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2013 BID Intent to Levy <br />June 17, 2013 <br />Page 2 <br />Business Improvement District (BID) Background <br />On February 6, 1984, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. NS -1715 pursuant to State law, <br />creating a Business Improvement District in Downtown Santa Ana. The BID was established as <br />a means of providing the Downtown business community with a funding source for promoting the <br />Downtown through events and advertising pieces, increasing the security presence, enhancing <br />maintenance of the downtown shopping corridors and implementing street improvements to the <br />area. The district is funded through a charge on the business license tax for those businesses <br />within the BID boundary (Exhibit 1). Based upon a current analysis of business license tax <br />accounts, there are now 783 active business license accounts within the BID boundary with 622 <br />BID - eligible businesses (State law exempts certain businesses from local business license taxes, <br />including banks and insurance companies; the Municipal Code further exempts non - profits such <br />as schools and churches). Since 2007, the district has been in suspension and BID assessments <br />have not been levied on downtown businesses. <br />In 2008, the City Council approved the establishment of the Downtown Santa Ana Community <br />Management District, which is commonly referred to as the PBID. The PBID resulted in a levy on <br />property owners rather than businesses. On February 4, 2013, the City Council adopted <br />Ordinance No. NS -2842 repealing Article XX of Chapter 13 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code <br />disestablishing the PBID. <br />Concurrent with the elimination of the PBID, the City Council approved a Settlement and Release <br />Agreement with Downtown, Inc. (DTI), related to their contract to administer PBID revenues. As <br />part of the agreement, the City agreed to the following: <br />1. To fund the Clean and Safe Program for the Downtown at $400,000 per year for three <br />years. <br />2. That in the event the BID is reactivated, DTI would receive 50% of the BID revenues <br />for programming (through January 31, 2016 if the BID charge is levied for the three <br />year period). The City anticipated that the remaining 50% of the BID funds would be <br />programmed by a new merchants group, the Santa Ana Business Council Inc. <br />3. That if the BID is not reactivated by August 1, 2013, City fees and charges for specified <br />events would be charged against a $189,000 "credit bank" for an 18 -month period or <br />until the credit is exhausted. <br />Business Improvement District (BID) Reactivation Activities to Date <br />As directed by the City Council in January, staff has taken the following steps so that reactivation <br />of the BID may be considered by the Downtown business community and the City Council: <br />1. Conducted a field investigation to confirm and update the list of businesses within the <br />BID boundaries. Given that there are 622 businesses eligible to pay the BID charge, <br />staff estimates that 2013 BID revenue would be $250,000 with the average annual <br />assessment estimated to be $415. <br />12A -2 <br />