18-2901 Urban growth district; authorized; urban growth bonds and refunding bonds. - Nebraska Statutes

18-2901. Urban growth district; authorized;urban growth bonds and refunding bonds.(1) The Legislature recognizesthat there is a growing concern among municipalities that infrastructure costsand needs are great, especially in areas that are on the edge of or near themunicipal boundaries and in need of development resources, and the governingbodies of municipalities must identify and develop financing mechanisms torespond to all infrastructure needs in an effective and efficient manner.The authorization of urban growth bonds, with local option sales and use taxrevenue identified as the source of financing for the bonds, will encouragemunicipalities to use such revenue to bond infrastructure needs.(2) The governingbody of a municipality may create one or more urban growth districts for thepurpose of using local option sales and use tax revenue to finance municipalinfrastructure needs. An urban growth district may be in an area along theedge of a municipality's boundary or in any other growth area designated bythe governing body, except that the territory of each urban growth districtshall be (a) within the municipality's corporate limits and (b) outside themunicipality's corporate limits as they existed as of the date twenty yearsprior to the issuance of any urban growth bonds by a municipality under theauthority of this section.(3) The governing body shall establish an urban growthdistrict by ordinance. The ordinance shall include:(a) A description of theboundaries of the proposed district; and(b) The local option sales tax rate and estimatedurban growth local option sales and use tax revenue anticipated to be identifiedas a result of the creation of the district.(4) Any municipality thathas established an urban growth district may, by ordinance approved by a voteof two-thirds of the members of its governing body, issue urban growth bondsand refunding bonds to finance and refinance the construction or improvementof roads, streets, streetscapes, bridges, and related structures within theurban growth district and in any other area of the municipality. The bondsshall be secured as to payment by a pledge, as determined by the municipality,of the urban growth local option sales and use tax revenue and shall maturenot later than twenty-five years after the date of issuance. Annual debt serviceon all bonds issued with respect to an urban growth district pursuant to thissection shall not exceed the urban growth local option sales and use tax revenuewith respect to such district for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal yearin which the current series of such bonds are issued. For purposes of thissection, urban growth local option sales and use tax revenue means the municipality'stotal local option sales and use tax revenue multiplied by the ratio of thearea included in the urban growth district to the total area of the municipality.(5) The issuanceof urban growth bonds by any municipality under the authority of this sectionshall not be subject to any charter or statutory limitations of indebtednessor be subject to any restrictions imposed upon or conditions precedent tothe exercise of the powers of municipalities to issue bonds or evidences ofindebtedness which may be contained in such charters or other statutes. Anymunicipality which issues urban growth bonds under the authority of this sectionshall levy property taxes upon all the taxable property in the municipalityat such rate or rates within any applicable charter, statutory, or constitutionallimitations as will provide funds which, together with the urban growth localoption sales and use tax revenue pledged to the payment of such bonds andany other money made available and used for that purpose, will be sufficientto pay the principal of and interest on such urban growth bonds as they severallymature. SourceLaws 2009, LB85, § 1.