Sec. 130-554. Creation petition—Contents.
(a) The creation of an area shall be initiated by a petition filed in the office of the city clerk. The petition shall be signed by not less than 30 percent or 200 of the electors of the proposed area, whichever is less. After the filing of a petition, no signer shall be permitted to withdraw his or her name from the petition.
(b) At a minimum, the petition shall include the following information:
(1) The name of the area, a descriptive name or number, and the words "enhanced taxing area;"
(2) A general description of the purposes for which the area is being created;
(3) A general description of the boundaries of the area with such certainty as to enable a property owner to determine whether or not his or her property is within the area;
(4) A general description of the excise tax or taxes and, if applicable, the particular taxable transactions or events, that are the subject of the petition and the rate at which such tax or taxes will be assessed within the area, if created;
(5) The names, addresses, and telephone numbers of up to and including three persons who shall represent the petitioners and who have the power to enter into agreements relating to the creation of the area, which agreements shall be binding on the City, if created; and
(6) A request for the creation of the area.
(c) Each elector of the proposed area who is submitting the petition shall sign his or her own signature and print the date of signing the petition.
(d) If an elector resides outside the proposed area, he or she shall provide a brief description of the taxable real or personal property that he or she owns within such area, the address at which such property is located, and the address of his or her place of residence.
(e) Any elector, as defined in clause (2) of the definition of "elector" in section 130-552, shall provide a notarized affidavit of his or her authority to sign the petition, a brief description of taxable property located within the proposed area, the address at which such property is located, and the address of his or her place of residence. In addition, he or she shall sign his or her own signature and print the date of signing the petition.
(f) To each petition for an area with more than five electors, there shall be attached a notarized affidavit of the petition circulator, stating the following:
(1) The name and address of the circulator;
(2) The circulator actually circulated the petition;
(3) Each signature on the petition was affixed in the circulator's presence;
(4) To the best of the circulator's knowledge and belief, each person signing the petition was, at the time of signing, an elector of the proposed area; and
(5) The date the circulator signed the affidavit.
(g) For each petition for an area with five or fewer electors, each signature affixed thereto shall be notarized.
(h) No petition with the requisite signatures shall be declared void on account of alleged defects. The city council, at any time, may permit the petition to be amended to conform to the facts by correcting any errors in the description of the area or in any other particular. Similar petitions or duplicate copies of the same petition for the creation of the same area may be filed and together shall be regarded as one petition. All such petitions filed prior to the hearing on the first petition filed shall be considered by the city council the same as though included with the first petition placed on file. (Ord. No. 2011-15, § 1, 7-11-2011)