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PRINTER'S NO. 1111
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
804
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY SCAVELLO, KILLION, SCHWANK AND YUDICHAK,
AUGUST 7, 2019
REFERRED TO COMMUNITY, ECONOMIC AND RECREATIONAL DEVELOPMENT,
AUGUST 7, 2019
AN ACT
Amending the act of December 20, 2000 (P.L.949, No.130),
entitled "An act establishing Neighborhood Improvement
Districts; conferring powers and duties on municipal
corporations and neighborhood improvement districts;
providing for annual audits; and making repeals," further
providing for definitions; and providing for special
financing assessments.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The definition of "neighborhood improvement
district" in section 3 of the act of December 20, 2000 (P.L.949,
No.130), known as the Neighborhood Improvement District Act, is
amended to read:
Section 3. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
* * *
"Neighborhood improvement district." A limited geographic
area within a municipality, in which a special assessment is
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levied on all designated property, other than tax-exempt
property, for the purpose of promoting the economic and general
welfare of the district and the municipality, hereinafter
referred to as NID. Such districts shall be referred to
generally as neighborhood improvement district (NID) and
specifically as business improvement district (BID), residential
improvement district (RID), industrial improvement district
(IID), institutional improvement district (INID) or mixed-use
improvement district (MID), depending on the type of district
established. [A designated property may not be included in more
than one neighborhood improvement district.]
* * *
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 9.1. Special financing assessments.
(a) Applicability.--
(1) This section shall apply to any NID that is located
within, in whole or in part, a tax increment district created
under the Tax Increment Financing Act, and to any related
NIDMA that has included in its neighborhood improvement
district plan or an amendment to its plan, duly authorized
under section 5, the authority to levy a special financing
assessment.
(2) With respect to any NID and related NIDMA to which
this section applies, the provisions of this section shall be
in addition to the provisions contained in the remainder of
this act, except that any conflicts between this section and
the remainder of this act shall be controlled by this
section.
(b) Additional powers of municipal corporation.--With
respect to an NID, in addition to the powers enumerated under
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section 4, a municipal corporation shall have the power:
(1) To establish or designate an NIDMA to administer the
NID under sections 6 and 7.
(2) To appropriate and expend, in accordance with the
specific provisions of the municipal enabling ordinance,
municipal funds as may be required to prepare or have
prepared preliminary planning or feasibility studies to
determine needed improvements with respect to an NID,
including, but not limited to, neighborhood improvements,
graffiti removal, security, marketing, promotions,
advertising, business retention and recruitment activities,
master leasing and property management, joint advertising,
research and planning as well as the provision of additional
services to supplement, not replace, existing municipal
services or the existing services of a previously authorized
special services district provided within the NID.
(3) To advance funds to an authority as may be required
to carry out the purposes of this act.
(4) To issue bonds, notes or guarantees, in accordance
with the provisions of general laws in the amounts and for
the periods necessary, to finance or refinance costs of
improvements, projects and services authorized under this
act.
(5) To levy special financing assessments authorized
under this section on affected property owners under an
approved methodology providing for a fair and reasonable
allocation of such special assessments based on the benefits
derived in order to finance or refinance costs of
improvements, neighborhood improvements and projects and any
additional supplemental programs, services and improvements
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to be provided or made under this act and to establish
procedures allowing for the prepayment of the special
financing assessments.
(6) To pledge special financing assessments authorized
under this section as security for and in repayment of bonds
or notes issued under the Tax Increment Financing Act in
connection with a related tax increment district. Any pledge
of funds by a municipality under this section to secure, in
whole or in part, payment of bonds or notes issued by an
authority shall be made in a written agreement authorized by
an ordinance of the municipality, which agreement shall
benefit, and be enforceable on behalf of, the holders of the
indebtedness secured by the special financing assessments.
(c) Individual consent.--In the event that the municipal
corporation provides in the neighborhood improvement district
plan a provision that special financing assessments authorized
under this section shall be imposed and pledged as security for
and in repayment of bonds or notes issued under the Tax
Increment Financing Act, an affected property owner whose
property is not located in the related tax increment district
may be assessed for those purposes only if the affected property
owner elects to be subject to the assessment. An election by an
affected property owner to be subject to a special financing
assessment for purposes of this section shall remain binding and
run with the property in the event of a future disposition or
transfer of the property.
(d) Neighborhood improvement district plan.--For purposes of
section 5, a neighborhood improvement district plan that is
comprised of a project plan for such tax increment district
shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of section 5(c),
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provided that such project plan will include an approved
assessment methodology providing for a fair and reasonable
allocation of special assessments on property owners based on
the benefits derived by such property owners.
(e) Administration of neighborhood improvement district
management association.--
(1) Notwithstanding section 6(b), if an NIDMA is created
under this act, the NID may be administered by an NIDMA that
is an authority.
(2) Notwithstanding section 6(d), an NIDMA that is an
authority may not be required to have an administrative
board. The board shall be appointed under the authority's
applicable authorizing statute.
(f) Additional powers of neighborhood improvement district
management association.--In addition to the powers enumerated
under section 7 and any other powers provided under the
applicable authorizing statute, an NIDMA shall have the power:
(1) To appropriate and expend, in accordance with the
specific provisions of the municipal enabling ordinance,
municipal funds as may be required to acquire by purchase or
lease real or personal property to effectuate the purposes of
this act, including making neighborhood improvements.
(2) To invest or reinvest all funds and revenues of the
NID, including special financing assessments if provided in
and subject to the ordinance establishing the NID.
(3) To exercise all rights and powers necessary or
incidental to or implied from the specific powers granted to
NIDMAs in this act to carry out the purposes and intent of
this act.
(g) Payment of special financing assessments.--
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(1) Notwithstanding section 7(c), a governing body may
by ordinance authorize the payment of special financing
assessments authorized under this section in annual or more
frequent installments, which need not be equal.
(2) Notwithstanding section 7(d), in the case of default
in the payment of an installment and interest for a period of
90 days after the payment becomes due, the ordinance
authorizing the special financing assessment shall provide
solely for the enforcement of the claim as to the overdue
installment, with interest and penalties, which installment,
with accrued interest and penalties shall become a lien from
the due date of the installment.
(3) Claims to secure the special financing assessments
authorized under this section shall be entered in the
prothonotary's office of the county at the same time and in
the same form and collected in the same manner as municipal
tax claims are filed and collected, provided special
financing assessment liens shall not take priority over real
estate tax liens.
(h) Dissolution of neighborhood improvement district
management association and neighborhood improvement district.--
(1) The reference to "bonds" in section 8(a) shall be
deemed to include bonds issued under this act or the Tax
Increment Financing Act in connection with a related tax
increment district, which together with the interest due
thereon shall have been secured, in whole or in part, by a
pledge of any of the special financing assessments authorized
under this section.
(2) A request for termination of an NID and NIDMA under
section 8(b) shall not be accepted, considered or approved by
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a governing body unless all bonds issued under this act or
the Tax Increment Financing Act in connection with the
related tax increment district have finally been paid and
discharged.
(i) Authority bonds.--An authority may issue bonds in
accordance with its applicable authorizing statute in the
amounts and for the periods necessary to finance or refinance
costs of improvements, projects and services authorized under
this act, provided the bonds are secured, in whole or in part,
by the pledge of special financing assessments in accordance
with the provisions of this section.
(j) Tax Increment Financing Act.--With respect to bonds
issued by an authority in connection with a related tax
increment district, any conflict between the Tax Increment
Financing Act and this act that affect the applicable NID shall
be controlled by the Tax Increment Financing Act.
(k) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Authority." The term shall include a body politic and
corporate, that is:
(1) established under the act of May 24, 1945 (P.L.991,
No.385), known as the Urban Redevelopment Law;
(2) established under the act of August 23, 1967
(P.L.251, No.102), known as the Economic Development
Financing Law; or
(3) otherwise authorized to issue tax increment bonds
and notes under the Tax Increment Financing Act in connection
with a tax increment district in which an NID or portion of
an NID is located.
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"Bonds." The term shall include the notes, bonds and other
evidence of indebtedness or obligations which any authority is
authorized to issue under subsection (i).
"Costs of improvements." The term shall include property and
right-of-way acquisition costs, entitlements, costs of
development and construction, including any redevelopment,
reconstruction and renovation, capitalized interest, costs of
issuance, operating expense, debt service and other reserves,
any other expenditures necessary and incidental to the
development, construction or completion of a project, and any
project costs as defined in the Tax Increment Financing Act.
"Neighborhood improvement." The term shall include capital
improvements, traditional streetscape and building renovations,
clearing and grading of land, roads, bridges, traffic lights,
parking garages, utility lines and connections, including
electric, gas, telecommunications and other utilities servicing
the NID, and all neighborhood improvements that are capital in
nature or repairs to neighborhood improvements, located outside
the boundaries of an NID and directly benefit the designated
properties located within the NID.
"Neighborhood improvement district management association."
The term shall include the authority serving as administrator of
related tax increment financing district appointed pursuant to
either the project plan, as defined in the Tax Increment
Financing Act, or a separate agreement among the municipal
corporation, other taxing bodies and the administrator.
"Neighborhood improvement district plan." The term includes a
project plan as defined in the Tax Increment Financing Act, for
the related tax increment district.
"Project." The term shall include the acquisition,
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development, construction, improvement, rehabilitation,
demolition, operation or maintenance of a neighborhood
improvement and any project, as defined in the Tax Increment
Financing Act, with respect to the related tax increment
district.
"Related tax increment district." A tax increment district
created under the Tax Increment Financing Act in which an NID or
portion of an NID is located.
"Special financing assessments." Assessment fees imposed
upon affected property owners that are used for the express
purposes provided in subsection (b)(5) and (6).
"Tax Increment Financing Act." The act of July 11, 1990
(P.L.465, No.113), known as the Tax Increment Financing Act.
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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