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148.853 Legislative findings -- Qualifications for incentives -- Incentives
available.
(1)
(2)
The General Assembly finds and declares that:
(a) The general welfare and material well-being of the citizens of the
Commonwealth depend in large measure upon the development of
tourism in the Commonwealth;
(b) It is in the best interest of the Commonwealth to provide incentives for the
creation of new tourism attractions and the expansion of existing tourism
attractions within the Commonwealth in order to advance the public
purposes of relieving unemployment by preserving and creating jobs that
would not exist if not for the incentives offered by the authority to
approved companies, and by preserving and creating sources of tax
revenues for the support of public services provided by the
Commonwealth;
(c) The authorities granted by KRS 148.851 to 148.860 are proper
governmental and public purposes for which public moneys may be
expended; and
(d) That the creation or expansion of tourism development projects is of
paramount importance mandating that the provisions of KRS 139.536 and
KRS 148.851 to 148.860 be liberally construed and applied in order to
advance public purposes.
To qualify for incentives provided in KRS 139.536 and 148.851 to 148.860, the
following requirements shall be met:
(a) For a tourism attraction project:
1.
The total eligible costs shall exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000);
2.
In any year, including the first year of operation, the tourism
attraction project shall be open to the public at least one hundred
(100) days; and
3.
In any year following the third year of operation, the tourism
attraction project shall attract at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its
visitors from among persons who are not residents of the
Commonwealth;
(b) For an entertainment destination center project:
1.
The total eligible costs shall exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000);
2.
The facility shall contain a minimum of two hundred thousand
(200,000) square feet of building space adjacent or complementary
to an existing tourism attraction project or a major convention facility;
3.
The incentives shall be dedicated to a public infrastructure purpose
that shall relate to the entertainment destination center project;
4.
In any year, including the first year of operation, the entertainment
destination center project shall:
a.
Be open to the public at least one hundred (100) days per
year;
b.
Maintain at least one (1) major theme restaurant and at least
(c)
(d)
three (3) additional entertainment venues, including but not
limited to live entertainment, multiplex theaters, large-format
theater, motion simulators, family entertainment centers,
concert halls, virtual reality or other interactive games,
museums, exhibitions, or other cultural and leisure-time
activities; and
c.
Maintain a minimum occupancy of sixty percent (60%) of the
total gross area available for lease with entertainment and food
and drink options not including the retail sale of tangible
personal property; and
5.
In any year following the third year of operation, the entertainment
destination center project shall attract at least twenty-five percent
(25%) of its visitors from among persons who are not residents of
the Commonwealth;
For a theme restaurant destination attraction project:
1.
The total eligible costs shall exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000);
2.
In any year, including the first year of operation, the attraction shall:
a.
Be open to the public at least three hundred (300) days per
year and for at least eight (8) hours per day; and
b.
Generate no more than fifty percent (50%) of its revenue
through the sale of alcoholic beverages;
3.
In any year following the third year of operation, the theme
restaurant destination attraction project shall attract a minimum of
fifty percent (50%) of its visitors from among persons who are not
residents of the Commonwealth; and
4. The theme restaurant destination attraction project shall:
a.
At the time of final approval, offer a unique dining experience
that is not available in the Commonwealth within a one
hundred (100) mile radius of the attraction;
b.
In any year, including the first year of operation, maintain
seating capacity of four hundred fifty (450) guests and offer live
music or live musical and theatrical entertainment during the
peak business hours that the facility is in operation and open to
the public; or
c.
Within three (3) years of the completion date, the attraction
shall obtain a top two (2) tier rating by a nationally accredited
service and shall maintain a top two (2) tier rating through the
term of the agreement;
For a lodging facility project:
1. a.
The eligible costs shall exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000)
unless the provisions of subdivision b. of this subparagraph
apply.
b.
i.
If the lodging facility is an integral part of a major
onvention or sports facility, the eligible costs shall exceed
six
million dollars ($6,000,000); and
(3)
ii.
If the lodging facility includes five hundred (500) or more
uest rooms, the eligible costs shall exceed ten million
ollars ($10,000,000); and
2.
In any year, including the first year of operation, the lodging facility
shall:
a.
Be open to the public at least one hundred (100) days; and
b.
Attract at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its visitors from
among persons who are not residents of the Commonwealth;
and
(e) An expansion of any tourism development project shall in all cases be
treated as a new stand-alone project.
The incentives offered under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act shall be
as follows:
(a) An approved company may be granted a sales tax incentive based on the
Kentucky sales tax imposed on sales generated by or arising at the
tourism development project; and
(b) 1.
For a tourism development project other than a lodging facility
project described in KRS 148.851(14)(e) or (f):
a.
A sales tax incentive shall be allowed to an approved company
over a period of ten (10) years, except as provided in
subparagraph 4. of this paragraph; and
b.
The sales tax incentive shall not exceed the lesser of the total
amount of the sales tax liability of the approved company and
its lessees or a percentage of the approved costs as specified
by the agreement, not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%);
2.
For a lodging facility project described in KRS 148.851(14)(e) or (f):
a.
A sales tax incentive shall be allowed to the approved
company over a period of twenty (20) years; and
b.
The sales tax incentive shall not exceed the lesser of total
amount of the sales tax liability of the approved company and
its lessees or a percentage of the approved costs as specified
by the agreement, not to exceed fifty percent (50%);
3.
Any unused incentives from a previous year may be carried forward
to any succeeding year during the term of the agreement until the
entire specified percentage of the approved costs has been received
through sales tax incentives; and
4.
If the approved company is an entertainment destination center that
has dedicated at least thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) of the
incentives provided under the agreement to a public infrastructure
purpose, the agreement may be amended to extend the term of the
agreement up to two (2) additional years if the approved company
agrees to:
a.
Reinvest in the original entertainment destination project one
hundred percent (100%) of any incentives received during the
extension that were outstanding at the end of the original term
b.
of the agreement; and
Report to the authority at the end of each fiscal year the
amount of incentives received during the extension and how
the incentives were reinvested in the original entertainment
destination project.
Effective:June 26, 2009
History: Amended 2009 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 37, effective June
26, 2009. -- Repealed, reenacted, and amended 2001 Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 3,
effective June 21, 2001. -- Created 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 335, sec. 2, effective July
15, 1996.
Formerly codified as KRS 154.29-020.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/26/2009). In codification, the Reviser
of Statutes has corrected a manifest clerical or typographical error in 2009 (1st
Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 37, subsection (3)(b)1. and 2. (this statute), by
replacing an incorrect reference to "KRS 148.851(13)(e) or (f)" with the correct
reference to "KRS 148.851(14)(e) or (f)."
Legislative Research Commission Note (1/25/2009). This is former KRS
154.29-020 as amended by 2001 Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 3, and renumbered by the
Reviser of Statutes under KRS 7.136(1).
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