Florida Senate - 2009 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1000 Barcode 702050 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/26/2009 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Military Affairs and Domestic Security (Bennett) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Delete everything after the enacting clause 4 and insert: 5 Section 1. Subsection (8) is added to section 212.055, 6 Florida Statutes, to read: 7 212.055 Discretionary sales surtaxes; legislative intent; 8 authorization and use of proceeds.—It is the legislative intent 9 that any authorization for imposition of a discretionary sales 10 surtax shall be published in the Florida Statutes as a 11 subsection of this section, irrespective of the duration of the 12 levy. Each enactment shall specify the types of counties 13 authorized to levy; the rate or rates which may be imposed; the 14 maximum length of time the surtax may be imposed, if any; the 15 procedure which must be followed to secure voter approval, if 16 required; the purpose for which the proceeds may be expended; 17 and such other requirements as the Legislature may provide. 18 Taxable transactions and administrative procedures shall be as 19 provided in s. 212.054. 20 (8) EMERGENCY FIRE RESCUE SERVICES AND FACILITIES SURTAX.— 21 (a) The governing authority of a county may, by ordinance, 22 levy a discretionary sales surtax of up to 1 percent for 23 emergency fire rescue services and facilities as provided in 24 this subsection. As used in this subsection, the term “emergency 25 fire rescue services” includes, but is not limited to, the 26 preventing and extinguishing fires; protecting and saving life 27 and property from fires or natural or intentional acts or 28 disasters; enforcing municipal, county, or state fire prevention 29 codes and laws pertaining to the prevention and control of 30 fires; and providing prehospital emergency medical treatment. 31 (b) If a surtax is levied under this subsection, the 32 governing authority of the county shall designate an Interlocal 33 Agreement Facilitator for emergency fire rescue services within 34 the county for emergency fire rescue services within the county. 35 (c) Upon the adoption of the ordinance, the levy of the 36 surtax must be placed on the ballot by the governing authority 37 of the county enacting the ordinance. The ordinance shall take 38 effect if approved by a majority of the electors of the county 39 voting in a referendum held for such purpose. The ballot for the 40 referendum must conform to the requirements of s. 101.161. The 41 interlocal agreement required under paragraph (e) is a condition 42 precedent to holding the referendum. 43 (d) Pursuant to s. 212.054(4), the proceeds of the 44 discretionary sales surtax collected under this subsection, less 45 an administrative fee that may be retained by the Department of 46 Revenue, shall be distributed by the county to the participating 47 jurisdictions that have entered into an interlocal agreement 48 with the county under this subsection. The county may also 49 charge an administrative fee for receiving and distributing the 50 surtax collected under this subsection which may not exceed 2 51 percent of the surtax collected. 52 (e) The Interlocal Agreement Facilitator shall develop an 53 interlocal agreement to be executed by the county governing 54 authority and the participating jurisdictions, which are the 55 governing bodies of municipalities, dependent special districts, 56 independent special districts, or municipal service taxing units 57 located within such county. The interlocal agreement shall only 58 include a majority of the service providers in the county. 59 1. The interlocal agreement must specify that: 60 a. The amount of the surtax proceeds to be distributed by 61 the county to each participating jurisdiction is based on the 62 actual amounts collected within each participating jurisdiction 63 as determined by the Department of Revenue’s population 64 allocations in accordance with s. 218.62; or 65 b. If a county has special fire control districts and 66 rescue districts or a municipal service taxing unit within its 67 boundary, the county shall distribute the surtax proceeds among 68 the county and the participating municipalities or special fire 69 control and rescue districts based on the proportion of each 70 entity’s expenditures of ad valorem taxes and non-ad valorem 71 assessments for fire control and emergency rescue services in 72 each of the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years to the total of 73 such expenditures for all participating entities. 74 2. Each participating jurisdiction shall agree that if a 75 participating jurisdiction is requested to provide personnel or 76 equipment to any other service provider, on a long-term basis, 77 the jurisdiction providing the service is entitled to payment 78 from the requesting service provider from that provider’s share 79 of the surtax proceeds for all costs of such equipment or 80 personnel. 81 (f) Upon the surtax taking effect and initiation of 82 collections, a county and any participating jurisdiction 83 entering into the interlocal agreement shall reduce the ad 84 valorem tax levy and any non-ad valorem assessment for fire 85 control and emergency rescue services in its next and subsequent 86 budgets by the estimated amount of revenue provided by the 87 surtax. 88 (g) Use of surtax proceeds authorized under this subsection 89 does not relieve a local government from complying with the 90 provisions of chapter 200 and any related provision of law that 91 establishes millage caps or limits undesignated budget reserves 92 and procedures for establishing rollback rates for ad valorem 93 taxes and budget adoption. If surtax collections exceed 94 projected collections in any fiscal year, any surplus 95 distribution must be used to further reduce ad valorem taxes in 96 the next fiscal year. These proceeds shall be applied as a 97 rebate to the final millage, after the TRIM notice is completed 98 in accordance with this provision. 99 (h) Municipalities, special fire control and rescue 100 districts, and contract service providers that do not enter into 101 an interlocal agreement are not entitled to receive a portion of 102 the proceeds of the surtax collected under this subsection. 103 (i) Sub-subparagraph (e)1.a. or subparagraph(e)2. do not 104 apply if one or more of the participating jurisdictions are 105 prohibited from providing the same level of service for 106 prehospital emergency medical treatment within their boundaries 107 as a result of a limitation on providing such services through 108 an interlocal agreement with the county and one or more of the 109 participating jurisdictions or any certificate of public 110 convenience and necessity or its equivalent issued by the county 111 is issued solely to a county department or dependent special 112 districts of the county. 113 (j) Surtax collections shall be initiated on January 1 of 114 the year following a successful referendum in order to coincide 115 with s. 212.054(5). 116 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009. 117 118 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 119 And the title is amended as follows: 120 Delete everything before the enacting clause 121 and insert: 122 A bill to be entitled 123 An act relating to discretionary sales surtaxes; 124 amending s. 212.055, F.S.; authorizing certain 125 counties to levy by ordinance a discretionary sales 126 surtax for emergency fire rescue services and 127 facilities under certain circumstances; providing for 128 the designation of an Interlocal Agreement 129 Facilitator; requiring a referendum; providing for 130 distribution of surtax proceeds; authorizing an 131 administrative fee; providing for interlocal 132 agreements; providing agreement requirements; 133 requiring a reduction in the budget for ad valorem tax 134 levies and non-ad valorem assessments for emergency 135 fire rescue service by the amount of the estimated 136 surtax; requiring any surplus surtax revenues to be 137 used to further reduce ad valorem taxes; prohibiting 138 entities not entering into an interlocal agreement 139 from receiving a portion of surtax proceeds; providing 140 an effective date.