(a) The authority is authorized to prepare and submit to the participating municipalities for approval an economic impact plan in the manner described in this section.

(b) An economic impact plan shall be a written document and shall specifically identify the area to be included in the plan. The area to be included in the plan shall be located in the participating municipalities and shall also include the county in which the megasite is located. In addition to the megasite, the area that is the subject of the economic impact plan may also include any other properties that the authority determines will be directly improved or benefited due to the undertaking of the megasite. The area may include one (1) or more portions that are not contiguous to the rest of the area. The economic impact plan shall:

(1) Identify the boundaries of the area subject to the plan;

(2) Discuss the expected benefits to the participating counties from the development of the area subject to the plan, including anticipated tax receipts and jobs created; and

(3) Provide that the property taxes imposed on the property, including the personal property, located within the area subject to the plan shall be distributable in the manner described in subsection (c) for a period of time specified in the plan.

(c) Upon the approval by the participating municipalities of an economic impact plan with respect to an area, all property taxes levied upon property located within the area by any taxing agency after the effective date of the plan shall be divided as follows:

(1) That portion of the taxes that is equal to the amount of taxes, if any, that were payable with respect to the property for the year prior to the date the economic impact plan was approved, the base tax amount, to the participating municipalities shall be allocated to and, when collected, shall be paid to the respective taxing agencies as taxes levied by those taxing agencies on all other property are paid; provided, that in any year in which the taxes on any property are less than the base tax amount, there shall be allocated and paid to the respective taxing agencies only those taxes actually imposed; and

(2) Any excess of taxes over the base tax amount shall be allocated to and, when collected, shall be paid into a separate fund of the authority established to hold such payments until applied for the purposes described in subsection (h).

(d) Notwithstanding subsection (a) to the contrary, the authority may prepare, and the participating municipalities may approve, an economic impact plan that allocates an amount greater than the base tax amount to the taxing agencies.

(e) An economic impact plan shall not provide for an allocation of taxes to the authority for a period in excess of thirty (30) years.

(f) The governing bodies of the participating municipalities may approve an economic impact plan by resolution, notwithstanding any local charter provision or other provision to the contrary. If the area subject to an economic impact plan is located within the corporate limits of a municipality, the taxes that would otherwise be payable to the municipality or county shall not be paid to the authority unless the city, town or county has also approved the economic impact plan.

(g) Before the authority submits an economic impact plan for approval to the governing bodies of the participating municipalities or to any other municipality, the authority shall hold a public hearing relating to the proposed plan after publishing adequate public notice of the public hearing at least two (2) weeks prior to the date of the public hearing. The notice shall include the time, place and purpose of the public hearing, and notice of how a map of the area subject to the plan can be viewed by the public.

(h) All taxes allocated to the authority pursuant to this section shall only be applied by the authority to pay expenses of the board in furtherance of promoting economic development in the participating municipalities, to pay the cost of projects or to pay debt service on bonds or other obligations issued by the authority to pay the cost of the projects. The authority is authorized to pledge any or all amounts received by the authority pursuant to this section to the payment of such bonds or other obligations.

(i) After the approval by a municipality of an economic impact plan, the clerk or other recording official of the municipality shall transmit to the appropriate tax assessors and to each taxing agency to be affected, a copy of the description of all property within the area subject to the economic impact plan and a copy of the resolution approving that plan. If the plan is approved by any taxing agency other than the municipality, the clerk or other recording official of that taxing agency shall also provide a copy of the resolution approving the plan to the tax assessors and taxing agencies.