Florida Senate - 2016 CS for SB 264 By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senator Smith 578-03652-16 2016264c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to a special assessment for law 3 enforcement services; creating s. 166.225, F.S.; 4 authorizing a municipality to levy a special 5 assessment to fund the costs of providing law 6 enforcement services; requiring a municipality to 7 adopt an ordinance and reduce its ad valorem millage 8 to levy the special assessment; providing a 9 methodology for the apportionment of the special 10 assessment and the reduction of the ad valorem 11 millage; requiring the property appraiser to list the 12 special assessment on the notice of proposed property 13 taxes; specifying exceptions to the reduction of the 14 ad valorem millage by more than a certain percentage; 15 authorizing the Department of Revenue to adopt rules 16 and forms; providing for construction; providing an 17 effective date. 18 19 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 20 21 Section 1. Section 166.225, Florida Statutes, is created to 22 read: 23 166.225 Law enforcement services special assessment.— 24 (1) GENERAL.—The governing body of a municipality may levy 25 a law enforcement services special assessment to fund all or a 26 portion of its costs of providing law enforcement services if 27 the governing body: 28 (a) Adopts an ordinance, conditioned to take effect only 29 upon approval by a majority vote of the electors of the 30 municipality voting in a referendum, levying the law enforcement 31 services special assessment which apportions the cost of law 32 enforcement services among the parcels of real property in the 33 municipality in reasonable proportion to the benefit each parcel 34 receives, but levies no more than $200 per parcel; and 35 (b) Reduces its ad valorem millage pursuant to subsection 36 (3). 37 (2) APPORTIONMENT METHODOLOGY.—The methodology used to 38 determine the benefit that a parcel of real property derives 39 from law enforcement services may be based on the following: 40 (a) The square footage of structures on the parcel. 41 (b) The location of the parcel. 42 (c) The use of the parcel. 43 (d) The projected amount of time that the municipal law 44 enforcement agency will spend serving and protecting the parcel, 45 with assessed parcels grouped by neighborhood, zone, or category 46 of use. Projections may include the amount of time that will be 47 spent responding to calls for law enforcement services and the 48 amount of time that law enforcement officers will spend 49 patrolling or regulating traffic on the streets that provide 50 access to the parcel. 51 (e) The value of the real property served or protected, 52 including the value of each structure on the parcel and the 53 structure’s contents. However, this factor may not be used as 54 the sole factor or as a major factor in determining the benefit 55 of law enforcement services to a parcel of real property. 56 (f) Any other factor that may reasonably be used to 57 determine the benefit of law enforcement services to a parcel of 58 real property. 59 (3) REDUCTION IN AD VALOREM MILLAGE.— 60 (a) In the first year that the special assessment is 61 levied, the governing body of the municipality must reduce its 62 ad valorem millage, calculated as if there were no law 63 enforcement services assessment, by the millage that would be 64 required to collect revenue equal to the revenue that the 65 governing body expects to collect from the special assessment. 66 (b) When preparing the notice of proposed property taxes 67 pursuant to s. 200.069 in the first year of the assessment, the 68 governing body of the municipality shall calculate the rolled 69 back millage rate pursuant to s. 200.065(5) and shall determine 70 the preliminary proposed millage rate as if there were no law 71 enforcement services assessment. The governing body shall then 72 adopt the proposed law enforcement services assessment and 73 determine the equivalent millage rate pursuant to paragraph (a). 74 The preliminary proposed millage rate must then be reduced by 75 the amount of the law enforcement services assessment equivalent 76 millage rate and the resulting millage rate reported to the 77 property appraiser, together with the amount of the law 78 enforcement services assessment, pursuant to the notice 79 requirements of ss. 200.065 and 200.069. The property appraiser 80 shall list the law enforcement services assessment on the notice 81 of proposed property taxes below the line in the columns 82 reserved for non-ad valorem assessments. After the first year of 83 the assessment, the millage rate and rolled-back rate for the 84 notice of proposed property taxes must be calculated pursuant to 85 s. 200.065(5) and be based on the adopted millage rate from the 86 previous year. 87 (c) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the governing body of a 88 municipality is not required to reduce its millage, excluding 89 millage approved by a vote of the electors and millage pledged 90 to repay bonds, by more than 75 percent, or by more than 50 91 percent if the ordinance levying the law enforcement services 92 assessment is approved by a two-thirds vote of the governing 93 body of the municipality. 94 (4) RULES AND FORMS.—The Department of Revenue may adopt 95 rules and forms necessary to administer this section. 96 (5) CONSTRUCTION.—The levy of a law enforcement services 97 special assessment pursuant to this section shall be construed 98 as being authorized by general law in accordance with ss. 1 and 99 9, Art. VII of the State Constitution. 100 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.