2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 7. County Commissions and Officers › Article 11B. West Virginia Tax Increment Financing Act › §7-11B-7. Creation of a Development or Redevelopment Area or District

(a) County commissions and the governing bodies of Class I, Class II or Class III municipalities, upon their own initiative or upon application of an agency or a developer, may propose creation of a development or redevelopment district and designate the boundaries of the district:
Provided
, That a district may not include noncontiguous land.
(b) The county commission or municipality proposing creation of a development or redevelopment district shall then hold a public hearing at which interested parties are afforded a reasonable opportunity to express their views on the proposed creation of a development or redevelopment district and its proposed boundaries.
(1) Notice of the hearing shall be published as a Class II legal advertisement in accordance with 59-3-2 of this code.
(2) The notice shall include the time, place and purpose of the public hearing, describe in sufficient detail the tax increment financing plan, the proposed boundaries of the development or redevelopment district and, when a development or redevelopment project plan is being proposed, the proposed tax increment financing obligations to be issued to finance the development or redevelopment project costs.
(3) Prior to the first day of publication, a copy of the notice shall be sent by first-class mail to the director of the Development Office and to the chief executive officer of all other local levying bodies having the power to levy taxes on real and tangible personal property located within the proposed development or redevelopment district.
(4) All parties who appear at the hearing shall be afforded an opportunity to express their views on the proposal to create the development or redevelopment district and, if applicable, the development or redevelopment project plan and proposed tax increment financing obligations.
(c) After the public hearing, the county commission, or the governing body of the municipality, shall finalize the boundaries of the development or redevelopment district, the development or redevelopment project plan, or both, and submit the same to the director of the Development Office for his or her review and approval. The director, within sixty days after receipt of the application, shall approve the application as submitted, reject the application or return the application to the county commission or governing body of the municipality for further development or review in accordance with instructions of the director of the Development Office. A development or redevelopment district or development or redevelopment project plan may not be adopted by the county commission or the governing body of a municipality until after it has been approved by the executive director of the Development Office.
(d) Upon approval of the application by the Development Office, the county commission may enter an order and the governing body of the municipality proposing the district or development or redevelopment project plan may adopt an ordinance, that:
(1) Describes the boundaries of a development or redevelopment district sufficiently to identify with ordinary and reasonable certainty the territory included in the district, which boundaries shall create a contiguous district;
(2) Creates the development or redevelopment district as of a date provided in the order or ordinance;
(3) Assigns a name to the development or redevelopment district for identification purposes.
(A) The name may include a geographic or other designation, shall identify the county or municipality authorizing the district and shall be assigned a number, beginning with the number one.
(B) Each subsequently created district in the county or municipality shall be assigned the next consecutive number;
(4) Contains findings that the real property within the development or redevelopment district will be benefitted by eliminating or preventing the development or spread of slums or blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas, discouraging the loss of commerce, industry or employment, increasing employment or any combination thereof;
(5) Approves the development or redevelopment project plan, if applicable;
(6) Establishes a tax increment financing fund as a separate fund into which all tax increment revenues and other revenues designated by the county commission, or governing body of the municipality, for the benefit of the development or redevelopment district shall be deposited, and from which all project costs shall be paid, which may be assigned to and held by a trustee for the benefit of bondholders if tax increment financing obligations are issued by the county commission or the governing body of the municipality; and
(7) Provides that ad valorem property taxes on real and tangible personal property having a tax situs in the development or redevelopment district shall be assessed, collected and allocated in the following manner, commencing upon the date of adoption of such order or ordinance and continuing for so long as any tax increment financing obligations are payable from the tax increment financing fund, hereinafter authorized, are outstanding and unpaid:
(A) For each tax year, the county assessor shall record in the land and personal property books both the base assessed value and the current assessed value of the real and tangible personal property having a tax situs in the development or redevelopment district;
(B) Ad valorem taxes collected from regular levies upon real and tangible personal property having a tax situs in the district that are attributable to the lower of the base assessed value or the current assessed value of real and tangible personal property located in the development project area shall be allocated to the levying bodies in the same manner as applicable to the tax year in which the development or redevelopment project plan is adopted by order of the county commission or by ordinance adopted by the governing body of the municipality;
(C) The tax increment with respect to real and tangible personal property in the development or redevelopment district shall be allocated and paid into the tax increment financing fund and shall be used to pay the principal of and interest on tax increment financing obligations issued to finance the costs of the development or redevelopment projects in the development or redevelopment district. Any levying body having a development or redevelopment district within its taxing jurisdiction shall not receive any portion of the annual tax increment except as otherwise provided in this article; and
(D) In no event shall the tax increment include any taxes collected from excess levies, levies for general obligation bonded indebtedness or any levies other than the regular levies provided for in 11-8-1
et seq
. of this code.
(e) Proceeds from tax increment financing obligations issued under this article may only be used to pay for costs of development and redevelopment projects to foster economic development in the development or redevelopment district or land contiguous thereto.
(f) Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, a county commission may not enter an order approving a development or redevelopment project plan unless the county commission expressly finds and states in the order that the development or redevelopment project is not reasonably expected to occur without the use of tax increment financing.
(g) Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, the governing body of a municipality may not adopt an ordinance approving a development or redevelopment project plan unless the governing body expressly finds and states in the ordinance that the development or redevelopment project is not reasonably expected to occur without the use of tax increment financing.
(h) No county commission shall establish a development or redevelopment district any portion of which is within the boundaries of a Class I, II, III or IV municipality without the formal consent of the governing body of such municipality.
(i) A tax increment financing plan that has been approved by a county commission or the governing body of a municipality may be amended by following the procedures set forth in this article for adoption of a new development or redevelopment project plan.
(j) The county commission may modify the boundaries of the development or redevelopment district, from time to time, or the governing body of a county may extend the length of existence of the development or redevelopment district as set forth in 7-11B-10 of this code, subject to the limitations and requirements of this section, by entry of an order modifying the order creating the development or redevelopment district.
(k) The governing body of a municipality may modify the boundaries of the development or redevelopment district, from time to time, or extend the length of existence of the development or redevelopment district as set forth in 7-11B-10 of this code, by amending the ordinance creating the development or redevelopment district.
(l) Before a county commission or the governing body of a municipality may amend such an order or ordinance, the county commission or municipality shall give the public notice as provided in subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (b) of this section, hold a public hearing, as provided in subdivision (4), subsection (b) of this section, and obtain the approval of the director of the Development Office. No consent or approval from the local levying bodies having the power to levy taxes on property within the development or redevelopment district shall be required in order to amend such order or ordinance for the purposes herein described, aside from the county commission or the governing body of the municipality which is amending such order or ordinance. In the event any tax increment financing obligations are outstanding with respect to the development or redevelopment district, any change in the boundaries shall not reduce the amount of tax increment available to secure the outstanding tax increment financing obligations.