Bill Text: AZ HB2481 | 2016 | Fifty-second Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Schools; primary property tax rates
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-05-19 - Chapter 364 [HB2481 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2016-HB2481-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: schools; primary property tax rates |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-second Legislature Second Regular Session 2016
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HB 2481 |
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Introduced by Representative Olson
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AN ACT
repealing section 15‑906, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending section 15‑943.01, Arizona Revised Statutes; repealing section 15‑943.03, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending sections 15‑991, 15‑992 and 42‑17151, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to school finance.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Repeal
Section 15-906, Arizona Revised Statutes, is repealed.
Sec. 2. Section 15-943.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-943.01. Maintenance and operation budget balance; definition
A. The governing board of a school district may budget any budget balance in the maintenance and operation section of the budget, as provided in section 15‑903, from the current fiscal year for use in the maintenance and operation section of the budget in the budget year. The amount which that may be budgeted as the budget balance carryforward in any one fiscal year shall not exceed four per cent of the school district's revenue control limit, as provided in section 15‑947, subsection A, for the current year and shall not include any budget balance attributable to any reduction in the district's general budget limit, including reductions for items which that are exempt from the revenue control limit and for which expenditures are limited to a designated purpose such as excess insurance costs or excess utility costs monies levied PURSUANT to section 15‑910, subsection G or for the bond issues portion of the cost of tuition. The amount budgeted as the budget balance carryforward is specifically exempt from the revenue control limit.
B. If the actual amount of the allowable budget balance carryforward is less than the amount budgeted for the budget balance carryforward, the governing board shall adjust the general budget limit and expenditures before May 15 based on the actual allowable budget balance carryforward. If the actual amount of the allowable budget balance carryforward is more than the amount budgeted for the budget balance carryforward, the governing board may adjust its budget before May 15 based on the actual amount of the allowable fund balance carryforward. Not later than May 18, the budget as revised shall be submitted electronically to the superintendent of public instruction.
C. If the governing board is eligible to budget for a budget balance carryforward as provided in subsection A of this section, the governing board may transfer an amount from the district's ending cash balance of the maintenance and operations fund to the school opening fund. The maximum amount that may be transferred is the lesser of the district's ending cash balance in the maintenance and operations fund or the amount the district is eligible to budget as a budget balance carryforward. The school opening fund is a cash controlled fund as provided in section 15‑905, subsection N, and may only be expended for the additional maintenance and operations expenses incurred in the first year of operation of a new school within the school district. The monies in the school opening fund are not subject to reversion, except that at the end of five years of no activity in the fund, any remaining monies shall be reverted to the maintenance and operations fund. Any monies so reverted may be considered additional budget balance for that fiscal year.
D. If a governing board transfers monies as provided in subsection C of this section, the amount so transferred in a fiscal year shall be subtracted from the amount the district would otherwise be eligible to budget for that fiscal year as provided in subsection A of this section. The difference, if any, is the maximum amount that may be budgeted for that fiscal year as a budget balance carryforward.
E. For the purposes of this section, "budget balance" means the difference between actual and budgeted expenditures.
Sec. 3. Repeal
Section 15-943.03, Arizona Revised Statutes, is repealed.
Sec. 4. Section 15-991, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-991. Annual estimate by county school superintendent of monies for ensuing year; review and approval by property tax oversight commission
A. The county school superintendent shall recompute the equalization assistance for education for each school district pursuant to section 15‑971, subsection A and compute the additional amount to be levied pursuant to section 15‑992, subsection B using the property values provided by the county assessor under section 42‑17052. The county school superintendent must certify in writing to the property tax oversight commission on or before July 25 of each year the amount of equalization assistance for education and the amount to be levied for each school district from the primary property tax pursuant to section 15‑992.
B. The county school superintendent must prepare and file with the governing board of each school district in the county and the property tax oversight commission on or before July 25 of each year a written estimate of the amount of monies required by each school district for the ensuing school year based on the proposed budget adopted by each school district governing board. The estimate shall contain:
1. A statement of the student count of each school district.
2. The total amount to be received for the year by each school district from the county school fund and the special county school reserve fund.
3. The projected ending cash balance from the previous year adjusted for encumbrances and payables for each school district as provided by the school district and as certified by the president of the school district governing board. A governing board may delegate to a superintendent, head teacher or business manager the authority to certify the projected cash balance.
4. 3. The anticipated interest earnings for each school district.
5. 4. Revenues equal to the amount included in the adopted budget for the maintenance and operation section of the budget permitted by section 15‑947, subsection C, paragraph 2, subdivision (a), items (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi) and subdivision (c). The county school superintendent shall subtract from each school district's budgeted expenditures the total amount of estimated revenues including the projected ending cash balance from the previous year adjusted for encumbrances and payables in order to estimate the additional amounts needed for each school district from the primary property tax and the secondary property tax. The county school superintendent shall certify such amounts to the board of supervisors and the property tax oversight commission in writing at the time of filing the estimate. When estimating the additional amount needed from the primary property tax for a school district that is not eligible for any equalization assistance as provided in section 15‑971, the county school superintendent shall include the school district governing board's estimate of the increase in the revenue control limit as prescribed by section 15‑948 for the applicable year, except that the percentage increase in average daily membership used to compute the estimated increase in the revenue control limit may not exceed the average of the percentage increase in average daily membership in the three years before the year for which the estimate is made.
6. 5. The calculation of the amount to be levied as prescribed by section 15‑992 using the values provided by the county assessor under section 42‑17052.
C. The property tax oversight commission must review the primary property tax calculations filed under subsection B, paragraph 6 5 of this section.
D. The county school superintendent must file in writing with the county board of supervisors and the property tax oversight commission on or before the third Monday in August of each year the amount that is required to be levied for each school district from both the primary property tax prescribed by section 15‑992 and the secondary property tax.
E. On or before September 1, the governing board of a school district shall file with the county school superintendent an estimate of the amount of title VIII of the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 monies it is eligible to receive during the current year. On or before June 1, the governing board shall file with the county school superintendent and the superintendent of public instruction a statement of the actual amount of title VIII of the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 monies it received during the current year. This subsection does not apply to accommodation schools.
F. The department may collect any other similar or related information from school districts that the department may determine is necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.
Sec. 5. Section 15-992, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-992. School district tax levy; additional tax in districts ineligible for equalization assistance; definition
A. The board of supervisors of each county shall annually, at the time of levying other taxes, shall annually levy school district taxes on the property in any school district in which additional amounts are required, which shall be at rates sufficient to provide the additional amounts prescribed in this section. No delinquency factor for estimated uncollected taxes may be included in the computation of the primary tax rate for school district taxes. No local property taxes may be levied for any deficit in the classroom site fund. The taxes shall be added to and collected in the same manner as other county taxes on the property within the school district. The amount of the school district taxes levied upon on the property in a particular school district shall be paid into the school fund of such that school district.
B. At the same time of levying taxes as provided in subsection A of this section, the county board of supervisors shall annually levy an additional tax in each school district that is not eligible for equalization assistance as provided in section 15‑971 in an amount determined as follows:
1. Determine the levy that would be produced by fifty per cent percent of the applicable qualifying tax rate, prescribed in section 15‑971, subsection B, per one hundred dollars assessed valuation.
2. Subtract the amount determined in section 15‑971, subsection A from the levy determined in paragraph 1 of this subsection. This difference is the additional amount levied or collected as voluntary contributions pursuant to title 48, chapter 1, article 8, except that if the difference is zero or is a negative number, there shall be no levy.
C. Monies collected pursuant to subsection B of this section shall be transmitted to the state treasurer for deposit in the state general fund to aid in school financial assistance.
D. The additional tax prescribed in subsection B of this section is considered to be primary property tax for purposes of section 15‑972, subsection B, except that this state is not required to make the payments prescribed in section 15‑972, subsection H for these reductions in taxes.
E. THE TAX LEVY prescribed in subsection A of this section SHALL BE A RATE EQUAL TO THE QUALIFYING TAX RATE PRESCRIBED IN SECTION 15-971, SUBSECTION B, PARAGRAPH 2 OR A RATE that EQUALS THE school DISTRICT SUPPORT LEVEL PRESCRIBED IN SECTION 15-947 subtracted by ANY AMOUNT RECEIVED PURSUANT TO SECTION 15-905, SUBSECTIONs K, O AND P PER ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS OF ASSESSED VALUATION USED FOR PRIMARY PROPERTY TAXES, whichever is less.
F. AT THE TIME OF LEVYING TAXES AS PROVIDED IN SUBSECTION E OF THIS SECTION, THE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SHALL ANNUALLY VALIDATE ANY ADDITIONAL PRIMARY SCHOOL DISTRICT TAX LEVY AMOUNT REQUESTS FROM EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND LEVY THE sum of the FOLLOWING AMOUNTS:
1. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRANSPORTATION REVENUE CONTROL LIMIT AS DETERMINED IN SECTION 15‑946 AND THE TRANSPORTATION SUPPORT LEVEL AS DETERMINED IN SECTION 15-945.
2. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS ANY AMOUNT PURSUANT TO SECTION 15-910.
3. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS ANY AMOUNT FOR TUITION LOSS AS DETERMINED IN SECTION 15-954.
4. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS ANY AMOUNT FOR the SMALL SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT AS DETERMINED IN SECTION 15-949.
5. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS ANY AMOUNT FOR LIABILITIES IN EXCESS OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET PURSUANT TO SECTION 15‑907.
6. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS ANY AMOUNT FOR ADJACENT WAYS PURSUANT TO SECTION 15-995.
7. A RATE that would result in a LEVY that EQUALS THE AMOUNT NOT CAPTURED BY THE QUALIFYING TAX RATE AS A RESULT OF PROPERTY SUBJECT TO the GOVERNMENT PROPERTY LEASE EXCISE TAX PURSUANT TO TITLE 42, CHAPTER 6, ARTICLE 5 AS CALCULATED IN SECTION 15-971, SUBSECTION B, PARAGRAPH 2.
E. g. For the purposes of this section, "assessed valuation" includes the values used to determine voluntary contributions collected pursuant to title 9, chapter 4, article 3 and title 48, chapter 1, article 8.
Sec. 6. Section 42-17151, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
42-17151. County, municipal, community college and school tax levy
A. On or before the third Monday in August each year, the governing body of each county, city, town, community college district and school district shall:
1. Fix, levy and assess the amount to be raised from primary property taxation and secondary property taxation. This amount, plus all other sources of revenue, as estimated, and restricted and unrestricted unencumbered balances from the preceding fiscal year, shall equal the total of amounts proposed to be spent in the budget for the current fiscal year.
2. Designate the amounts to be levied for each purpose appearing in the adopted budget.
3. Fix and determine a primary property tax rate and a secondary property tax rate, each rounded to four decimal places on each one hundred dollars of taxable property shown by the finally equalized valuations of property, less exemptions, that appear on the tax rolls for the fiscal year, as determined by the assessor on or before February 10 of the tax year pursuant to section 42‑17052, and that when extended on those valuations will produce, in the aggregate, the entire amount to be raised by direct taxation for that year.
B. The governing body of a county, city, town or community college district shall not fix, levy or assess an amount of primary property taxes in excess of the amount permitted by section 42‑17051, subsection A, paragraph 7 or section 42‑17005 as determined by the property tax oversight commission.
C. The governing board of a common school district, a high school district or a unified school district shall not fix, levy or assess a primary property tax rate higher than the current year's rate if the district meets both of the following criteria, as determined by the property tax oversight commission:
1. The total primary property taxes levied for all taxing jurisdictions on at least one-half of the residential property of the district exceed the limitation described in section 15‑972, subsection E.
2. The school district primary property tax rate exceeds one hundred fifty per cent percent of the applicable qualifying tax rate pursuant to section 41‑1276.
D. No later than December 31, the property tax oversight commission shall notify those school districts that meet the criteria described in subsection C of this section and the county school superintendents and boards of supervisors of the counties in which the school districts are located.
E. Within three days after the final levies are determined for a county, city, town or community college district, the chief county fiscal officer shall notify the property tax oversight commission of the amount of the primary property tax levied.
F. Pursuant to section 15‑465.01, subsection E, an accommodation school governing board shall not levy a primary or secondary property tax. The property tax oversight commission shall consider any amount of property tax levied by a county in support of an accommodation school to be part of the county's primary levy for the purposes of determining the county's compliance with subsection B of this section.
G. The governing board of a school district shall fix and levy a primary property tax as determined by section 15‑992, subsections E and F.
