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SCS/SB 5 - This act modifies the law commonly referred to as "Macks Creek Law". This act reduces the threshold at which a city, town, village, or county must send excess revenues from traffic violations to the Director of the Department of Revenue ("Director") to be distributed annually to the schools of the county in the same manner other penalty proceeds are distributed from 30% to 20% beginning January 1, 2016. This act further reduces the threshold to 10% beginning January 1, 2017. This act also prohibits any municipality located in St. Louis County that participates in the sales tax pool under current law from receiving any amount of moneys to which the municipality would otherwise be entitled to the extent that the municipality receives more than proscribed percentage of its annual general operating revenue from traffic violations. Any excess amount of such sales tax revenue shall remain in the sales tax pool to be distributed to municipalities not prohibited from receiving the funds under this section. This act also requires that all revenue from fines and court costs for traffic violations occurring on the interstate highway system shall be sent to the Director for distribution to schools within the county in the same manner that all penalty proceeds are distributed. This act requires all cities, towns, villages, and counties to submit an addendum with their comprehensive annual financial report to the State Auditor with an accounting of total revenues from fines, bond forfeitures, and court costs for traffic violations and the percent of annual general operating revenue from traffic violations. This act also requires the State Auditor to notify any city, town, village, or county required to remit excess revenues to the Director that excess revenues must be remitted to the Director within sixty days and shall notify the Director of the same. This act also defines "annual general operating revenue" to be revenue that can be used to pay any bill or obligation of a city, town, village, or county, including certain taxes, but does not include revenue designated for a specific purpose. This act adds bond forfeitures as a form of revenue in the calculation for the percentage of annual general operating revenue made up by traffic fines and court costs. If any city, town, or village is found to fail to send excess revenues to the Director, this act requires that any amount of moneys to which the city, town, or village is entitled to receive under the Sales Tax Law or County Sales Tax Trust Fund must be turned over to the Director for distribution to schools within the county in the same manner that all penalty proceeds are distributed to the extent the municipality failed to remit excess revenues. If any city, town, or village is found to fail to send excess revenues to the Director, this act also requires an election automatically be held upon the question of disincorporation for such city, town, or village. The Director is required to notify the election authorities and the county governing body in which the city, town, or village is located of the election. The county governing body is required to give notice of the election for eight consecutive weeks prior to the election by publication. Upon the affirmative vote of sixty percent of those persons voting on the question, the county governing body is required to disincorporate the city, town, or village. This act is contains provisions similar to SB 50 (2015) and SB 141 (2013). MICHELA BIRK
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