Senate Bill No. 487
(By Senator Bailey, By Request)
____________
[Introduced February 3, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-1C-8 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the hiring of employees by the
county assessor; providing that county commissions shall be
considered joint employers of the assessor's valuation fund
employees; and providing that property purchased with certain
valuation fund funds is property of the county.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-1C-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. FAIR AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY VALUATION.
§11-1C-8. Additional funding for assessors' offices; maintenance
funding.
(a) In order to finance the extra costs associated with the
valuation and training mandated by this article, there is hereby
created a revolving valuation fund in each county which shall be
used exclusively to fund the assessor's office. No persons whose salary is payable from the valuation fund shall be hired under this
section without the approval of the valuation commission
and the
consent and approval of the county commission pursuant to the
provisions of section seven, article seven, chapter seven of this
code, the hirings shall be without regard to political favor or
affiliation, and the persons hired under this section are subject
to the provisions of the ethics act in chapter six-b of this code,
including, but not limited to, the conflict of interest provisions
under chapter six-b of this code. Notwithstanding any other
provisions of this code to the contrary, assessors may employ
citizens of any West Virginia county for the purpose of performing,
assessing and appraising duties under this chapter upon approval of
the employment by the valuation commission
and the consent and
approval of the county commission pursuant to the provisions of
section seven, article seven, chapter seven of this code.
(b) During the fiscal year commencing the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and thereafter as necessary,
any county receiving moneys provided by the valuation commission
under this section shall use the county's valuation fund receipts
which exceed the total amount received in the fiscal year ending
the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four,
and such other portion of the county's valuation fund receipts that
may be required by the valuation commission, to repay the valuation
commission the money received plus accrued interest:
Provided,
That the fund should not drop below one percent of the total
municipal, county commission and county school board revenues generated by application of the respective regular levy rates.
(c) (1) To finance the ongoing extra costs associated with the
valuation and training mandated by this article, beginning with the
fiscal year commencing on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-one, and for a period of at least three consecutive
years, an amount equal to two percent of the previous year's
projected tax collections, or whatever percent is approved by the
valuation commission, from the regular levy set by, or for, the
county commission, the county school board and any municipality in
the county shall be prorated as to each levying body, set aside and
placed in the valuation fund. In May of each year the sheriff of
each county shall make a final transfer to the assessor's valuation
fund which will reflect any difference in the amount of actual
collections in the previous fiscal year as opposed to those
previously projected by the chief inspector's office as the basis
for the contributions to the valuation fund, to bring the total
transfers for that year to two percent of the previous year's
actual collections. The two-percent payment shall continue in any
county where funds borrowed from the state pursuant to subsection
(a) of this section have not been fully repaid until such moneys,
together with accrued interest thereon, have been fully repaid or
until the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine,
whichever comes last. Each year thereafter, for counties with
loans, and each fiscal year after the thirtieth day of June, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, for those counties without
loans, the valuation fund shall be continued at an annual amount not to exceed two percent, as determined by the valuation
commission, of the previous year's projected tax collections from
such regular levies:
Provided, That on and after the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, a valuation fund of a
county with a loan shall be continued at an annual amount not to
exceed three percent, as determined by the valuation commission,
and any amounts received in excess of two percent of the
collections shall be expended solely to repay the loan and for no
other purpose. No provision of this subdivision shall be construed
to abrogate any requirement imposed under subsection (b) of this
section.
(2) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, and any fiscal year
thereafter, the assessors, in order to receive any percent of the
previous year's projected tax collections for their valuation
funds, must submit a request to the valuation commission no later
than the fifteenth day of December, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, and by the same date in December each year thereafter.
The submission shall include a projected expenditure budget,
including any balances expected to be carried forward, with
justification for the percent requested for their valuation fund
for the ensuing fiscal year. A copy of the projected budget and
justifications shall also be sent to the assessor's county
commission, municipalities and school board. The valuation
commission shall meet after the fifteenth day of January but prior
to the first day of February each year beginning in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and has authority to accept and
confirm up to two percent as a justifiable amount for counties
without loans, and to accept and confirm up to three percent for
counties with loans, subject to the requirement of subdivision (1)
of this subsection that any amounts received in excess of two
percent of the collections shall be expended solely to repay the
loan and for no other purpose. The valuation commission may
establish whatever lower percent of the previous year's projected
tax collections each assessor shall receive based upon the evidence
at hand, and the particular reevaluation needs of the county.
Absent a proper application by any assessor, the valuation
commission may, after consultation with the Tax Commissioner's
office, set whatever allowable percent it considers proper.
Following its decisions, the valuation commission shall certify to
the chief inspector's office of the Department of
Tax and Revenue
and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, the percent
approved for each assessor's valuation fund, and the chief
inspector's office shall notify each affected sheriff and levying
body of the moneys due from their levies to their respective
valuation funds. County commissions, boards of education and
municipalities may present written evidence, prior to the fifteenth
day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and by the
same date of each year thereafter, acceptable to the valuation
commission showing that a lesser amount than that requested by the
assessor would be adequate to fund the extra costs associated with
the valuation mandated by section seven of this article:
Provided, That the county commissions, in addition, shall fund the county
assessor's office at least the level of funding provided during the
fiscal year in which this section was initially enacted.
These additional funds are intended to enable assessors to
maintain current valuations and to perform the periodic
reevaluation required under section nine of this article.
(d) Moneys due the valuation fund shall be deposited by the
sheriff of the county on a monthly basis as directed by the chief
inspector's office for the benefit of the assessor and shall be
available to and may be spent by the assessor without prior
approval of the county commission,
except where the expenditure
relates to the hiring of deputies, assistants or employees, in
which case, the consent to the hiring and the approval for the
hiring of deputies, assistants or employees by the county
commission is required pursuant to section seven, article seven,
chapter seven of this code. which may not exercise any control over
the fund The county commission shall be considered a joint
employer of the assessor's valuation fund employees in accordance
with section seven, article seven, chapter seven of this code. All
property, equipment, vehicles or other property that is purchased
with funds from the assessor's valuation fund is county property.
Clerical functions related to the fund shall be performed in the
same manner as done with other normal funding provided to the
assessor.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that county commissions are considered joint employers of the assessor's
valuation fund employees and to provide that property purchased
with certain valuation fund funds are property of the county.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.