RCW 39.102.020
Definitions. (Expires June 30, 2039.)
The
definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless
the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Annual state contribution limit" means seven million
five hundred thousand dollars statewide per fiscal year.
(2) "Assessed value" means the valuation of taxable real
property as placed on the last completed assessment roll.
(3) "Base year" means the first calendar year following the
calendar year in which a sponsoring local government, and any
cosponsoring local government, receives approval by the board for
a project award, provided that the approval is granted before
October 15th. If approval by the board is received on or after
October 15th but on or before December 31st, the "base year" is
the second calendar year following the calendar year in which a
sponsoring local government, and any cosponsoring local
government, receives approval by the board for a project award.
(4) "Board" means the community economic revitalization
board under chapter 43.160 RCW.
(5) "Demonstration project" means one of the following
projects:
(a) Bellingham waterfront redevelopment project;
(b) Spokane river district project at Liberty Lake; and
(c) Vancouver riverwest project.
(6) "Department" means the department of revenue.
(7) "Fiscal year" means the twelve-month period beginning
July 1st and ending the following June 30th.
(8) "Local excise taxes" means local revenues derived from
the imposition of sales and use taxes authorized in RCW 82.14.030
at the tax rate that was in effect at the time the revenue
development area was approved by the board, except that if a
local government reduces the rate of such tax after the revenue
development area was approved by the board, "local excise taxes"
means the local revenues derived from the imposition of the sales
and use taxes authorized in RCW 82.14.030 at the lower tax rate.
(9) "Local excise tax allocation revenue" means the amount
of local excise taxes received by the local government during the
measurement year from taxable activity within the revenue
development area over and above the amount of local excise taxes
received by the local government during the base year from
taxable activity within the revenue development area, except
that:
(a) If a sponsoring local government adopts a revenue
development area and reasonably determines that no activity
subject to tax under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW occurred within
the boundaries of the revenue development area in the twelve
months immediately preceding the approval of the revenue
development area by the board, "local excise tax allocation
revenue" means the entire amount of local excise taxes received
by the sponsoring local government during a calendar year period
beginning with the calendar year immediately following the
approval of the revenue development area by the board and
continuing with each measurement year thereafter; and
(b) For revenue development areas approved by the board in
calendar years 2006 and 2007 that do not meet the requirements in
(a) of this subsection and if legislation is enacted in this
state during the 2007 legislative session that adopts the
sourcing provisions of the streamlined sales and use tax
agreement, "local excise tax allocation revenue" means the amount
of local excise taxes received by the sponsoring local government
during the measurement year from taxable activity within the
revenue development area over and above an amount of local excise
taxes received by the sponsoring local government during the 2007
or 2008 base year, as the case may be, adjusted by the department
for any estimated impacts from retail sales and use tax sourcing
changes effective in 2008. The amount of base year adjustment
determined by the department is final.
(10) "Local government" means any city, town, county, port
district, and any federally recognized Indian tribe.
(11) "Local infrastructure financing" means the use of
revenues received from local excise tax allocation revenues,
local property tax allocation revenues, other revenues from local
public sources, and revenues received from the local option sales
and use tax authorized in RCW 82.14.475, dedicated to pay either
the principal and interest on bonds authorized under RCW 39.102.150 or to pay public improvement costs on a pay-as-you-go
basis subject to RCW 39.102.195, or both.
(12) "Local property tax allocation revenue" means those tax
revenues derived from the receipt of regular property taxes
levied on the property tax allocation revenue value and used for
local infrastructure financing.
(13)(a) "Revenues from local public sources" means:
(i) Amounts of local excise tax allocation revenues and
local property tax allocation revenues, dedicated by sponsoring
local governments, participating local governments, and
participating taxing districts, for local infrastructure
financing; and
(ii) Any other local revenues, except as provided in (b) of
this subsection, including revenues derived from federal and
private sources.
(b) Revenues from local public sources do not include any
local funds derived from state grants, state loans, or any other
state moneys including any local sales and use taxes credited
against the state sales and use taxes imposed under chapter 82.08 or 82.12 RCW.
(14) "Low-income housing" means residential housing for
low-income persons or families who lack the means which is
necessary to enable them, without financial assistance, to live
in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding.
For the purposes of this subsection, "low income" means income
that does not exceed eighty percent of the median family income
for the standard metropolitan statistical area in which the
revenue development area is located.
(15) "Measurement year" means a calendar year, beginning
with the calendar year following the base year and each calendar
year thereafter, that is used annually to measure state and local
excise tax allocation revenues.
(16) "Ordinance" means any appropriate method of taking
legislative action by a local government.
(17) "Participating local government" means a local
government having a revenue development area within its
geographic boundaries that has entered into a written agreement
with a sponsoring local government as provided in RCW 39.102.080
to allow the use of all or some of its local excise tax
allocation revenues or other revenues from local public sources
dedicated for local infrastructure financing.
(18) "Participating taxing district" means a local
government having a revenue development area within its
geographic boundaries that has entered into a written agreement
with a sponsoring local government as provided in RCW 39.102.080
to allow the use of some or all of its local property tax
allocation revenues or other revenues from local public sources
dedicated for local infrastructure financing.
(19)(a)(i) "Property tax allocation revenue value" means
seventy-five percent of any increase in the assessed value of
real property in a revenue development area resulting from:
(A) The placement of new construction, improvements to
property, or both, on the assessment roll, where the new
construction and improvements are initiated after the revenue
development area is approved by the board;
(B) The cost of new housing construction, conversion, and
rehabilitation improvements, when such cost is treated as new
construction for purposes of chapter 84.55 RCW as provided in RCW 84.14.020, and the new housing construction, conversion, and
rehabilitation improvements are initiated after the revenue
development area is approved by the board;
(C) The cost of rehabilitation of historic property, when
such cost is treated as new construction for purposes of chapter 84.55 RCW as provided in RCW 84.26.070, and the rehabilitation is
initiated after the revenue development area is approved by the
board.
(ii) Increases in the assessed value of real property in a
revenue development area resulting from (a)(i)(A) through (C) of
this subsection are included in the property tax allocation
revenue value in the initial year. These same amounts are also
included in the property tax allocation revenue value in
subsequent years unless the property becomes exempt from property
taxation.
(b) "Property tax allocation revenue value" includes
seventy-five percent of any increase in the assessed value of new
construction consisting of an entire building in the years
following the initial year, unless the building becomes exempt
from property taxation.
(c) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, "property
tax allocation revenue value" does not include any increase in
the assessed value of real property after the initial year.
(d) There is no property tax allocation revenue value if the
assessed value of real property in a revenue development area has
not increased as a result of any of the reasons specified in
(a)(i)(A) through (C) of this subsection.
(e) For purposes of this subsection, "initial year" means:
(i) For new construction and improvements to property added
to the assessment roll, the year during which the new
construction and improvements are initially placed on the
assessment roll;
(ii) For the cost of new housing construction, conversion,
and rehabilitation improvements, when such cost is treated as new
construction for purposes of chapter 84.55 RCW, the year when
such cost is treated as new construction for purposes of levying
taxes for collection in the following year; and
(iii) For the cost of rehabilitation of historic property,
when such cost is treated as new construction for purposes of
chapter 84.55 RCW, the year when such cost is treated as new
construction for purposes of levying taxes for collection in the
following year.
(20) "Taxing district" means a government entity that levies
or has levied for it regular property taxes upon real property
located within a proposed or approved revenue development area.
(21) "Public improvements" means:
(a) Infrastructure improvements within the revenue
development area that include:
(i) Street, bridge, and road construction and maintenance,
including highway interchange construction;
(ii) Water and sewer system construction and improvements,
including wastewater reuse facilities;
(iii) Sidewalks, traffic controls, and streetlights;
(iv) Parking, terminal, and dock facilities;
(v) Park and ride facilities of a transit authority;
(vi) Park facilities and recreational areas, including
trails; and
(vii) Storm water and drainage management systems;
(b) Expenditures for facilities and improvements that
support affordable housing as defined in RCW 43.63A.510.
(22) "Public improvement costs" means the cost of: (a)
Design, planning, acquisition including land acquisition, site
preparation including land clearing, construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, and installation of
public improvements; (b) demolishing, relocating, maintaining,
and operating property pending construction of public
improvements; (c) the local government's portion of relocating
utilities as a result of public improvements; (d) financing
public improvements, including interest during construction,
legal and other professional services, taxes, insurance,
principal and interest costs on general indebtedness issued to
finance public improvements, and any necessary reserves for
general indebtedness; (e) assessments incurred in revaluing real
property for the purpose of determining the property tax
allocation revenue base value that are in excess of costs
incurred by the assessor in accordance with the revaluation plan
under chapter 84.41 RCW, and the costs of apportioning the taxes
and complying with this chapter and other applicable law; (f)
administrative expenses and feasibility studies reasonably
necessary and related to these costs; and (g) any of the
above-described costs that may have been incurred before adoption
of the ordinance authorizing the public improvements and the use
of local infrastructure financing to fund the costs of the public
improvements.
(23) "Regular property taxes" means regular property taxes
as defined in RCW 84.04.140, except: (a) Regular property taxes
levied by public utility districts specifically for the purpose
of making required payments of principal and interest on general
indebtedness; (b) regular property taxes levied by the state for
the support of the common schools under RCW 84.52.065; and (c)
regular property taxes authorized by RCW 84.55.050 that are
limited to a specific purpose. "Regular property taxes" do not
include excess property tax levies that are exempt from the
aggregate limits for junior and senior taxing districts as
provided in RCW 84.52.043.
(24) "Property tax allocation revenue base value" means the
assessed value of real property located within a revenue
development area for taxes levied in the year in which the
revenue development area is adopted for collection in the
following year, plus one hundred percent of any increase in the
assessed value of real property located within a revenue
development area that is placed on the assessment rolls after the
revenue development area is adopted, less the property tax
allocation revenue value.
(25) "Relocating a business" means the closing of a business
and the reopening of that business, or the opening of a new
business that engages in the same activities as the previous
business, in a different location within a one-year period, when
an individual or entity has an ownership interest in the business
at the time of closure and at the time of opening or reopening.
"Relocating a business" does not include the closing and
reopening of a business in a new location where the business has
been acquired and is under entirely new ownership at the new
location, or the closing and reopening of a business in a new
location as a result of the exercise of the power of eminent
domain.
(26) "Revenue development area" means the geographic area
adopted by a sponsoring local government and approved by the
board, from which local excise and property tax allocation
revenues are derived for local infrastructure financing.
(27) "Small business" has the same meaning as provided in
RCW 19.85.020.
(28) "Sponsoring local government" means a city, town, or
county, and for the purpose of this chapter a federally
recognized Indian tribe or any combination thereof, that adopts a
revenue development area and applies to the board to use local
infrastructure financing.
(29) "State contribution" means the lesser of:
(a) One million dollars;
(b) The state excise tax allocation revenue and state
property tax allocation revenue received by the state during the
preceding calendar year;
(c) The total amount of local excise tax allocation
revenues, local property tax allocation revenues, and other
revenues from local public sources, that are dedicated by a
sponsoring local government, any participating local governments,
and participating taxing districts, in the preceding calendar
year to the payment of principal and interest on bonds issued
under RCW 39.102.150 or to pay public improvement costs on a
pay-as-you-go basis subject to RCW 39.102.195, or both; or
(d) The amount of project award granted by the board in the
notice of approval to use local infrastructure financing under
RCW 39.102.040.
(30) "State excise taxes" means revenues derived from state
retail sales and use taxes under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW,
less the amount of tax distributions from all local retail sales
and use taxes, other than the local sales and use taxes
authorized by RCW 82.14.475, imposed on the same taxable events
that are credited against the state retail sales and use taxes
under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW.
(31) "State excise tax allocation revenue" means the amount
of state excise taxes received by the state during the
measurement year from taxable activity within the revenue
development area over and above the amount of state excise taxes
received by the state during the base year from taxable activity
within the revenue development area, except that:
(a) If a sponsoring local government adopts a revenue
development area and reasonably determines that no activity
subject to tax under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW occurred within
the boundaries of the revenue development area in the twelve
months immediately preceding the approval of the revenue
development area by the board, "state excise tax allocation
revenue" means the entire amount of state excise taxes received
by the state during a calendar year period beginning with the
calendar year immediately following the approval of the revenue
development area by the board and continuing with each
measurement year thereafter; and
(b) For revenue development areas approved by the board in
calendar years 2006 and 2007 that do not meet the requirements in
(a) of this subsection and if legislation is enacted in this
state during the 2007 legislative session that adopts the
sourcing provisions of the streamlined sales and use tax
agreement, "state excise tax allocation revenue" means the amount
of state excise taxes received by the state during the
measurement year from taxable activity within the revenue
development area over and above an amount of state excise taxes
received by the state during the 2007 or 2008 base year, as the
case may be, adjusted by the department for any estimated impacts
from retail sales and use tax sourcing changes effective in 2008.
The amount of base year adjustment determined by the department
is final.
(32) "State property tax allocation revenue" means those tax
revenues derived from the imposition of property taxes levied by
the state for the support of common schools under RCW 84.52.065
on the property tax allocation revenue value.
(33) "Real property" has the same meaning as in RCW 84.04.090 and also includes any privately owned improvements
located on publicly owned land that are subject to property
taxation.
[2007 c 229 § 1; 2006 c 181 § 102.]
NOTES:
Application -- 2007 c 229: "This act applies retroactively as well as prospectively." [2007 c 229 § 15.]
Severability -- 2007 c 229: "If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [2007 c 229 § 16.]
Expiration date -- 2007 c 229: "This act expires June 30, 2039." [2007 c 229 § 17.]