15-24-2403. Expanding industry taxable value decrease -- application -- approval -- reports. (1) An existing industry with qualifying property that represents an expansion of the industry is entitled to receive a decrease in the tax rate for class eight property if the property results in the hiring of full-time qualifying employees for each year in which the taxable value decrease is in effect.
     (2) A person, firm, or other group seeking to qualify its property for the taxable value decrease under subsection (1) shall apply to the department on a form provided by the department. The application must include:
     (a) the description of the personal property that may qualify for the taxable value decrease;
     (b) the date on which the qualifying property is intended to be operational;
     (c) the rate of pay and number of existing employees and new employees to be used in the operation of the qualifying property;
     (d) a statement that the new employees are in addition to the existing workforce of the industry and the specific responsibilities of each new employee; and
     (e) a statement that all the applicant's taxes are paid in full.
     (3) The department shall make an initial determination as to whether the industry qualifies for the taxable value decrease.
     (4) (a) If the department determines that the property qualifies for a taxable value decrease, the governing body of the affected county, consolidated government, incorporated city or town, or school district shall give due notice as defined in 76-15-103 and hold a public hearing. Each governing body may either approve or disapprove the grant of taxable value decrease. A governing body may not grant approval for the project until all of the applicant's taxes have been paid in full. Taxes paid under protest do not preclude approval.
     (b) The resolution provided for in subsection (4)(a) must include the document that grants approval of the application that was submitted to the department by the taxpayer seeking the taxable value decrease.
     (5) The tax reduction described in subsection (1) applies to:
     (a) the number of mills levied and assessed by each governing body approving the benefit over which the governing body has sole discretion; and
     (b) statewide levies if the governing body approving the tax reduction is a county, consolidated government, or incorporated city or town.
     (6) The number of new employees used by the department to calculate the taxable value decrease in subsection (7) must be determined by the wages paid to qualifying employees. A qualifying employee paid the amount of the average wage as determined by the quarterly statistical report published by the department of labor and industry is considered one new employee. Qualifying employees are considered equivalent new employees if they are paid three-quarters of the average wage or more. The qualifying employee is the equivalent of a new employee in the same fraction that the qualifying employee's wages are to the average wage, but a qualifying employee may not be considered more than two new employees.
     (7) (a) Qualifying property is entitled to a decrease in the taxable rate of class eight property under 15-6-138 based upon a percentage difference between a possible low rate of 3% and a high rate of the existing class eight property tax rate. The reduced taxable value rate is determined by calculating the inverse of the number of equivalent new employees divided by the number of existing employees and multiplying the product of that calculation by the decimal equivalent of the tax rate for class eight property.
     (b) For each year that the taxable value decrease is in effect, the taxpayer shall report by March 1 to the department, on forms prescribed by the department, the wages of and the number of qualifying employees that are used in the operation of the qualifying property for which the taxable value decrease was granted.

     History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 786, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 33, Ch. 2, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 159, Ch. 56, L. 2009.