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Senate Bill 408 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 408
(By Senators Snyder, Helmick, Ross and Unger)
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[Introduced January 30, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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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 to providing for and defining "growth
county" status for counties in which net increases in school
enrollment over a ten-year period exist; providing that the
statewide regular school board levy rate is applied to the
assessed value of the "new property values"; creating the
"growth counties school facilities act fund" and providing
that moneys available in the fund be used by the growth
counties for the benefit of school facilities in the county;
providing that moneys in the fund may be carried over
indefinitely; and providing that estimated revenues from new
property values are not considered local share funds.
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:
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 counties 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 such 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),
above, by the total weighted net assessed value as calculated in
paragraph two 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: Provided, however, That the rate of levy
for county boards of education for the fiscal year beginning on the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three shall be
equal to the rate of levy calculated for the fiscal year beginning
on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two,
pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.
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 such 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 any such increase is deemed to be
necessary.
(c) Growth county school facilities act.--
(1) Any county within this state that experiences an increase
in school growth over the most recent ten years, as recorded in the
second month headcount enrollment determined by the state
department of education, shall be considered as achieving growth
county status for purposes of this subsection: Provided, That in
order to adopt the provisions of this subsection, the county must
demonstrate the existence of an average net increase over this
ten-year period. If, at any time, a county does not demonstrate
the average net increase over the applicable ten-year period, the
county may not utilize the provisions of this subsection.
(2) Any county that achieves growth county status, as defined
in subdivision (1) of this subsection, may, by resolution of its county board of education, choose to avail itself of the treatment
provided by the provisions of this subsection. In the event the
county board qualifies for growth county status, 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
shall be so 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, hereby 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 in
cooperation with appropriations by the school building authority or
for the payment of bonded indebtedness incurred for school
facilities. Growth counties school facility act fund estimated
school board revenues generated from 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.
(c) (d) This section 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, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-one. If any provision of this section is held
invalid, such 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.
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 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.
(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 the growth county schools facilities
act under the provisions of 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 section six-f, article
eight, chapter eleven of this code, may not be considered as
constituting local share funds.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
provide for and define
"growth county" status for counties in which net increases in
school enrollment over a ten-year period can be demonstrated. The
bill provides that growth counties shall identify assessed values
from additional valuations by the county assessor as "new property
values" and that the statewide regular school board levy rate is
applied to the assessed value of the "new property values." The
bill further creates the "growth counties school facilities act
fund",requires that tax revenues generated from applying the
regular school board levy to the "new property values" are to be
deposited in the growth counties school facilities act fund, and
provides that moneys available in the fund are to be used by the
growth counties for the benefit of school facilities. Finally, it
provides that moneys in the fund may be carried over indefinitely
while providing estimated revenues from new property values are not
considered local share funds.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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