Chapter 26.04 PROGRAM ACTIVITIES


Section 26.04.010 Program of tax exemption for revitalization activities.

    1. Tax Exemption program.
        a. A person may submit a proposal for a revitalization improvement project to the city council in order to receive prior approval for eligibility for a tax exemption on the project. The city council shall, by resolution, give its prior approval for an improvement project if the project is in conformance with this plan for revitalization. This prior approval does not entitle the property owner to exemption from taxation until the improvements have been completed and found to be qualified real estate.
        b. An application shall be filed for each new exemption claimed. The first application for an exemption shall be filed by the property owner with the city council no later than the year in which all improvements included in the project are first assessed for taxation.
        c. The city council shall approve the application, subject to review by the local city assessor, if the project is in conformance with this plan for revitalization, is located within this revitalization area and if the improvements were made during the time this area was designated as a revitalization area. Applications for exemption for succeeding years on approved projects are not required.
        d. The local city assessor shall review each first-year application by making a physical review of the property to determine if the improvements made increased the actual value of the qualified real estate by at least the minimum percentage required. If the tax exemption is granted, the local city assessor shall continue to grant the tax exemption for the time period specified in the tax exemption schedule elected by the property owner. The tax exemptions for the succeeding years shall be granted without the taxpayer having to file an application for the succeeding years.
    2. Tax exemption schedules.
        a. Schedule 1. All qualified real estate assessed as residential property is eligible to receive an 1 exemption from taxation based on the actual value added by the improvements. The exemption is for a period of ten years. The amount of the exemption is equal to a percent of the actual value added by the improvements, determined as follows: One hundred fifteen percent of the value added by the improvements. However, the amount of the actual value added by the improvements which shall be used to compute the exemption shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars and the granting of the exemption shall not result in the actual value of the qualified real estate being reduced below the actual value on which the homestead credit is computed.
        b. Schedule 2. All qualified real estate is eligible to receive a partial exemption from taxation on the actual value added by the improvements. The exemption is for a period of ten years. The amount of the partial exemption is equal to a percent of the actual value added by the improvements, determined as:
            (1) For the first year, eighty percent;
            (2) For the second year, seventy percent;
            (3) For the third year, sixty percent;
            (4) For the fifth year, forty percent;
            (5) For the sixth year, forty percent;
            (6) For the seventh year, thirty percent;
            (7) For the eighth year, thirty percent;
            (8) For the ninth year, twenty percent;
            (9) For the tenth year, twenty percent.
        c. Schedule 3. All qualified real estate is eligible to receive a one hundred percent exemption from taxation on the actual value added by the improvements.  The exemption is for a period of three years.
        d. Schedule 4. All qualified real estate assessed as residential property or assessed as commercial property, if the commercial property consists of three or more separate living quarters with at least seventy-five percent of the space used for residential purposes, is eligible to receive a one hundred percent exemption from taxation on the actual value added by the improvements. The exemption is for a period of ten years.
        e. The owners of qualified real estate eligible for the exemption shall elect to take the applicable exemption provided above. Once the election has been made and the exemption granted, the owner is not permitted to change the method of exemption.
    3. Definitions.
        a. "Actual value added by the improvements" means the actual value added as of the first year for which the exemption was received.
        b. "Improvements" includes rehabilitation and additions to existing structures as well as new construction on vacant land or on land with existing structures.  New construction on land assessed as agricultural property shall not qualify as improvements.
        c.(1) "Qualified real estate" means real property, other than land, which is located in this revitalization area and to which improvements have been added, during the time the area was so designated, which have increased the actual value by at least ten percent, or at least five percent in the case of real property assessed as residential property or which have, in the case of land upon which is located more than one building and not assessed as residential property, increased the actual value of the buildings to which the improvements have been made by at least ten percent.
            (2) "Qualified real estate" also means land upon which no structure existed at the start of the new construction, which is located in this revitalization area and upon which new construction has been added during the time the area was designated as a revitalization area. (Ord. 84/T-3366; 84/T-2593; S-40159, 1980).