Good life district economic development program; establishment; ordinance; contents; contracts and agreements; authorized; project areas; provisions applicable; eminent domain.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-4412
in effect77-4412. Good life district economic development program; establishment; ordinance; contents; contracts and agreements; authorized; project areas; provisions applicable; eminent domain.
(1) Upon approval by the voters, the governing body of the city may establish a good life district economic development program for any area within the city which is included in a good life district established pursuant to the Good Life Transformational Projects Act, and the city shall appropriate the local sources of revenue established in the good life district program area and pledged for such program.
(2) A good life district economic development program shall be established by ordinance, which shall include the following provisions:
(a) The boundaries of the good life district program area, which shall be coterminous with the portion of the applicable good life district as established pursuant to section 77-4405 which is located within the city. Such boundaries of the program area may be expanded to include any area annexed by the city which is also included within such established good life district;
(b) A description of the local sources of revenue which shall be established for the program pursuant to section 77-4413, and a pledge to appropriate such local sources of revenue to the program for the time period during which such funds are collected;
(c) The time period within which the funds from local sources of revenue are to be collected within the good life district program area, and the time period during which the good life district economic development program will be in existence;
(d) The manner in which a qualifying business will be required to submit an application for assistance under the good life district economic development program, including the type of information that will be required from the business, the process that will be used to verify the information, and the types of business information provided to the city which will be kept confidential by the city, and the types of agreements which will be permitted with qualifying businesses for development of property within the good life district program area. No additional business information shall be required from a qualifying business that is the good life district applicant. The department shall provide a copy of the application, approval, and all related documentation establishing the related good life district to the city upon approval by the department;
(e) Such restrictions on qualifying businesses, limitations on types of eligible costs, and limitations on the amounts of eligible costs as the city determines are in the best interests of the city and the good life district economic development program. Such limitations and restrictions shall include provisions intended to ensure (i) sufficient infrastructure will be available to serve the program area and expectations as to how such infrastructure will be constructed and funded, (ii) sufficient capital investment in buildings and facilities to generate enough local sources of revenue to sustain the program, (iii) substantially all of the eligible costs will be used for the benefit of the program area, and (iv) not more than twenty percent of disbursements from the program will be for nonrevenue producing costs; and
(f) A description of the administrative system that will be established by the city to administer the good life district economic development program, including a description of any personnel structure and the duties and responsibilities of the personnel involved.
(3) All information provided with an application for assistance under any good life district economic development program to the city by a qualifying business shall be kept confidential by the city to the extent required by the terms of the ordinance establishing the good life district economic development program. The city may approve or deny any application for assistance in the discretion of the city, subject to the terms of any contract or agreement with a qualifying business related to such program.
(4) The city may enter into contracts and agreements with qualifying businesses related to assistance under the good life district economic development program, development of property within the applicable good life district program area, use of property within the good life district program area, and other agreements related to the good life district economic development program or good life district program area, which contracts and agreements may extend over multiple years and include such undertakings and designation of responsibilities as the city determines appropriate or convenient for development, use, and operation of the good life district economic development program and the properties in the good life district program area. The city shall not enter into a contract or agreement with a qualifying business for assistance that uses local sources of revenue collected from property owned by the good life district applicant unless the contract or agreement is approved by the good life district applicant. This subsection shall not be construed to provide a city with any power it would not otherwise have by law to restrict a business lawfully permitted to operate in this state from locating in a good life district.
(5) In connection with administration of a good life district economic development program, a city may engage professionals, consultants, and other third parties to assist and provide such services to the city as determined appropriate by the city. All costs of administration of the program which are charged to the program by the city shall be paid from the associated good life district economic development fund prior to payment of any other eligible costs or bonds which may be payable from the fund.
(6) Each good life district economic development program shall remain in effect until thirty years after the date the associated good life district was established or until the program is terminated by the city pursuant to subsection (7) of this section, whichever occurs first. If more than one good life district is established within a city, a separate good life district economic development program shall be established for each such good life district.
(7) The governing body of a city may, at any time after the adoption of the ordinance establishing the good life district economic development program by a two-thirds vote of the members of the governing body, amend or repeal the ordinance in its entirety, subject only to the provisions of any outstanding bonds or existing contracts relating to such program and the rights of any third parties arising from such bonds or contracts.
(8)(a) For any good life district that includes a project area established pursuant to section 77-4405, the following provisions shall apply to the portion of such project area located within the good life district program area:
(i) Prior to disbursement of any funds from the good life district economic development program to a project area applicant for eligible costs in a project area, the city, the project area applicant, and the department shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with respect to the following matters related to development of property in the project area and local sources of revenue attributable to the project area, and the following provisions shall govern with respect to such matters included in the memorandum of understanding from and after the date of execution by all such parties:
(A) A trustee bank shall be identified and established for the project area, and the remittance of funds by the Tax Commissioner pursuant to subdivision (2)(d) of section 77-4413 that are sourced to the project area shall be deposited in an account held by the trustee bank and established for such project area. The Tax Commissioner shall only remit funds collected from within the established project area to the correlating trustee bank;
(B) Funds held by the trustee bank with respect to such project area shall only be disbursed for payment or reimbursement of eligible costs incurred on or after the date of establishment of such project area, including payment of debt service for bonds issued pursuant to the Good Life District Economic Development Act and to pay other costs of the city's good life district economic development program. Prior to the disbursement of funds, the trustee bank shall require evidence that the disbursement is to pay or reimburse eligible costs incurred on or after the date of establishment of the project area and shall maintain records with respect to all such disbursements and provide copies to the city, the department, and the project area applicant annually;
(C) The development and financing obligations for the project area shall be addressed in the memorandum of understanding. The development obligations for the project area shall include, but not be limited to, roadwork, utilities, and other improvements. The financing obligations shall include, but not be limited to, anticipated bond financing supported by local sources of revenue, including anticipated timing and phasing of the financing and development obligations; and
(D) An addendum between the city and the applicant shall be included as part of the memorandum of understanding. In such addendum, the parties shall agree to comply with the city's good life district economic development program ordinances; and
(ii) The memorandum of understanding may include additional provisions with respect to the project area and funds held by the trustee bank with respect to such project area as determined appropriate by the parties. Such additional provisions may include, without limitation, the following:
(A) Creation of multiple subaccounts to be managed by the trustee bank, and provisions for distribution of funds among subaccounts, including a special services account to be used for management costs and costs of and related to the public right-of-way, including streets, signage, lighting, refuse services, and landscaping;
(B) Provision for specific entities to have the exclusive right to request disbursements from specified subaccounts;
(C) A record-keeping and financial accountability framework to determine that taxpayer funds are used for permitted purposes;
(D) Provisions intended to streamline permitting, zoning, and similar development issues; and
(E) Additional conditions for disbursement of funds held by the trustee bank or of bond proceeds intended to ensure project viability and to protect local taxpayers of the city.
(b) The department may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to govern the content of and procedures relating to the memorandum of understanding.
(c) This subsection shall not apply to local sources of revenue attributable to a project area that have been pledged for payment of bonds or otherwise committed by contract under the good life district economic development program prior to the city receiving notice of establishment of a project area.
(d) The funds and accounts established with a trustee bank for a project area shall be part of the good life district economic development fund of the city and distributed pursuant to the agreements made in accordance with this subsection.
(9) Nothing in the Good Life District Economic Development Act authorizes the use of eminent domain to acquire property within a good life district for the purpose of giving or selling such property to a private individual or corporation.
Laws 2024, LB1317, § 5; Laws 2025, LB707, § 10.
Source: Nebraska Legislature (nebraskalegislature.gov)URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=77-4412Fetched: 10/20/2026