Nebraska § 81-3720 - County Visitors Improvement Fund; use; visitor attraction, defined.

§ 81-3720. County Visitors Improvement Fund; use; visitor attraction, defined.

(1)(a) The County Visitors Improvement Fund shall be administered by the governing body of the county. The governing body of the county shall use the fund to expand, improve, and maintain visitor attractions and facilities in the county or, with the advice of the visitors committee created pursuant to section 81-3717, to make grants for expanding, improving, and maintaining facilities at any existing visitor attraction, acquiring or expanding exhibits for existing visitor attractions, constructing visitor attractions, or planning or developing such expansions, improvements, maintenance, or construction.

(b) Grants shall be available for any visitor attraction in the county owned by the public or any nonprofit organization, the primary purpose of which is to operate the visitor attraction.

(c) Grants may be made for a specified annual amount not to exceed the greater of the proceeds derived from a sales tax rate of one percent imposed by a county for a County Visitors Improvement Fund or five thousand dollars. Grants may be made for a term of years not to exceed twenty years and may be pledged by the recipient to secure bonds issued to finance expansion, improvement, maintenance, or construction of a visitor attraction. Any grant made for a term of years shall be funded each year in accordance with any agreement contained in the grant contract.

(d) No bonds issued by a grant recipient which pledges grant funds shall constitute a debt, liability, or general obligation of the county levying the tax or a pledge of the faith and credit of the county levying the tax but shall be payable solely from grant funds. Each bond issued by any grant recipient which pledges grant funds shall contain on the face thereof a statement that neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the county levying the tax is pledged to the payment of the principal of or the interest on such bond.

(2) For purposes of this section and section 81-3717, visitor attraction means a defined location open to the public that is of educational, cultural, historical, artistic, or recreational significance, that provides entertainment, or that has exhibits, displays, or performances of educational, cultural, historic, artistic, or entertainment value.