(A) The Board of Directors of the District shall provide in the annual budget for the imposition of a rate of assessment on all benefited properties within the District. Such rate shall be sufficient to provide sufficient revenues to finance the current and projected economic improvements to be undertaken pursuant to the annual economic improvement plan.
(B) Assessments for the current and projected economic improvements shall be ratably apportioned among the benefited properties within the District based upon a benefits-received basis. The benefits received shall be calculated based on gross short-term room rental revenue, which amount of revenue shall be calculated in the same manner as rental revenues subject to the state transient room tax. The District may contract with the owners of any property exempt from property taxation or assessment for the provision of District services to such properties.
(C) The Board of Directors may enter into an agreement with the Metro Government for the collection of the assessments or otherwise provide for the collection of such assessments. The penalties and interest applicable to delinquent taxes shall be applied to delinquent assessments.
(D) Any owner of a benefited property may contest the assessment. All contests shall be in writing and shall be filed with the Board of Directors no later than 30 days after receiving notice of the assessment.
(E) A contesting property owner shall have the right to appear before the Board of Directors and present evidence. A record shall be made of the proceedings and the Board of Directors shall render a written decision. The decision of the Board of Directors may be appealed to the Circuit Court.
(F) The amount of any outstanding assessment on any property, and accrued interest and charges, shall constitute a lien on the property. The liens shall take precedence over all other liens, whether created prior to or subsequent to the assessment, except a lien for state and Metro Government taxes and prior improvement assessments, and shall not be defeated or postponed by any private or judicial sale, by any mortgage, or by any error or mistake in the description of the property or in the names of the owners. No error in the proceedings of the Council shall exempt any property from the lien for economic improvement assessments, or from payment thereof, or from the penalties or interest thereon, as herein provided.
(G) The Board of Directors is authorized, but is not required, to impose an annual rate of assessment which shall not exceed one and one-half percent (1.5%) of gross short-term room rental revenue, adjusted by the Board of Directors, in its discretion, either each year by the change in the Consumer Price Index (All Urban Consumers) or in the manner set forth in the final sentence of this subsection (G). In determining the rate of assessment to be established for any given year or years, the Board of Directors shall take into consideration: the current operations of the District and the revenue needed (taking into consideration the costs of operation for the immediately preceding and current year and the reasonably projected cumulative increase or decrease in such costs for the forthcoming fiscal year) to maintain such existing operations; and the change in the Consumer Price Index (All Urban Consumers) between the effective date of the most recent adjustment in the rate of assessment and the date on which the new proposed rate of assessment will become effective. In the event that the Board of Directors has not imposed, for any fiscal year, the maximum annual rate of assessment permitted hereunder (which shall include the Consumer Price Index adjustment mentioned in the first sentence of this subsection), then any Consumer Price Index adjustment for any forthcoming fiscal year shall be limited to the difference between the actual rate of assessment then in effect adjusted for the cumulative change in the Consumer Price Index (All Urban Consumers) for the current year and the immediately preceding year and the actual rate of assessment then in effect.
(H) The Board of Directors shall, within 90 days following the end of the fiscal year, contract with a certified public accountant to prepare an audit of all funds controlled by the Board of Directors. A copy of the audit report shall be furnished to the Council and the Office of Management and Budget.
(I) The Board of Directors shall prepare an annual report to the owners of benefited properties within the District evaluating the District's effectiveness and describing its accomplishments during the preceding fiscal year. The report shall be sent to the owner of each benefited property at such time that the annual economic improvement plan and budget is sent pursuant to § 168.02. A copy shall also be provided to the Council.
(Lou. Metro Ord. No. 198-2022, approved 12-28-2022)