A bill granting Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority more taxation powers and land jurisdiction passed the state Senate on Monday in a 19-4 vote. Six senators were marked absent.
If the bill, which is sponsored by state Sen. Jerry Stevenson of Layton, is passed by the House and voted into law by Gov. Cox, it will allow MIDA more taxation powers within their project areas. It will also require county auditors to include information regarding annual payments to the authority on affected property valuation notices and will allow MIDA to make agreements with school districts so MIDA can pay them “a certain portion of the authority’s property tax allocation.”
The bill would also grant a process to allow authority control of Utah Department of Transportation owned land “created to provide military recreation facilities and support” within a project area so long as it is not a class A state road and is within two miles of a state park.
This could be applied to many roads near MIDA’s Deer Valley East Village project area formed on the outskirts of the Jordanelle State Park.
And though state code dictates UDOT may sell property, the bill text specifies that if it sells land to MIDA, it “shall transfer the proceeds of the sale to the authority.”
The bill also allows MIDA’s board to impose an accommodations tax of up to “15% of the amounts paid to or charged by the provider for accommodations and services,” for any transactions where a long-term benefit other than something “commonly provided” is being sold to members of the military within the project area.
The bill includes a line to ensure this tax burden falls to the consumer as “a provider may recover an amount equal to the MIDA accommodations tax from customers, if the provider includes the amount as a separate billing line item.”
When Stevenson was asked how long this imposed tax would last within project areas during a Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee meeting by Chair Daniel McCay, he answered that it would be indefinite or until MIDA’s board decided to remove it.
MIDA Chief Legal Officer Nicole Cottle said the taxes would “provide a small layer of additional tool” to help MIDA with “infastructure-heavy” projects.
While McCay recognized this would allow MIDA’s leadership to impose taxes on communities that don’t get a vote to determine MIDA’s leadership, that didn’t stop the bill from moving to the Senate with a unanimous favorable recommendation.
In the House, the bill is being sponsored by Orem Rep. Val Peterson.