follows:

11        67-4917B.  HOTEL/MOTEL ROOM SALES TAX. The  board  shall  have  power  and
12    authority  to  levy  a  sales  tax of not to exceed  five per cent 
13     four percent  ( 5   4  %)  of  the  receipts
14    derived  by hotels and motels within the district from the furnishing of hotel
15    and motel rooms, except no tax shall be imposed  where  residence  therein  is
16    maintained  continuously under the terms of a lease or similar agreement for a
17    period in excess of thirty (30) days, and except that no tax shall be  charged
18    on  the  sale of rooms by the Idaho Ronald McDonald House ; provided that
19    such sales tax shall not exceed one percent (1%) if the petition proposed only
20    a marketing program(s) . The levy and collection of said sales tax shall
21    not be subject to the limitations or other  provisions  of  sections  67-4913,
22    67-4914,  67-4915  and  67-4916, Idaho Code. The revenues received by the dis-
23    trict from such sales tax shall be deposited in the  depository  of  the  dis-
24    trict.  Promptly following the adoption by the board of the resolution to levy
25    such tax, the secretary of the board shall certify to the state tax commission
26    that such levy has been adopted and shall state the effective date thereof and
27    shall transmit to the commission a certified  copy  of  such  resolution.  The
28    effective date of any such levy shall not be earlier than the first day of the
29    month  not  less  than sixty (60) days following certification of such levy to
30    the commission.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact


                      STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

                             RS08997

The purpose of this legislation is to correct ambiguities in the auditorium district law
(Chapter 49, Title 67, Idaho Code). In recent court proceedings in Idaho Falls, a district judge
determined, among other things, that an auditorium district could do anything authorized by
the auditorium district law, including imposmg a 5% hotel tax, even if the petition signed and
approved by the voters was designed just to authorize a marketing program with a limited 1%
or 2% hotel tax.

The legislation makes it clear that the purpose of the district can be to construct
facilities, or to implement a marketing program, or both, but that any new auditorium district
petition must spell out what is to be authorized. A district which will be limited to a
marketing program is also limited to a 1% hotel tax. A district authorized to construct
facilities is authorized to implement a hotel tax of up to 4% (down from 5% but in keepmg
with the tax currently in effect for the Boise Auditorium District).

The bill provides more detail as to what needs to be stated m the petition, the standard
to be applied where a taxpayer seeks to opt out, and the ability to seek judicial review.

           FISCAL IMPACT

    None.









 CONTACT
 Name:                Representative Dolores Crow
 Phone:               332-1125

 Name:      David Kerrick
 Phone:     459-4574

                                                 STATEMENTOFPURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 275