COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 4477

(By Delegates Kiss, Rowe, Fragale and Petersen)


(Originating in the House Committee on Finance)


[February 18, 1994]


A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to additional funds for assessors' offices.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. FAIR AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY VALUATION.

§ 11-1C-8. Additional funding for assessors' offices; maintenance funding.

(a) In order to finance the extra costs associated with the valuation and training mandated by this article, there is hereby created a revolving valuation fund in each county which shall be used exclusively to fund the assessor's office. The valuation and training programs, for the fiscal year commencing on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety, shall be funded through the valuation commission and distributed in accordance with need on a county by county basis and the county's approved plan. The necessary funds shall be transferred to each county's valuation fund following approval of the plans submitted by the respective assessors. The said funds shall be transferred by the valuation commission on condition that no persons shall be hired hereunder without the approval of the valuation commission, such hirings shall be without regard to political favor or affiliation, and such persons hired hereunder shall be subject to the provisions of the ethics act in chapter six-b of this code, including, but not limited to, the conflict of interest provisions thereunder. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the contrary, assessors may employ citizens of any West Virginia county for the purpose of performing, assessing and appraising duties under this chapter upon approval of such employment by the valuation commission.

During the fiscal year commencing the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and thereafter as necessary, any county receiving moneys provided by the valuation commission under this section shall use the county's valuation fund first receipts which exceed the total amount so received in the fiscal year ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, to repay the valuation commission the money so received plus accrued interest: Provided, That the fund should not drop below one percent of the total municipal, county commission and county school board revenues generated by application of the respective regular levy rates.
(b) To finance the ongoing extra costs associated with the valuation and training mandated by this article, beginning with the fiscal year commencing on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, and for a period of at least three consecutive years, an amount equal to two percent of the previous year's projected tax collections, or whatever percent be approved by the valuation commission, from the regular levy set by, or for, the county commission, the county school board and any municipality in the county shall be prorated as to each levying body, set aside and placed in the valuation fund. In May of each year the sheriff of each county shall make a final transfer to the assessor's valuation fund which will reflect any difference in the amount of actual collections in the previous fiscal year as opposed to those previously projected by the chief inspector's office as the basis for the contributions to the valuation fund, to bring the total transfers for that year to two percent of the previous year's actual collections. Such two percent payment shall continue in any county where funds borrowed from the state pursuant to subsection (a) of this section have not been fully repaid until such moneys, together with accrued interest thereon, has been fully repaid or until the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, whichever comes last. Each year thereafter, for counties with loans, and each fiscal year after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, for those counties without loans, the valuation fund shall be continued at an annual amount of one two percent of the previous year's projected tax collections from such regular levies: Provided, That for the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and any fiscal year thereafter, the assessors, in order to receive two percent or any percent of the previous year's projected tax collections for their valuation funds, must submit a request to the valuation commission no later than the fifteenth day of December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and by the same date in December each year thereafter, which submission shall include a projected expenditure budget, including any balances expected to be carried forward, with justification for the percent requested for their valuation fund for the ensuing fiscal year. A copy of the projected budget and justifications shall also be sent to their county commission, municipalities and school board. The valuation commission shall meet after the fifteenth day of January but prior to the first day of February each year beginning in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and shall have authority to accept and confirm two percent as a justifiable amount, or to establish whatever lower percent of the previous year's projected tax collections each assessor shall receive based upon the evidence at hand, and the particular reevaluation needs of the county. Absent a proper application by any assessor, the valuation commission may, after consultation with the tax commissioner's office, set whatever allowable percent it deems proper. Following their decisions, the valuation commission shall certify to the chief inspector's office of the secretary of tax and revenue, tax commissioner's division, the percent approved for each assessor's valuation fund, and the chief inspector's office shall notify each affected sheriff and levying body of the moneys due from their levies to their respective valuation funds. County commissions, boards of education and municipalities may present written evidence, prior to the thirty-first fifteenth day of March January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and by the same date of each year thereafter, acceptable to the valuation commission showing that a lesser amount than that requested by the assessor would be adequate to fund the extra costs associated with the valuation mandated by section seven of this article: Provided, however, That the valuation commission shall meet prior to the fifteenth day of April to consider and decide upon all written evidence so submitted: Provided further, That the county commissions, in addition, shall fund the county assessor's office at least the level of funding provided during the fiscal year in which this section was initially enacted.
These additional funds are intended to enable assessors to maintain current valuations and to perform the periodic reevaluation required under section nine of this article. Beginning with the fiscal year ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, any unexpended balance in the valuation fund at the end of the fiscal year shall expire back proportionately into the respective accounts of the levying bodies.
(c) Any funds provided by the valuation commission shall be distributed among the counties by the property valuation training and procedures commission based upon workload, need and other relevant factors as shown by the valuation plans developed under section seven of this article.
(d) Moneys due the valuation fund shall be deposited by the sheriff of the county on a monthly basis as directed by the chief inspector's office for the benefit of the assessor and shall be available to and may be spent by the assessor without prior approval of the county commission, which shall not exercise any control over the fund. Clerical functions related to the fund shall be performed in the same manner as done with other normal funding provided to the assessor.