COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 593
(By Senators McCabe and Foster)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 22, 2008.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9A-11 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to school finance; computation of
local share; limit on certain library funding obligations; and
transfer of a library funding obligation to an excess levy.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-9A-11 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment of
property; public library support.
(a) On the basis of each county's certificates of valuation as
to all classes of property as determined and published by the
assessors pursuant to section six, article three, chapter eleven of this code for the next ensuing fiscal year in reliance upon the
assessed values annually developed by each county assessor pursuant
to the provisions of articles one-c and three of said chapter, the
state board shall for each county compute by application of the
levies for general current expense purposes, as defined in section
two of this article, the amount of revenue which the levies would
produce if levied upon one hundred percent of the assessed value of
each of the several classes of property contained in the report or
revised report of the value, made to it by the Tax Commissioner as
follows:
(1) The state board shall first take ninety-five percent of
the amount ascertained by applying these rates to the total
assessed public utility valuation in each classification of
property in the county
; and
(2) The state board shall then apply these rates to the
assessed taxable value of other property in each classification in
the county as determined by the Tax Commissioner and shall deduct
therefrom five percent as an allowance for the usual losses in
collections due to discounts, exonerations, delinquencies and the
like. All of the amount so determined shall be added to the
ninety-five percent of public utility taxes computed as provided in
subdivision (1) of this subsection and this total shall be further
reduced by the amount due each county assessor's office pursuant to
the provisions of section eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of this code and this amount shall be the local share of the
particular county.
As to any estimations or preliminary computations of local
share required prior to the report to the Legislature by the Tax
Commissioner, the state shall use the most recent projections or
estimations that may be available from the tax department for that
purpose.
(b)
Commencing with the two thousand thirteen fiscal year and
each fiscal year thereafter Effective the first day of July, two
thousand thirteen, subsection (a) of this section is void and local
share shall be calculated in accordance with the following:
(1) The state board shall for each county compute by
application of the levies for general current expense purposes, as
defined in sections two and two-a of this article, the amount of
revenue which the levies would produce if levied upon one hundred
percent of the assessed value calculated pursuant to section
five-b, article one-c, chapter eleven of this code;
(2) Five percent shall be deducted from the revenue calculated
pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection as an allowance for
the usual losses in collections due to discounts, exonerations,
delinquencies and the like; and
(3) The amount calculated in subdivision (2) of this
subsection shall further be reduced by the sum of money due each
assessor's office pursuant to the provisions of section eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of this code and this reduced amount
shall be the local share of the particular county.
(c) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county
commission
shall fail or refuse fails or refuses to comply with the
provisions of this section in setting the valuations of property
for assessment purposes in any class or classes of property in the
county, the State Tax Commissioner shall review the valuations for
assessment purposes made by the county assessor and the county
commission and shall direct the county assessor and the county
commission to make corrections in the valuations as necessary so
that they
shall comply with the requirements of chapter eleven of
this code and this section and the Tax Commissioner shall enter the
county and fix the assessments at the required ratios. Refusal of
the assessor or the county commission to make the corrections
constitutes grounds for removal from office.
(d) For the purposes of any computation made in accordance
with the provisions of this section, in any taxing unit in which
tax increment financing is in effect pursuant to the provisions of
article eleven-b, chapter seven of this code, the assessed value of
a related private project shall be the base-assessed value as
defined in section two of said article.
(e) For purposes of any computation made in accordance with
the provisions of this section, in any county where the county
board of education has adopted a resolution choosing to use the provisions of the Growth County School Facilities Act set forth in
section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code,
estimated school board revenues generated from application of the
regular school board levy rate to new property values, as that term
is designated in said section, may not be considered local share
funds and shall be subtracted before the computations in
subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (a) of this section or in
subdivisions (2) and (3), subsection (b) of this section, as
applicable, are made.
(f) The Legislature finds that public school systems
throughout the state provide support in varying degrees to public
libraries through a variety of means including budgeted
allocations, excess levy funds and portions of their regular school
board levies as may be provided by special act. A number of public
libraries are situated on the campuses of public schools and
several are within public school buildings serving both the
students and public patrons. To the extent that public schools
recognize and choose to avail the resources of public libraries
toward developing within their students
such legally recognized
elements of a thorough and efficient education
such as literacy,
interests in literature, knowledge of government and the world
around them and preparation for advanced academic training, work
and citizenship, public libraries serve a legitimate school purpose
and may do so economically. For the purposes of any computation made in accordance with the provisions of this section, the library
funding obligation on the regular school board levies
which is due
and payable from the levy revenues to a library created by a
special act shall be paid from
that portion of the county school
board's discretionary retainage, which is defined as the amount of
the
levies which regular school board levy revenues which exceeds
the
proportion determined to be local share
as determined pursuant
to this section. If the library funding obligation
which is due
and payable to a library created by a special act is greater than
the
amount available in excess of the county's local share, county
school board's discretionary retainage, the
library funding
obligation created by the special act
is amended and is reduced to
the amount
which is available, of the discretionary retainage,
notwithstanding any provisions of the special act to the contrary.
Any excess of the discretionary retainage over the library funding
obligation shall be available for expenditure by the county board
in its discretion for its proper budgeted purposes.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that whenever a
provision of subsection (f) of this section is contrary to any
special act of the Legislature which has been or may in the future
be enacted by the Legislature that creates a library funding
obligation on the regular school board levy of a county, subsection
(f) of this section controls over the special act. Specifically,
the special acts which are subject to said subsection upon the enactment of this section during the two thousand seven regular
session of the Legislature include:
(1) Enrolled Senate Bill No. 11, passed on the twelfth day of
February, one thousand nine hundred seventy, applicable to the
Berkeley County Board of Education;
(2) Enrolled House Bill No. 1352, passed on the seventh day of
April, one thousand nine hundred eighty-one, applicable to the
Hardy County Board of Education;
(3) Enrolled Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2833,
passed on the fourteenth day of March, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-seven, applicable to the Harrison County Board of Education;
(4) Enrolled House Bill No. 161, passed on the sixth day of
March, one thousand nine hundred fifty-seven, applicable to the
Kanawha County Board of Education;
(5) Enrolled Senate Bill No. 313, passed on the twelfth day of
March, one thousand nine hundred thirty-seven, as amended by
Enrolled House Bill No. 1074, passed on the eighth day of March,
one thousand nine hundred sixty-seven, and as amended by Enrolled
House Bill No. 1195, passed on the eighteenth day of January, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-two, applicable to the Ohio County
Board of Education;
(6) Enrolled House Bill No. 938, passed on the twenty-eighth
day of February, one thousand nine hundred sixty-nine, applicable
to the Raleigh County Board of Education;
(7) Enrolled House Bill No. 398, passed on the first day of
March, one thousand nine hundred thirty-five, applicable to the
Tyler County Board of Education;
(8) Enrolled Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 450,
passed on the eleventh day of March, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, applicable to the Upshur County Board of Education;
and
(9) Enrolled House Bill No. 2994, passed on the thirteenth day
of March, one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven, applicable to the
Wood County Board of Education.
(h) Notwithstanding any provision of any special act set forth
in subsection (g) of this section to the contrary, the county board
of any county with a special act creating a library obligation out
of the county's regular school levy revenues may transfer that
library obligation so that it becomes
an a continuing obligation of
its excess levy revenues instead of
an obligation of its regular
school levy revenues, subject to the following:
(1) If a county board chooses to transfer the library
obligation pursuant to this subsection, the library funding
obligation shall remain an obligation of the regular school levy
revenues until
after the fiscal year in which
a vote on an the
excess levy
occurs is effective or would have been effective if it
had been passed by the voters;
(2) If a county board chooses to transfer the library obligation pursuant to this subsection, the county board shall
include the funding of the public library obligation in the same
amount as its library funding obligation
which exists or had
existed on its regular levy revenues as
the purpose or one of the
purposes for the excess levy to be voted on
as a specifically
described line item of the excess levy: Provided, That if the
county board has transferred the library obligation to the excess
levy and the excess levy fails to be passed by the voters or the
excess levy passes and thereafter expires upon the time limit for
continuation as set forth in section sixteen, article eight,
chapter eleven of this code, then in any subsequent excess levy
which the county board thereafter submits to the voters the library
funding obligation again shall be included as one of the purposes
of the subsequent excess levy as a specifically described line item
of the excess levy;
(3) If a county board chooses to transfer the library
obligation pursuant to this subsection, regardless of whether or
not the excess levy passes, effective the fiscal year
after the
fiscal year in which
a vote on the excess levy
occurs, is effective
or would have been effective if it had been passed by the voters,
a county's library obligation on its regular levy revenues is void
notwithstanding any provision of the special acts set forth in
subsection (g) of this section to the contrary; and
(4) Nothing in subdivision (3) of this subsection prohibits a county board from funding its public library obligation
voluntarily.