Senate Bill No. 392
(By Senators Mitchell, Rowe, Sharpe, Ross and Sprouse)
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[Introduced March 5, 2001; referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven, article nine-a, chapter
eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to reduction of the
computation of local share by the amount of any levy imposed
for the support, maintenance and operation of a county library
by a county board of education.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment of
property.
(a) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, and thereafter, on the
basis of each county's certificates of valuation as to all classes
of property as determined and published by the assessors pursuant
to section six, article three, chapter eleven of this code for the
next ensuing fiscal year in reliance upon the assessed values
annually developed by each county assessor pursuant to the
provisions of articles one-c and three, chapter eleven of this
code, the state board shall for each county compute by application
of the levies for general current expense purposes, as defined in
section two of this article, the amount of revenue which such
levies would produce if levied upon one hundred percent of the
assessed value of each of the several classes of property contained
in the report or revised report of such value, made to it by the
tax commissioner as follows:
(1) The state board shall first take ninety-five percent of
the amount ascertained by applying these rates to the total
assessed public utility valuation in each classification of
property in the county.
(2) The state board shall then apply these rates to the
assessed taxable value of other property in each classification in
the county as determined by the tax commissioner and shall deduct therefrom five percent as an allowance for the usual losses in
collections due to discounts, exonerations, delinquencies and the
like. All of the amount so determined shall be added to the
ninety-five percent of public utility taxes computed as provided
above, and this total shall be further reduced by the amount of any
levy imposed for the support, maintenance and operation of a county
library by a county board of education and by the amount due each
county assessor's office pursuant to the provisions of section
eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of this code, and this amount
shall be the local share of the particular county.
As to any estimations or preliminary computations of local
share that may be required prior to the report to the Legislature
by the tax commissioner, the state board of education shall use the
most recent projections or estimations that may be available from
the tax department for such purpose.
(b) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county
commission shall fail or refuse to comply with the provisions of
this section in setting the valuations of property for assessment
purposes in any class or classes of property in the county, the
state tax commissioner shall review the valuations for assessment
purposes made by the county assessor and the county commission and shall direct the county assessor and the county commission to make
such corrections in the valuations as may be necessary so that they
shall comply with the requirements of chapter eleven of this code
and this section, and the tax commissioner shall enter the county
and fix the assessments at the required ratios. Refusal of the
assessor or the county commission to make such corrections shall
constitute ground for removal from office.
(c) For the purposes of any computation made in accordance
with the provisions of this section, in any taxing unit in which
tax increment financing is in effect pursuant to the provisions of
article eleven-b, chapter seven of this code, the assessed value of
a related private project shall be the base assessed value as
defined in section two of said article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that computation
of the basis for a county's certificates of valuation be reduced by
the amount of any levy imposed for support, maintenance and
operation of a county public library.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.