Idaho Bills

Amends and adds to existing law to revise the makeup of boards and to allow for an elected board; to provide that urban renewal plans be submitted to the State Tax Commission; and to provide the effect of an ordinance to modify an urban renewal plan.

ThislegislationistherecommendationoftheUrbanRenewalInterimCommitteecreatedbyHCR17 adopted in 2015. The purpose of this legislation is to provide transparency, accountability and modernization for the urban renewal process while maintaining a vital economic development tool for local governments in Idaho. The legislation first amends Section 50-2006, Idaho Code, and allows governing boards of urban renewal agencies to be elected if the local governing body adopts an ordinance to do so. Members of the local governing body must be less than a majority of the commissioners. Also, commissioners must be a resident of the county where the urban renewal agency is located or doing business. Section 50-2033, Idaho Code, is amended to provide that a revenue allocation area may only be amended to extend its boundaries and may be subject to statutory limitations. These limitations are contained in section 50-2903A, Idaho Code, which will be newly enacted. That section provides on and after July 1, 2016, when an urban renewal plan is modified, the base value for the year immediately following the year in which modification occurred shall include the current year's equalized assessed value of the taxable property in a revenue allocation area with some ministerial exceptions. This provision does provide for repayment of indebtedness in the event of a reset of the base. AnewSection50-2905A,IdahoCode,isaddedtoprovideforanelectionwhenaprojectfinancedby economic development funds will not be subject to property taxation. Public parking structures, or publicly owned infrastructure that includes streets, sewer or water connections, sidewalks, gutters, utilities or fiber-optic cable shall not be subject to a vote. The voting threshold shall be 60% of the voters voting. A new Section 50-2913, Idaho Code, is added to provide a repository at the State Tax Commission for Urban Renewal Plans or modifications to those plans. There is not a centralized repository currently and the State Tax Comm