ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 408
(Senators Snyder, Helmick, Ross and Unger, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 13, 2004; in effect from passage.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §11-8-6f of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §18-9A-11 of said
code, all relating generally to levies by county boards of
education and expenditure of property taxes collected from the
levies; allowing growth counties to use provisions of growth
county school facilities act; providing that high-growth
counties may place certain property tax revenues in a growth
county school facilities act fund to be used for the benefit
of school facilities in the high-growth county; allowing
moneys in the fund to be carried over from year to year; and
providing that revenues deposited in a growth county school
facilities act fund are not considered local share for
purposes of the state aid formula.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-8-6f of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §18-9A-11 of said code be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 8. LEVIES.
§11-8-6f. Effect on regular school board levy rate when appraisal
results in tax increase; creation and implementation
of growth county school facilities act; creation of
growth county school facilities act fund.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, where any
annual appraisal, triennial appraisal or general valuation of
property would produce a statewide aggregate assessment that would
cause an increase of one percent or more in the total property tax
revenues that would be realized were the then current regular levy
rates of the county boards of education to be imposed, the rate of
levy for county boards of education shall be reduced uniformly
statewide and proportionately for all classes of property for the
forthcoming tax year so as to cause the rate of levy to produce no
more than one hundred one percent of the previous year's projected
statewide aggregate property tax revenues from extending the county
board of education levy rate, unless subsection (b) of this section
is complied with. The reduced rates of levy shall be calculated in
the following manner: (1) The total assessed value of each class of property as it is defined by section five, article eight of this
chapter for the assessment period just concluded shall be reduced
by deducting the total assessed value of newly created properties
not assessed in the previous year's tax book for each class of
property; (2) the resulting net assessed value of Class I property
shall be multiplied by .01; the value of Class II by .02; and the
values of Class III and IV, each by .04; (3) total the current
year's property tax revenue resulting from regular levies for the
boards of education throughout this state and multiply the
resulting sum by one hundred one percent:
Provided, That the one
hundred one percent figure shall be increased by the amount the
boards of educations' increased levy provided for in subsection
(b), section eight, article one-c of this chapter; (4) divide the
total regular levy tax revenues, thus increased in subdivision (3),
of this subsection, by the total weighted net assessed value as
calculated in subdivision (2) of this subsection and multiply the
resulting product by one hundred; the resulting number is the Class
I regular levy rate, stated as cents-per-one hundred dollars of
assessed value; and (5) the Class II rate is two times the Class I
rate; Classes III and IV, four times the Class I rate as calculated
in the preceding subdivision.
An additional appraisal or valuation due to new construction
or improvements, including beginning recovery of natural resources,
to existing real property or newly acquired personal property shall not be an annual appraisal or general valuation within the meaning
of this section, nor shall the assessed value of the improvements
be included in calculating the new tax levy for purposes of this
section. Special levies shall not be included in any calculations
under this section.
(b) After conducting a public hearing, the Legislature may, by
act, increase the rate above the reduced rate required in
subsection (a) of this section if an increase is determined to be
necessary.
(c)
Growth county school facilities act. -- Legislative
Findings. -
The Legislature finds and declares that there has been,
overall, a statewide decline in enrollment in the public schools of
this state; due to this decline, most public schools have ample
space for students, teachers and administrators; however, some
counties of this state have experienced significant increases in
enrollment due to significant growth in those counties; that those
counties experiencing significant increases do not have adequate
facilities to accommodate students, teachers and administrators.
Therefore, the Legislature finds that county commissions in those
high-growth counties should have the authority to designate
revenues generated from the application of the regular school board
levy due to new construction or improvements placed in a growth
county school facilities act fund to be used for school facilities in those counties to promote the best interests of this state's
students.
(1) For the purposes of this subsection, "growth county" means
any county that has experienced an increase in second month net
enrollment, excluding kindergarten students less than five years of
age without an individualized education program, of fifty or more
during any three of the last five years, as determined by the
department of education.
(2) The provisions of this subsection shall only apply to any
growth county, as defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection,
that, by resolution of its county board of education, chooses to
use the provisions of this subsection.
(3) For any growth county, as defined in subdivision (1) of
this subsection, that adopts a resolution choosing to use the
provisions of this subsection, pursuant to subdivision (2) of this
subsection, assessed values resulting from additional appraisal or
valuation due to new construction or improvements, including
beginning recovery of natural resources, to existing real property
or newly acquired personal property, shall be designated as new
property values and identified by the county assessor. The
statewide regular school board levy rate as established by the
Legislature shall be applied to the assessed value designated as
new property values and the resulting property tax revenues
collected from application of the regular school board levy rate shall be placed in a separate account, designated as the growth
counties school facilities act fund. Revenues deposited in the
growth counties school facilities act fund shall be appropriated by
the county board of education for construction, maintenance or
repair of school facilities. Revenues in the fund may be carried
over for an indefinite length of time and may be used as matching
funds for the purpose of obtaining funds from the school building
authority or for the payment of bonded indebtedness incurred for
school facilities. Estimated school board revenues generated from
application of the regular school board levy rate to new property
values are not to be considered as local funds for purposes of the
computation of local share under the provisions of section eleven,
article nine-a, chapter eighteen of this code.
(d) This section, as amended during the legislative session in
the year two thousand four, shall be effective as to any regular
levy rate imposed for the county boards of education for taxes due
and payable on or after the first day of July, two thousand four.
If any provision of this section is held invalid, the invalidity
shall not affect other provisions or applications of this section
which can be given effect without the invalid provision or its
application and to this end the provisions of this section are
declared to be severable.
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment of
property.
(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.
(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 that may be required prior to the report to the Legislature
by the tax commissioner, the state board of education shall use the
most recent projections or estimations that may be available from
the tax department for that purpose.
(b) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county
commission shall fail or refuse 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.
(c) 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.
(d) 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 are made.