48-1910. Powers of board of directors; transaction privilege tax; election

A. The board of directors may purchase surgical instruments, hospital equipment, ambulance equipment and other property and supplies necessary for equipping a hospital, urgent care center, combined hospital and ambulance service or combined urgent care center and ambulance service, except that the board shall not purchase, rent or contract for the use of aircraft. The board may purchase real property, and erect or rent and equip buildings or rooms necessary for the hospital, urgent care center, combined hospital and ambulance service or combined urgent care center and ambulance service.

B. The board of directors shall lease the hospital as provided by section 48-1911, provided however that after all bonded indebtedness of the district has been paid the board of directors may lease the hospital and its equipment to any person or corporation for the purpose of conducting a health care facility upon such terms and conditions as the board of directors of the district deems to be beneficial to the hospital district.

C. For a hospital district with boundaries that are coterminous with a county's boundaries, that is located in a county with a population of less than forty-five thousand persons and in which no more than six per cent of the real property by area in that county is subject to taxation, the board of directors may request that the board of supervisors place the question of a levy of a transaction privilege tax to support the district on the next ballot for a countywide election. On the request of the board of directors, the county board of supervisors may call a special election on the question of a levy of transaction privilege tax or may place the question on the ballot for the next regular countywide election. The question shall include the rate of the transaction privilege tax. The rate of the transaction privilege tax shall not be more than ten per cent of the transaction privilege tax rate prescribed by section 42-5010, subsection A, applying, as of January 1, 1990, to each person engaging in or continuing in the district in a business taxed under title 42, chapter 5, article 1. If a hospital district already has a property tax pursuant to section 48-1907, subsection A, paragraph 6, the question shall require that the property tax be repealed on the imposition of a transaction privilege tax. On approval by a majority of those persons voting on the question, the county board of supervisors shall levy and the department of revenue shall collect a transaction privilege tax pursuant to this section to be used and spent for the purposes described in this chapter. The initial levy of the tax shall be for a period of up to five years and may be renewed by a subsequent vote of the county's qualified electors for additional periods of five years. Each month the state treasurer shall remit to the county treasurer the net revenues collected pursuant to this subsection during the second preceding month. The county treasurer shall remit the monies to the hospital district treasurer who shall deposit the monies in the district's general fund.

D. A hospital district shall not levy a transaction privilege tax at the same time that it is imposing a secondary property tax pursuant to section 48-1907.