TITLE 50

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS

CHAPTER 29

LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT

50-2903.  Definitions. The following terms used in this chapter shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1)  "Act" or "this act" means this revenue allocation act.

(2)  "Agency" or "urban renewal agency" means a public body created pursuant to section 50-2006, Idaho Code.

(3)  "Authorized municipality" or "municipality" means any county or incorporated city that has established an urban renewal agency or by ordinance has identified and created a competitively disadvantaged border community.

(4)  Except as provided in section 50-2903A, Idaho Code, "base assessment roll" means the equalized assessment rolls, for all classes of taxable property, on January 1 of the year in which the local governing body of an authorized municipality passes an ordinance adopting or modifying an urban renewal plan containing a revenue allocation financing provision, except that the base assessment roll shall be adjusted as follows: the equalized assessment valuation of the taxable property in a revenue allocation area as shown upon the base assessment roll shall be reduced by the amount by which the equalized assessed valuation as shown on the base assessment roll exceeds the current equalized assessed valuation of any taxable property located in the revenue allocation area and by the equalized assessed valuation of taxable property in such revenue allocation area that becomes exempt from taxation subsequent to the date of the base assessment roll. The equalized assessed valuation of the taxable property in a revenue allocation area as shown on the base assessment roll shall be increased by the equalized assessed valuation, as of the date of the base assessment roll, of taxable property in such revenue allocation area that becomes taxable after the date of the base assessment roll. Any increase in valuation due to property owned, leased, or used in the operation of a business entity that makes capital investments in one (1) or more data centers, as defined in section 63-3622VV(2)(f), Idaho Code, after July 1, 2020, in amounts of at least two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) in the aggregate within the first five (5) years after commencement of construction, that creates and maintains at least thirty (30) new jobs at the data center within two (2) calendar years after the commencement of operations, and that is located in a revenue allocation area for which no bonds have been issued pursuant to section 50-2909, Idaho Code, as of March 16, 2023, shall be added to the base assessment roll in the current tax year. An urban renewal plan containing a revenue allocation financing provision adopted or modified prior to July 1, 2016, is not subject to section 50-2903A, Idaho Code. For plans adopted or modified prior to July 1, 2016, and for subsequent modifications of those urban renewal plans, the value of the base assessment roll of property within the revenue allocation area shall be determined as if the modification had not occurred.

(5)  "Budget" means an annual estimate of revenues and expenses for the following fiscal year of the agency. An agency shall, by September 1 of each calendar year, adopt and publish, as described in section 50-1002, Idaho Code, a budget for the next fiscal year. An agency may amend its adopted budget using the same procedures as used for adoption of the budget. For the fiscal year that immediately predates the termination date for an urban renewal plan involving a revenue allocation area or will include the termination date, the agency shall adopt and publish a budget specifically for the projected revenues and expenses of the plan and make a determination as to whether the revenue allocation area can be terminated before the January 1 of the termination year pursuant to the terms of section 50-2909(4), Idaho Code. In the event that the agency determines that current tax year revenues are sufficient to cover all estimated expenses for the current year and all future years, by September 1 the agency shall adopt a resolution advising and notifying the local governing body, the county auditor, and the state tax commission and recommending the adoption of an ordinance for termination of the revenue allocation area by December 31 of the current year and declaring a surplus to be distributed as described in section 50-2909, Idaho Code, should a surplus be determined to exist. The agency shall cause the ordinance to be filed with the office of the county recorder and the Idaho state tax commission as provided in section 63-215, Idaho Code. Upon notification of revenues sufficient to cover expenses as provided herein, the increment value of that revenue allocation area shall be included in the net taxable value of the appropriate taxing districts when calculating the subsequent property tax levies pursuant to section 63-803, Idaho Code. The increment value shall also be included in subsequent notification of taxable value for each taxing district pursuant to section 63-1312, Idaho Code, and subsequent certification of actual and adjusted market values for each school district pursuant to section 63-315, Idaho Code.

(6)  "Clerk" means the clerk of the municipality.

(7)  "Competitively disadvantaged border community area" means a parcel of land consisting of at least forty (40) acres that is situated within the jurisdiction of a county or an incorporated city and within twenty-five (25) miles of a state or international border, which the governing body of such county or incorporated city has determined by ordinance is disadvantaged in its ability to attract business, private investment, or commercial development as a result of a competitive advantage in the adjacent state or nation resulting from inequities or disparities in comparative sales taxes, income taxes, property taxes, population or unique geographic features.

(8)  "Deteriorated area" means:

(a)  Any area, including a slum area, in which there is a predominance of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence, inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open spaces, high density of population and overcrowding, or the existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors, is conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, morals or welfare.

(b)  Any area which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness, insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of ownership, tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land, defective or unusual conditions of title, or the existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors, results in economic underdevelopment of the area, 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.

(c)  Any area which is predominately open and which because of obsolete platting, diversity of ownership, deterioration of structures or improvements, or otherwise, results in economic underdevelopment of the area or substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a municipality. The provisions of section 50-2008(d), Idaho Code, shall apply to open areas.

(d)  Any area which the local governing body certifies is in need of redevelopment or rehabilitation as a result of a flood, storm, earthquake, or other natural disaster or catastrophe respecting which the governor of the state has certified the need for disaster assistance under any federal law.

(e)  Any area which by reason of its proximity to the border of an adjacent state is competitively disadvantaged in its ability to attract private investment, business or commercial development which would promote the purposes of this chapter.

(f)  Deteriorated area does not mean not developed beyond agricultural, or any agricultural operation as defined in section 22-4502(1), Idaho Code, or any forest land as defined in section 63-1701(4), Idaho Code, unless the owner of the agricultural operation or the forest landowner of the forest land gives written consent to be included in the deteriorated area, except for an agricultural operation or forest land that has not been used for three (3) consecutive years.

(9)  "Facilities" means land, rights in land, buildings, structures, machinery, landscaping, extension of utility services, approaches, roadways and parking, handling and storage areas, and similar auxiliary and related facilities.

(10) "Increment value" means the total value calculated by summing the differences between the current equalized value of each taxable property in the revenue allocation area and that property’s current base value on the base assessment roll, provided such difference is a positive value.

(11) "Local governing body" means the city council or board of county commissioners of a municipality.

(12) "Plan" or "urban renewal plan" means a plan, as it exists or may from time to time be amended, prepared and approved pursuant to sections 50-2008 and 50-2905, Idaho Code, and any method or methods of financing such plan, which methods may include revenue allocation financing provisions.

(13) "Project" or "urban renewal project" or "competitively disadvantaged border areas" may include undertakings and activities of a municipality in an urban renewal area for the elimination of deteriorated or deteriorating areas and for the prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight and may involve slum clearance and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, or rehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or any combination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal plan. Such undertakings and activities may include:

(a)  Acquisition of a deteriorated area or a deteriorating area or portion thereof;

(b)  Demolition and removal of buildings and improvement;

(c)  Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, open space, off-street parking facilities, public facilities, public recreation and entertainment facilities or buildings and other improvements necessary for carrying out, in the urban renewal area or competitively disadvantaged border community area, the urban renewal objectives of this act in accordance with the urban renewal plan or the competitively disadvantaged border community area ordinance.

(d)  Disposition of any property acquired in the urban renewal area or the competitively disadvantaged border community area (including sale, initial leasing or retention by the agency itself) or the municipality creating the competitively disadvantaged border community area at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan except for disposition of property to another public body;

(e)  Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan;

(f)  Acquisition of real property in the urban renewal area or the competitively disadvantaged border community area that, under the urban renewal plan, is to be repaired or rehabilitated for dwelling use or related facilities, repair or rehabilitation of the structures for guidance purposes, and resale of the property;

(g)  Acquisition of any other real property in the urban renewal area or competitively disadvantaged border community area where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, insanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen density, eliminate obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or otherwise to remove or to prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities or where necessary to accomplish the purposes for which a competitively disadvantaged border community area was created by ordinance;

(h)  Lending or investing federal funds; and

(i)  Construction of foundations, platforms and other like structural forms.

(14) "Project costs" includes, but is not limited to:

(a)  Capital costs, including the actual costs of the construction of public works or improvements, facilities, buildings, structures, and permanent fixtures; the demolition, alteration, remodeling, repair or reconstruction of existing buildings, structures, and permanent fixtures; the acquisition of equipment; and the clearing and grading of land;

(b)  Financing costs, including interest during construction and capitalized debt service or repair and replacement or other appropriate reserves;

(c)  Real property assembly costs, meaning any deficit incurred from the sale or lease by a municipality of real or personal property within a revenue allocation district;

(d)  Professional service costs, including those costs incurred for architectural, planning, engineering, and legal advice and services;

(e)  Direct administrative costs, including reasonable charges for the time spent by city or county employees in connection with the implementation of a project plan;

(f)  Relocation costs; and

(g)  Other costs incidental to any of the foregoing costs.

(15) "Revenue allocation area" means that portion of an urban renewal area or competitively disadvantaged border community area where the equalized assessed valuation (as shown by the taxable property assessment rolls) of which the local governing body has determined, on and as a part of an urban renewal plan, is likely to increase as a result of the initiation of an urban renewal project or competitively disadvantaged border community area. The base assessment roll or rolls of revenue allocation area or areas shall not exceed at any time ten percent (10%) of the current assessed valuation of all taxable property within the municipality.

(16) "State" means the state of Idaho.

(17) "Tax" or "taxes" means all property tax levies upon taxable property.

(18) "Taxable property" means taxable real property, personal property, operating property, or any other tangible or intangible property included on the equalized assessment rolls.

(19) "Taxing district" means a taxing district as defined in section 63-201, Idaho Code, as that section now exists or may hereafter be amended.

(20) "Termination date" means a specific date no later than twenty (20) years from the effective date of an urban renewal plan or as described in section 50-2904, Idaho Code, on which date the plan shall terminate. Every urban renewal plan shall have a termination date that can be modified or extended subject to the twenty (20) year maximum limitation. Provided however, the duration of a revenue allocation financing provision may be extended as provided in section 50-2904, Idaho Code.

History:

[50-2903, added 1988, ch. 210, sec. 3, p. 393; am. 1990, ch. 430, sec. 4, p. 1190; am. 1994, ch. 381, sec. 2, p. 1223; am. 1996, ch. 322, sec. 54, p. 1081; am. 2000, ch. 275, sec. 1, p. 893; am. 2002, ch. 143, sec. 2, p. 396; am. 2011, ch. 317, sec. 6, p. 918; am. 2016, ch. 349, sec. 3, p. 1017; am. 2023, ch. 308, sec. 1, p. 942.]