(a) Payment. – A State agency that acquires land by purchase for the purpose of restoring, enhancing, preserving, or creating wetlands as required by a permit or an authorization issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers under 33 U.S.C. § 1344 must pay to the county in which the land is located, as reimbursement, a sum equal to the estimated amount of ad valorem taxes that would have accrued to the county for the next 20 years had the land not been acquired by the State agency.

(b) Exception. – This section does not apply when the land purchased by the State agency and the wetlands permitted to be lost are located in the same county. In other circumstances, the governing body of the county and the State agency may enter into a written agreement to waive payment.

(c) Amount. – The estimated amount of ad valorem taxes that would have accrued for the next 20 years is the total assessed value of the acquired land excluded from the county’s tax base multiplied by the tax rate set by the county board of commissioners in its most recent budget ordinance adopted under Chapter 159 of the N.C. Gen. Stat., and then multiplied by 20.

(d) Application. – This section applies only to land acquired in counties designated as a development tier one area under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143B-437.08 (2004-188, s. 4; 2006-252, s. 2.14.)