Today the Arizona County Supervisors Association Board of Directors will meet in Lake Havasu City to discuss and vote on several issues from the transfer of public lands to the 1 percent Property Tax Cap Liability Shift.
Related articles:
Pinal County Supervisors Support Federal Land Challenge
Arizona Legislature Transfer Of Federal Lands Study Committee Hears Compelling Testimony
The meeting agenda reads in part:
2016 CSA Legislative Policy Items
CSA will develop policy and advocacy strategies regarding the following priority issues.
• Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) Reform
• 1% Property Tax Cap Liability Shift
• 25% Cost Shift of the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (ADJC)
• Enhance Transportation Revenues/Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) shift
• Sexually Violent Persons (SVPs) at the Arizona State Hospital (ASH)
• Counties’ share of lottery revenues
• Arizona Department of Revenue cost shift
• Flexibility Language
• Presidential Preference Election (PPE)
2016 County Legislative Proposals
1. PSPRS Expenditure Limitations Exclusion: Exclude any excess payments by local governments made to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) from the county expenditure limit under Article IX, §20 of the Arizona Constitution. (Maricopa & Cochise)
2. ADJC Closure: Close the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections and transition to a county-based model, in exchange for financial offsets from other state mandated costs. (Pima)
3. County Library Expenditures: Amend statute to allow counties, without an established library district, to expend general fund monies on library services at established county libraries in unincorporated areas, and to enter into various intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) or contracts to provide library services without the requirement that those IGAs and contracts be with an incorporated city or town. (Santa Cruz & La Paz)
4. Outside Counsel for Civil Actions: Amend A.R.S. Title 11, to permit a county board of supervisors to retain outside counsel for civil legal representation of the board, and other county departments or commissions, as an alternative to civil representation by the county attorney. (Santa Cruz & La Paz)
5. Real Property Disposal: Amend statute to allow a county alternative ways to dispose of real property that failed to sell at auction. (Pinal)
6. Primitive Parks: Add a definition of “primitive camp and picnic grounds” to state statute and add language to allow local health departments to exempt primitive camp and picnic grounds from water and sewer regulations established by the Arizona Department of Health. (Pinal)
7. Expenditure Limitation Exclusion of RICO Funds: Exclude all Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) expenditures from the county expenditure limit under Article IX §20 of the Arizona Constitution. (La Paz)
8. TNT Notice Enhancement: Add options to the Truth in Taxation (TNT) statutory notice requirements to more completely explain to the citizens any changes in property taxes and to more accurately reflect and describe what effects of any changes to the tax rate and/or Net Assessed Value (NAV) will have on a residential property. (Gila)
9. RTA Membership: Amend statute to specify that membership of a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) consists of only members from areas and municipalities located within the county establishing the RTA. (Pinal)
10. Eliminate Disincorporation/Reincorporation Statute: Eliminate Title 9, Chapter 2, Article 2, Arizona Revised Statutes, which provides for the disincorporation and reincorporation of a municipality. (Cochise)
11. Building Code Records: Replace the requirement that three copies of a county’s building codes be kept in the clerk of the board’s office for inspection with the stipulation that a county keep three paper copies, or one paper copy and make available an electronic copy of its codes. Currently, municipalities have this authority. (Cochise)
12. Transferred Youth Holding: Enable counties to place youth, transferred to adult court, in juvenile detention centers instead of county jails. (Cochise)
13. Outside Auditor Authority: Grant counties the same authority as cities to hire an outside audit firm to complete the county audit and submit it to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). (Gila)
14. Eliminate County DUC Pool Payments: Eliminate the county Disproportionate Uncompensated Care (DUC) payments to the state. (Coconino)
15. Transportation Revenues: Increase revenues dedicated to statewide transportation needs. (Coconino)
16. Governor’s Film and Media Office: Reinstate the Governor’s Film and Media office. (Coconino)
17. Compensation for Natural Resource Usage: Provide counties with the ability to regulate or tax large land tracts (of mostly farmland), being acquired by foreign companies to grow water intensive crops specifically for export to foreign markets. (La Paz)
18. Regulated Utilities License Fee: Allow counties to charge fees to all utilities regulated by a license or franchise for the grant of the license or franchise and the use of the county rights of way, similar to municipal and existing county authority for telecommunications utilities. In addition, enact a standard fee structure capping license and franchise fees at 2% of a public utility’s gross operation revenues or a multiplier of linear feet of transmission lines.(Mohave)
19. County Abatements; Property Liens: Amend A.R.S. §42-18204 to preserve a county’s nuisance abatement liens and dangerous property abatement liens from extinguishing on the foreclosure due to non-payment of property taxes from investors or other parties. (Mohave)
20. Supermajority to Levy County Excise Taxes: Change the existing general fund one-half cent sales tax authority to allow a five-member board to levy the tax with a super-majority vote, rather than a unanimous vote. (Mohave)
21. Study of the Feasibility of the Transfer of Public Lands: Require the state to create a multijurisdictional Task Force to complete a feasibility study to examine the benefits and the process for transferring certain public lands held by the various agencies of the federal government to the State of Arizona. (Mohave)
22. Resources for Juvenile Dependency Representation: Allocate financial resources to impacted counties to assist with providing mandated attorney services for indigent defendants in juvenile dependency matters, due to recent increases in costs associated with these cases as a result of the overhaul of the child protective services system in Arizona. (Mohave)
23. IPTA Taxation Authority: Grant an intergovernmental public transportation authority (IPTA), which has the same boundaries as the county in which it resides, the same authority as a regional transportation authority (RTA) to levy a one-half cent transportation excise tax if approved by the voters. (Yuma)
24. Planning and Zoning Notices: Provide counties with the option to publish adopted planning and zoning items on their county website instead of in a newspaper of general circulation; and allow the publication in a newspaper to state that the ordinance or code has been changed and where the ordinance in full may be located, instead of the requiring the publication of the full notice in the newspaper. (Arizona Association of County Planning Directors)