§ 36-3-2-10 — Payments in lieu of taxes ("PILOTS"); consolidated city and county; public entities

Indiana § 36-3-2-10

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Title 36: LOCAL GOVERNMENT
• Art. 3: GOVERNMENT OF INDIANAPOLIS AND
• Ch. 2: Powers of Political Subdivisions in the County

Text

(a) The general assembly finds the following:
(1) That the tax base of the consolidated city and the county have
been significantly eroded through the ownership of tangible
property by separate municipal corporations and other public
entities that operate as private enterprises yet are exempt or whose
property is exempt from property taxation.
(2) That to restore this tax base and provide a proper allocation of
the cost of providing governmental services the legislative body
of the consolidated city and county should be authorized to collect
payments in lieu of taxes from these public entities.
(3) That the appropriate maximum payments in lieu of taxes
would be the amount of the property taxes that would be paid if
the tangible property were not subject to an exemption.
(b) As used in this section, the following terms have the meanings
set forth in IC 6-1.1-1:
(1) Assessed value.
(2) Exemption.
(3) Owner.
(4) Person.
(5) Personal property.
(6) Property taxation.
(7) Tangible property.
(c) As used in this section, "PILOTS" means payments in lieu of
taxes.
(d) As used in this section, "public entity" means any of the
following government entities in the county:
(1) An airport authority operating under IC 8-22-3.
(2) A building authority operating under IC 36-9-13.
(3) A wastewater treatment facility.
(e) The legislative body of the consolidated city may adopt an
ordinance to require a public entity to pay PILOTS at times set forth in
the ordinance with respect to:
(1) tangible property of which the public entity is the owner or the
lessee and that is subject to an exemption;
(2) tangible property of which the owner is a person other than a
public entity and that is subject to an exemption under IC 8-22-3;
or
(3) both.
The ordinance remains in full force and effect until repealed or
modified by the legislative body.
(f) The PILOTS must be calculated so that the PILOTS may be in
any amount that does not exceed the amount of property taxes that
would have been levied by the legislative body for the consolidated city
and county upon the tangible property described in subsection (e) if the
property were not subject to an exemption from property taxation.
(g) PILOTS shall be imposed as are property taxes and shall be
based on the assessed value of the tangible property described in
subsection (e). Except as provided in subsection (l), the township
assessor, or the county assessor if there is no township assessor for the
township, shall assess the tangible property described in subsection (e)
as though the property were not subject to an exemption. The public
entity shall report the value of personal property in a manner consistent
with IC 6-1.1-3.
(h) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a public entity is
authorized to pay PILOTS imposed under this section from any legally
available source of revenues. The public entity may consider these
payments to be operating expenses for all purposes.
(i) PILOTS shall be deposited in the consolidated county fund and
used for any purpose for which the consolidated county fund may be
used.
(j) PILOTS shall be due as set forth in the ordinance and bear
interest, if unpaid, as in the case of other taxes on property. PILOTS
shall be treated in the same manner as taxes for purposes of all
procedural and substantive provisions of law.
(k) PILOTS imposed on a wastewater treatment facility may be paid
only from the cash earnings of the facility remaining after provisions
have been made to pay for current obligations, including:
(1) operating and maintenance expenses;
(2) payment of principal and interest on any bonded indebtedness;
(3) depreciation or replacement fund expenses;
(4) bond and interest sinking fund expenses; and
(5) any other priority fund requirements required by law or by any
bond ordinance, resolution, indenture, contract, or similar
instrument binding on the facility.
(l) If the duties of the township assessor have been transferred to the
county assessor as described in IC 6-1.1-1-24, a reference to the
township assessor in this section is considered to be a reference to the
county assessor.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.27-1992, SEC.27. Amended by P.L.93-1993, SEC.8; P.L.219-2007, SEC.111; P.L.146-2008, SEC.701; P.L.266-2013, SEC.6; P.L.86-2018, SEC.341.