HOUSE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON SANDS)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to property assessment and property taxation by creating a recreational class of property and specifying an assessment limitation for recreational property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  Section 441.21, subsection 8, paragraph b, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   b.  Notwithstanding paragraph “a”, any construction or installation of a solar energy system on property classified as agricultural, residential, commercial, recreational, or industrial property shall not increase the actual, assessed, and taxable values of the property for five full assessment years.
   Sec. 2.  Section 441.21, subsections 9 and 10, Code 2011, are amended to read as follows:
   9.  Not later than November 1, 1979, and November 1 of each subsequent year, the director shall certify to the county auditor of each county the percentages of actual value at which residential property, agricultural property, commercial property, industrial property, recreational property, and property valued by the department of revenue pursuant to chapters 428, 433, 434, 437, and 438 in each assessing jurisdiction in the county shall be assessed for taxation. The county auditor shall proceed to determine the assessed values of agricultural property, residential property, commercial property, industrial property, recreational property, and property valued by the department of revenue pursuant to chapters 428, 433, 434, 437, and 438 by applying such percentages to the current actual value of such property, as reported to the county auditor by the assessor, and the assessed values so determined shall be the taxable values of such properties upon which the levy shall be made.
   10.  The percentage of actual value computed by the director for agricultural property, residential property, commercial property, industrial property, recreational property, and property valued by the department of revenue pursuant to chapters 428, 433, 434, 437, and 438 and used to determine assessed values of those classes of property does not constitute a rule as defined in section 17A.2, subsection 11.
   Sec. 3.  Section 441.21, Code 2011, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  13.
  a.  (1)  For valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2012, property described in this subsection shall be valued as a separate class of property called recreational property and shall be assessed at ninety percent of its actual value.
   (2)  For valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2013, through valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2015, recreational property shall be valued as a separate class of property and shall be assessed at a percentage of actual value equal to the percentage of actual value that the recreational property was assessed in the previous assessment year minus ten percentage points.
   (3)  For valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2016, and each assessment year thereafter, recreational property shall be valued as a separate class of property and shall be assessed at fifty percent of its actual value.
   b.  Recreational property is subject to reassessment by the assessor and is subject to the same equalization percentage amount determined by the director of revenue pursuant to section 441.49 as is ordered for commercial property.
   c.  For purposes of this subsection,“recreational property”means a golf course, downhill skiing area, campground, amusement park, or water theme park, if such property is operated as a commercial enterprise and otherwise subject to taxation.
EXPLANATION
   This bill creates a new class of property, recreational property, for purposes of property assessment and taxation, beginning with valuations established on or after January 1, 2012. The bill describes recreational property as a golf course, downhill skiing area, campground, amusement park, or water theme park, all of which are operated as commercial enterprises and are otherwise subject to taxation.
   The bill provides that recreational property shall be assessed for taxation at 90 percent of its actual value for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2012. For valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2013, through valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2015, recreational property shall be assessed at a percentage of actual value equal to the percentage of actual value that the recreational property was assessed in the previous assessment year minus 10 percentage points.
   For valuations established for the assessment year beginning January 1, 2016, and each assessment year thereafter, recreational property shall be assessed at 50 percent of its actual value.