Governor Ducey has signed House Bill 2440, which changes the statewide requirements to form districts for extra municipal services. The bill, sponsored by fiscal conservative Warren Petersen, retroactively affects Phoenix’s controversial Roosevelt Row.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is considering legal action.
According to statute, before ordering the formation of a municipal improvement district to be made, a city or town council is required to pass a resolution or ordinance declaring its intention, describing the improvement and the land necessary or convenient to be taken and specifying the boundaries of the assessment district to be benefited by the improvement and to be assessed to pay the expense of the improvement (A.R.S. § 48-505), according to the legislative overview.
Before ordering a municipal improvement district in a municipality, the governing board of that municipality must pass a resolution briefly describing the improvement. If the proposed improvement, in the opinion of the governing body, is of more than local or ordinary public benefit, it may order the expense of the improvement chargeable upon the district. The overview notes that if the expense of an improvement is for general public benefit, the district must only be assessed that portion of the expense which benefits the property within the district (A.R.S. § 48-576).
The bill requires:
1. A city or town council or a governing body of a municipality to submit, within 120 days, to the city or town clerk a petition to form a municipal improvement district after it has been determined the district should be formed.
2. The petition to be signed by owners of more than one-half of the taxable property units within the area of the proposed district and by persons owning collectively more than one-half of the assessed valuation of the property within the area of the proposed district.
3. Stipulates that property exempt from property tax is not considered in determining the total assessed valuation of the proposed district and owners of property that is not subject to taxation are not eligible to sign the petition.
4. Allows the city or town council or the governing body of a municipality to form a municipal improvement district and order the improvement once the signatures have been verified.
5. Stipulates that the petition requirement applies retroactive to any districts for which the city or town council as not adopted a boundary map by January 1, 2016.
6. Becomes effective on the general effective date, with the retroactivity as noted.