Bill Text: AZ HB2373 | 2011 | Fiftieth Legislature 1st Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Judicial facility districts
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-25 - Referred to House WM Committee [HB2373 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2011-HB2373-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: judicial facility districts |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fiftieth Legislature First Regular Session 2011
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HB 2373 |
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Introduced by Representatives Ash, Miranda R: Miranda C, Smith D, Tovar
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AN ACT
amending title 48, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding chapter 40; relating to judicial facility districts.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 48, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding chapter 40, to read:
CHAPTER 40
JUDICIAL FACILITY DISTRICTS
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
48-6901. Establishment of district
A. The board of supervisors of a county may adopt a resolution to establish a judicial facility district in the county for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, operating, maintaining and financing county judicial facilities. The district shall be established on voter approval of a property tax or excise tax pursuant to section 48-6921.
B. The resolution shall set a date for a hearing on the resolution, not less than twenty-one nor more than forty days from the date of the resolution. The notice of the hearing shall be published once each week for at least three consecutive weeks before the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county and shall be posted at least three weeks before the hearing in at least three public places in the county. The board shall meet at the time and place fixed for the hearing. At the hearing the board shall hear all persons who wish to appear in favor of or against establishment of the district.
C. If, after the hearing, it appears to the board that the public interest, convenience and necessity will be served by establishing the district, the board shall declare its findings and order the formation of the county judicial facility district under a designated corporate name contingent on approval of a property tax or excise tax pursuant to section 48-6921. The board shall file a certified copy of the proceedings with the county recorder.
D. The board of supervisors may pay the necessary costs incurred in connection with the formation of the district from any monies available for that purpose.
E. The district includes the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county.
48-6902. Board of directors; administrative powers, duties and immunities
A. The county board of supervisors shall serve as the board of directors of the district. The directors are not eligible to receive compensation for their services as such but are eligible for reimbursement for their necessary expenses in attending district meetings and traveling in and out of state when necessary to carry on the affairs of the district.
B. A county judicial facility district organized under this chapter is a tax-levying public improvement district for all purposes of article XIII, section 7, Constitution of Arizona, and has all the powers, privileges and immunities granted generally to municipal corporations by the constitution and laws of this state, including immunity of its property, debts, obligations and interest from taxation.
C. The board of directors shall exercise all powers and duties in acquiring the properties of the district and in carrying out its functions under this chapter, and as otherwise provided by law, as are ordinarily exercised by the governing body of a municipal corporation.
D. A district organized under this article, acting through its board of directors and the presiding superior court judge, may:
1. Acquire by eminent domain, purchase, donation, dedication, exchange, lease, lease-purchase or other lawful means and mortgage and dispose of by sale, exchange or other lawful means real and personal property. Any lease-purchase agreement for property acquired under this paragraph shall require the final payment to be made within twenty-five years after the date the agreement is executed.
2. Acquire and maintain existing judicial facilities within the district for the benefit of the district if mutually agreeable to the owners of such facilities.
3. Enter into intergovernmental agreements with other public agencies pursuant to title 11, chapter 7, article 3 to carry out the objects and purposes of the district.
4. Sue and be sued, enter into contracts and generally do all things that may be necessary to construct, acquire and maintain facilities, operate the district and perform its functions and that are in the interests of the district.
5. Adopt rules and bylaws for its orderly operation as it sees fit.
6. Apply for, obtain and expend financial assistance from this state and from any other available source and comply with the terms and conditions of the assistance, including repayment of loans.
7. Pledge all or part of the net revenues from county maintenance of effort payments under section 48-6924 or from an excise tax levied under section 48-6922, or revenues from both sources, to make payments under a lease-purchase agreement.
E. The board shall keep a proper written record of all of its proceedings, which shall be open to public inspection.
F. The presiding superior court judge of the county shall exercise all powers and duties in operating and managing the properties of the district under this chapter and as otherwise provided by law, the county treasurer shall serve as the district treasurer and the county attorney shall serve as the attorney for the district. The presiding superior court judge may employ other employees the presiding superior court judge considers desirable and necessary to carry out the purposes of the district. Any other work required by the district may be performed by regular employees of the county on assignment by the county board of supervisors, except that regular county employees shall not undertake construction projects with an estimated cost of fifty thousand dollars or more.
G. The accounts, funds and monies of the district shall be maintained separate from county accounts, funds and monies and are subject to annual and other audits as provided by law.
48-6903. Intergovernmental agreements
With the concurrence of the presiding superior court judge, a county judicial facility district may enter into intergovernmental agreements with the United States, this state, incorporated cities and towns and any other governmental entity to maintain and operate judicial facilities for the governmental entity for joint or cooperative construction, maintenance and operation of judicial facilities.
ARTICLE 2. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
48-6921. Judicial facilities taxes; election
A. If approved at an election pursuant to this section, the district board of directors may levy either an excise tax in the district as provided by section 48-6922 or an ad valorem tax on the taxable property in the district as provided by section 48-6923. A district may not levy both an excise tax and an ad valorem property tax.
B. If the board of directors proposes an excise tax levy, the board, by resolution, shall either order and call a district-wide special election or place the issue on the ballot of a regular general election held in the district. If the board proposes an ad valorem tax, the board, by resolution, shall order and call a district-wide election to be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November as prescribed by section 16-204, subsection B, paragraph 1, subdivision (d). The board shall specify on the ballot the purpose of the tax, the maximum rate of tax, the number of years for which the tax will be authorized and the estimated future revenue needs, including the maintenance of effort requirements imposed on the county by this article. The rate of tax shall not exceed the limits prescribed by this article. To be valid the tax authorization must be approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting at the election.
C. In addition to any other requirements prescribed by law, the board shall prepare, print and distribute publicity pamphlets concerning the tax issue proposed. The board shall distribute one copy of the publicity pamphlet to each household containing a registered voter in the district at least ten but not more than thirty days before the election. The publicity pamphlet shall contain all of the following:
1. The date of the election.
2. Polling places and the times the polling places will be open.
3. A true copy of the title and text of the resolution proposing the tax.
4. A summary of the purposes for which the tax is proposed to be levied.
5. The estimated revenue needs, including the maintenance of effort requirements imposed on the county by this article, for the described purposes.
6. An estimate of the annual amount of revenues to be raised from the proposed tax levy.
7. Arguments for and against the proposed tax levy.
48-6922. Excise tax
A. The board of directors of a district in a county having a population of less than one million five hundred thousand persons according to the most recent United States decennial or special census may order by resolution the approval of a district excise tax to be placed on the ballot of an election pursuant to section 48-6921. If a majority of the qualified electors voting at the election approve the county judicial facility district excise tax, the board of directors by resolution may levy, and if levied, the department of revenue shall collect, a tax beginning January 1 or July 1, whichever date first occurs at least three months after the district resolution approving the tax levy. The tax rate shall be a percentage of the excise tax rate prescribed by section 42-5010, subsection a applying to each person engaging or continuing in the district in a business taxed under title 42, chapter 5, article 1 and section 42-5352, subsection A, not to exceed:
1. Ten per cent of each rate prescribed by section 42-5010, subsection A and section 42-5352, subsection A, in counties having a population of five hundred thousand persons or less.
2. Five per cent of each rate prescribed by section 42-5010, subsection A and section 42-5352, subsection A, in counties having a population of more than five hundred thousand persons but less than one million five hundred thousand persons.
B. If a district levies an excise tax under subsection A of this section, the board of directors, by resolution, may also levy, and if levied, the department of revenue shall collect, a use tax on each retail electric or natural gas customer using or consuming electricity or natural gas in the district and subject to use tax pursuant to section 42-5155. The use tax levied pursuant to this subsection shall be applied as a percentage of the use tax rate imposed by title 42, chapter 5, article 4 equal to the percentage determined under subsection A, paragraph 1 or 2 of this section, as applicable.
C. The tax applies in both incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county.
D. At the end of each month the state treasurer shall transmit the net revenues collected pursuant to this section to the district treasurer who shall deposit the revenues in the county judicial facility district general fund.
E. Unless the context otherwise requires:
1. Section 42-6102 governs the administration of the tax imposed pursuant to subsection A of this section.
2. Title 42, chapter 5, article 4 governs the administration of the use tax imposed pursuant to subsection B of this section.
48-6923. Property tax levy
A. If a majority of the qualified electors voting at an election held pursuant to section 48-6921 approve a county judicial facility district ad valorem property tax, on or before the third Monday in august each year the district shall certify to the county board of supervisors the amount of taxes to be levied for the taxable year on the taxable property in the district that together with unexpended balances carried forward from the previous fiscal year and revenues from all other sources is necessary to pay the maintenance and operation expenses of the district in carrying out the objects and purposes of this chapter.
B. The board of supervisors shall levy a secondary property tax on the taxable property in the district, at the same time and in the same manner as county taxes are levied, sufficient to provide the amount certified under subsection A of this section, but the tax rate is limited to, and shall not exceed in any event, twenty cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation. The tax revenues collected pursuant to this section shall be paid to the district treasurer and deposited in the county judicial facility district general fund and used solely for the purposes for which they were collected.
C. The tax shall be levied on all of the taxable property in the district.
48-6924. County maintenance of effort
A. The county in which a judicial facility district is established shall maintain its support of judicial facilities operated and maintained by the district. Each fiscal year the county shall pay the amount determined under subsection B of this section to the district treasurer in twelve equal monthly installments for deposit in the county judicial facility district general fund.
B. The auditor general shall determine the amount expended by the county for maintenance and operation of judicial facilities in the fiscal year immediately preceding the first fiscal year in which a county judicial facility district tax levy is effective under this article. This total amount is the base expenditure. Any outstanding debt due from a city, the state or the United States pursuant to any intergovernmental agreement for the use of existing facilities or consolidated facilities shall be excluded from the base expenditure calculation. As part of the annual county audit, the auditor general shall determine the amount to be paid by the county to the district treasurer for the fiscal year by adjusting the amount the county paid to the district treasurer in the preceding fiscal year, or the base expenditure, by the lesser of the percentage change in the county's primary property tax levy limitation from the preceding year pursuant to section 42‑17051 or the annual change in the GDP price deflator, as defined in section 41-563.
C. Notwithstanding subsections a and b of this section, the district may reimburse the county for the actual cost of indirect or collateral services provided to the district by the county, including services relating to human resources, information systems, purchasing, budget and finance and the offices of the county manager, the county treasurer, the county recorder and the county attorney. The district may choose to perform for itself any of the services provided by the county instead of receiving services from the county except for election and financial services and those other services that the county is required by law to provide to the district.
48-6925. County judicial facility district general fund; annual audit
A. The board of directors shall establish and administer a county judicial facility district general fund consisting of revenues from approved taxes under this article, county maintenance of effort payments under section 48-6924 and any other available revenues for that purpose from federal, state, local and private sources.
B. The board of directors shall separately account for monies received as county maintenance of effort payments and may expend other monies in the fund only after the expenditure of all county maintenance of effort monies currently deposited in the fund.
C. The board of directors shall retain any monies remaining unexpended or unencumbered in the fund at the end of the fiscal year and may allocate these monies as necessary to:
1. Reduce the county primary property tax levy.
2. Reduce the subsequent year's levy for the district.
3. Reduce the district's debt.
4. Be held as reserves for years in which district revenues are insufficient to meet district expenditures.
5. Offset future district construction and maintenance costs.
D. The board of directors shall cause an audit to be made of the fund either by a certified public accountant within ninety days after the close of each fiscal year or in conjunction with the annual county audit pursuant to section 41-1279.21. The board shall immediately file a certified copy of the audit with the auditor general. The auditor general may make such further audits of the fund as necessary and take appropriate action relating to the audit pursuant to title 41, chapter 7, article 10.1. If the auditor general takes no official action within thirty days after the audit is filed, the audit is deemed sufficient. The board of directors shall pay the costs of the certified public accountant and the auditor general under this section from the fund.
E. A judicial facility district shall only allocate monies based on subsection C, paragraphs 2 through 5 of this section. END_STATUTE
48-6926. Adjustment of municipal expenditure limitation
Pursuant to article IX, section 20, subsection (4), Constitution of Arizona, if a city or town enters into an intergovernmental agreement for the district to maintain and operate a consolidated judicial facility for the municipality under section 48-6903, the economic estimates commission shall adjust the city's or town's expenditure limitation by decreasing the base limit by the judicial facility costs transferred to the district.
