Senate Bill No. 570
(By Senator Jackson)
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[Introduced February 17, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven, article nine-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
computations of the local share of school levies; and
reducing the amount of assessment of property by any levy
imposed for the support, maintenance and operation of a
county public library by a county board of education.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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.
(a) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, and thereafter, 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, chapter
eleven of this code, 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 such 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
such 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 above, and this total shall be further
reduced
by the amount of any levy imposed by the Legislature for
the support, maintenance and operation of a county public library
by a county board of education if the levy was imposed by the
Legislature prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight, 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 such 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 such corrections in the valuations as may be 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 such
corrections shall constitute ground 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reduce the assessment
of property in the computation of local share by the amount of
levies imposed for the support, maintenance and operation of a
county library by a county board of education.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.