Senate Bill sb1750

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1750

    By Senator Gaetz





    4-1636-07

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to district school taxes;

  3         amending ss. 200.065 and 1011.71, F.S.;

  4         authorizing a district school board to levy

  5         additional taxes, not to exceed 2 mills, to

  6         fund property and casualty insurance costs of

  7         the school district; providing exemptions from

  8         certain expenditure restrictions for school

  9         districts meeting certain requirements related

10         to class size and audits; providing an

11         effective date.

12  

13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

14  

15         Section 1.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (9) of section

16  200.065, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

17         200.065  Method of fixing millage.--

18         (9)(a)  In addition to the notice required in

19  subsection (3), a district school board shall publish a second

20  notice of intent to levy additional taxes under s. 1011.71(2).

21  Such notice shall specify the projects or number of school

22  buses anticipated to be funded by such additional taxes and

23  shall be published in the size, within the time periods,

24  adjacent to, and in substantial conformity with the

25  advertisement required under subsection (3). The projects

26  shall be listed in priority within each category as follows:

27  construction and remodeling; maintenance, renovation, and

28  repair; motor vehicle purchases; new and replacement

29  equipment; payments for educational facilities and sites due

30  under a lease-purchase agreement; payments for renting and

31  leasing educational facilities and sites; payments of loans

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1750
    4-1636-07




 1  approved pursuant to ss. 1011.14 and 1011.15; payment of costs

 2  of compliance with environmental statutes and regulations;

 3  payment of property and casualty insurance costs of the school

 4  district; payment of costs of leasing relocatable educational

 5  facilities; and payments to private entities to offset the

 6  cost of school buses pursuant to s. 1011.71(2)(i). The

 7  additional notice shall be in the following form, except that

 8  if the district school board is proposing to levy the same

 9  millage under s. 1011.71(2) which it levied in the prior year,

10  the words "continue to" shall be inserted before the word

11  "impose" in the first sentence, and except that the second

12  sentence of the second paragraph shall be deleted if the

13  district is advertising pursuant to paragraph (3)(e):

14  

15                     NOTICE OF TAX FOR SCHOOL

16                          CAPITAL OUTLAY

17  

18         The ...(name of school district)... will soon consider

19  a measure to impose a ...(number)... mill property tax for the

20  capital outlay projects listed herein.

21         This tax is in addition to the school board's proposed

22  tax of ...(number)... mills for operating expenses and is

23  proposed solely at the discretion of the school board.  THE

24  PROPOSED COMBINED SCHOOL BOARD TAX INCREASE FOR BOTH OPERATING

25  EXPENSES AND CAPITAL OUTLAY IS SHOWN IN THE ADJACENT NOTICE.

26         The capital outlay tax will generate approximately

27  $...(amount)..., to be used for the following projects:

28  

29             ...(list of capital outlay projects)...

30  

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1750
    4-1636-07




 1         All concerned citizens are invited to a public hearing

 2  to be held on ...(date and time)... at ...(meeting place)....

 3         A DECISION on the proposed CAPITAL OUTLAY TAXES will be

 4  made at this hearing.

 5  

 6         Section 2.  Paragraph (j) is added to subsection (2) of

 7  section 1011.71, Florida Statutes, and subsection (5) of that

 8  section is amended, to read:

 9         1011.71  District school tax.--

10         (2)  In addition to the maximum millage levy as

11  provided in subsection (1), each school board may levy not

12  more than 2 mills against the taxable value for school

13  purposes for district schools, including charter schools at

14  the discretion of the school board, to fund:

15         (j)  Property and casualty insurance costs of the

16  school district.

17  

18  Violations of these expenditure provisions shall result in an

19  equal dollar reduction in the Florida Education Finance

20  Program (FEFP) funds for the violating district in the fiscal

21  year following the audit citation.

22         (5)(a)  It is the intent of the Legislature that, by

23  July 1, 2003, revenue generated by the millage levy authorized

24  by subsection (2) should be used only for the costs of

25  construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, and repair

26  of the educational plant; for the purchase, lease, or

27  lease-purchase of equipment, educational plants, and

28  construction materials directly related to the delivery of

29  student instruction; for the rental or lease of existing

30  buildings, or space within existing buildings, originally

31  constructed or used for purposes other than education, for

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1750
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 1  conversion to use as educational facilities; for the opening

 2  day collection for the library media center of a new school;

 3  for the purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of school buses or

 4  the payment to a private entity to offset the cost of school

 5  buses pursuant to paragraph (2)(i); and for servicing of

 6  payments related to certificates of participation issued for

 7  any purpose prior to the effective date of this act. Costs

 8  associated with the lease-purchase of equipment, educational

 9  plants, and school buses may include the issuance of

10  certificates of participation on or after the effective date

11  of this act and the servicing of payments related to

12  certificates so issued. For purposes of this section,

13  "maintenance and repair" is defined in s. 1013.01.

14         (b)  For purposes not delineated in paragraph (a) for

15  which proceeds received from millage levied under subsection

16  (2) may be legally expended, a district school board may spend

17  no more than the following percentages of the amount the

18  district spent for these purposes in fiscal year 1995-1996:

19         1.  In fiscal year 2000-2001, 40 percent.

20         2.  In fiscal year 2001-2002, 25 percent.

21         3.  In fiscal year 2002-2003, 10 percent.

22         (c)  Beginning July 1, 2003, revenue generated by the

23  millage levy authorized by subsection (2) must be used only

24  for the purposes delineated in paragraph (a).

25         (d)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this

26  subsection, if through its adopted educational facilities plan

27  a district has clearly identified the need for an ancillary

28  plant, has provided opportunity for public input as to the

29  relative value of the ancillary plant versus an educational

30  plant, and has obtained public approval, the district may use

31  revenue generated by the millage levy authorized by subsection

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1750
    4-1636-07




 1  (2) for the acquisition, construction, renovation, remodeling,

 2  maintenance, or repair of an ancillary plant.

 3  

 4  A district that violates these expenditure restrictions shall

 5  have an equal dollar reduction in funds appropriated to the

 6  district under s. 1011.62 in the fiscal year following the

 7  audit citation. The expenditure restrictions do not apply to

 8  any school district that has met the reduction requirements

 9  regarding class size for the current year pursuant to s.

10  1003.03, has received a clean audit from the Auditor General

11  for the preceding 3 years, has no material weaknesses or

12  instances of material noncompliance noted in an annual

13  financial audit conducted pursuant to s. 218.39, and certifies

14  to the Commissioner of Education that all of the district's

15  instructional space needs for the next 5 years can be met from

16  capital outlay sources that the district reasonably expects to

17  receive during the next 5 years or from alternative scheduling

18  or construction, leasing, rezoning, or technological

19  methodologies that exhibit sound management.

20         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

21  

22            *****************************************

23                          SENATE SUMMARY

24    Authorizes a district school board to levy additional
      taxes, not to exceed 2 mills, to fund property and
25    casualty insurance costs of the school district. Provides
      exemptions from certain expenditure restrictions for
26    school districts meeting certain requirements related to
      class size and audits.
27  

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31  

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