FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 534
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR CHILDERS.
Read 1st time February 21, 2001, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
1396S.03I
AN ACT
To amend chapter 321, RSMo, by adding thereto four new sections relating to ambulance and fire protection districts.
Section A. Chapter 321, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto four new sections, to be known as sections 321.552, 321.554, 321.556 and 321.558, to read as follows:
321.552. 1. The governing body of any ambulance or fire protection district may impose a sales tax in an amount of either one-fourth, three-eighths or one-half of one percent on all retail sales made in such ambulance or fire protection district which are subject to taxation pursuant to the provisions of sections 144.010 to 144.525, RSMo, provided that such sales tax may be accompanied by a reduction in the district's tax rate as defined in section 137.073, RSMo. The tax authorized by this section shall be in addition to any and all other sales taxes allowed by law, except that no sales tax imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be effective unless the governing body of the ambulance or fire protection district submits to the voters of such ambulance or fire protection district, at a municipal or state general, primary or special election, a proposal to authorize the governing body of the ambulance or fire protection district to impose a tax pursuant to this section.
2. The ballot of submission shall contain, but need not be limited to, the following language:
"Shall ............................................. (insert name of ambulance or fire protection district) impose a sales tax of ........... (insert one-fourth, three- eighths or one-half) of one percent for the purpose of providing revenues for the operation of the ..................................... (insert name of ambulance or fire protection district) and the total property tax levy on properties in the .................................... (insert name of the ambulance or fire protection district) may be reduced annually by an amount not greater than seventy-five percent of the previous year's revenue collected from this sales tax?
o Yes o No
If you are in favor of the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "Yes". If you are opposed to the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "No"."
3. If a majority of the votes cast on the proposal by the qualified voters voting thereon are in favor of the proposal, then the sales tax authorized in this section shall be in effect and the governing body of the ambulance or fire protection district may lower the level of its tax rate by an amount not greater than seventy-five percent of the amount of sales tax collected in the preceding year. If a majority of the votes cast by the qualified voters voting are opposed to the proposal, then the governing body of the ambulance or fire protection district shall not impose the sales tax authorized in this section unless and until the governing body of such ambulance or fire protection district resubmits a proposal to authorize the governing body of the ambulance or fire protection district to impose the sales tax authorized by this section and such proposal is approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon.
4. All revenue received by a district from the tax authorized pursuant to section 321.552 shall be deposited in a special trust fund, and be used solely for the purposes specified in the proposal submitted pursuant to section 321.552 for so long as the tax shall remain in effect.
5. All sales taxes collected by the director of revenue pursuant to section 321.552 less one percent for cost of collection which shall be deposited in the state's general revenue fund after payment of premiums for surety bonds as provided in section 32.087, RSMo, shall be deposited in a special trust fund, which is hereby created, to be known as the "Ambulance or Fire Protection District Sales Tax Trust Fund". The moneys in the ambulance or fire protection district sales tax trust fund shall not be deemed to be state funds and shall not be commingled with any funds of the state. The director of revenue shall keep accurate records of the amount of money in the trust and which was collected in each district imposing a sales tax pursuant to this section, and the records shall be open to inspection by officers of the county and to the public. Not later than the tenth day of each month the director of revenue shall distribute all moneys deposited in the trust fund during the preceding month to the governing body of the district which levied the tax; such funds shall be deposited with the board treasurer of each such district.
6. The director of revenue may authorize the state treasurer to make refunds from the amounts in the trust fund and credit any district for erroneous payments and overpayments made, and may redeem dishonored checks and drafts deposited to the credit of such district. If any district abolishes the tax, the district shall notify the director of revenue of the action at least ninety days prior to the effective date of the repeal and the director of revenue may order retention in the trust fund, for a period of one year, of two percent of the amount collected after receipt of such notice to cover possible refunds or overpayment of the tax and to redeem dishonored checks and drafts deposited to the credit of such accounts. After one year has elapsed after the effective date of abolition of the tax in such district, the director of revenue shall remit the balance in the account to the district and close the account of that district. The director of revenue shall notify each district of each instance of any amount refunded or any check redeemed from receipts due the district.
7. Except as modified in this section, all provisions of sections 32.085 and 32.087, RSMo, shall apply to the tax imposed pursuant to section 321.552.
321.554. 1. When the revenue from the ambulance or fire protection district sales tax is collected for distribution pursuant to section 321.552, the board of the ambulance or fire protection district after determining its budget for the year pursuant to section 67.010, RSMo, and the rate of levy needed to produce the required revenue and after making any other adjustments to the levy that may be required by any other law, may reduce the total operating levy for an ambulance or fire protection district purposes in an amount sufficient to decrease the revenue it would have received therefrom by an amount no greater than seventy-five percent of the previous fiscal year's sales tax receipts. Loss of revenue, due to a decrease in the assessed valuation of real property located within the ambulance or fire protection district as a result of general reassessment, and from state-assessed railroad and utility distributable property based upon the previous fiscal year's receipts shall be considered in lowering the rate of levy to comply with this section in the year of general reassessment and in each subsequent year. In the event that in the immediately preceding year the ambulance or fire protection district actually received more or less sales tax revenue than estimated, the ambulance or fire protection district board may adjust its operating levy for the current year to reflect such increase or decrease. Adjustments in the tax rate of an ambulance or fire protection district pursuant to this section shall in no way affect the eligibility of claimants for benefits, or the amount of claimants' benefits, under the provisions of sections 135.010 to 135.035, RSMo. Such claimants shall, if they are otherwise qualified, receive the benefits to which they were or would have been entitled in the year prior to March 3, 1983. There shall be transferred from the ambulance or fire protection district sales tax trust fund to the general revenue fund an amount equal to the difference in the amount paid or credited or which would have been paid or credited to individuals qualifying pursuant to sections 135.010 to 135.035, RSMo, in the year prior to March 3, 1983, and the amount paid or credited under the provisions of such sections each year thereafter. The director of revenue shall certify the amount payable from the ambulance or fire protection district sales tax trust fund to the general revenue fund to the state treasurer.
2. Except that, in the first year in which any sales tax is collected pursuant to section 321.552, the collector shall not reduce the tax rate as defined in section 137.073, RSMo.
3. In a year of general reassessment, as defined by section 137.073, RSMo, or assessment maintenance as defined by section 137.115, RSMo, in which an ambulance or fire protection district in reliance upon the information then available to it relating to the total assessed valuation of such ambulance or fire protection district revises its property tax levy pursuant to section 137.073 or 137.115, RSMo, and it is subsequently determined by decisions of the state tax commission or a court pursuant to sections 138.430 to 138.433, RSMo, or due to clerical errors or corrections in the calculation or recordation of assessed valuations that the assessed valuation of such ambulance or fire protection district has been changed, and but for such change the ambulance or fire protection district would have adopted a different levy on the date of its original action, then the ambulance or fire protection district may adjust its levy to an amount to reflect such change in assessed valuation, including, if necessary, a change in the levy reduction required by this section to the amount it would have levied had the correct assessed valuation been known to it on the date of its original action, provided:
(1) The ambulance or fire protection district first levies the maximum levy allowed without a vote of the people by article X, section 11(b) of the constitution; and
(2) The ambulance or fire protection district first adopts the tax rate ceiling otherwise authorized by other laws of this state; and
(3) The levy adjustment or reduction may include a one-time correction to recoup lost revenues the ambulance or fire protection district was entitled to receive during the prior year.
321.556. 1. The governing body of any ambulance or fire protection district, when presented with a petition signed by at least twenty percent of the registered voters in the ambulance or fire protection district that voted in the last gubernatorial election, calling for an election to repeal the tax pursuant to section 321.552, shall submit the question to the voters using the same procedure by which the imposition of the tax was voted. The ballot of submission shall be in substantially the following form:
"Shall .......................................... (insert name of ambulance or fire protection district) repeal the ........ (one-fourth, three-eighths or one-half) of one percent sales tax now in effect in the ...................................... (insert name of ambulance or fire protection district)?
o Yes o No
If you are in favor of the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "Yes". If you are opposed to the question, place an "X" in the box opposite "No"."
2. If a majority of the votes cast on the proposal by the qualified voters of the district voting thereon are in favor of repeal, that repeal shall become effective December thirty-first of the calendar year in which such repeal was approved.
321.558. If the ambulance or fire protection district repeals the sales tax, the governing body of the district may increase the lowered property tax rate to a level not exceeding the tax rate ceiling for that district, pursuant to section 137.073, RSMo.