NEW PROPERTY TAX LEGISLATION
2006
© 2006 John Brusniak Jr. (All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.)
Effective: May 31, 2006.
● For the 2006 tax year, the maintenance and operations portion of the school district tax rate is reduced from $1.50 per $100 of value to $1.33 per $100 of value. (School districts whose rates were lower than $1.50 per $100 of value are reduced to 88.67% of their 2005 rate.) School district boards of directors may add up to an additional 4¢ per $100 of value to this rate and retain those additional funds for exclusive use by the district. The voters of a school district, in an election, may further add up to an additional 13¢ per $100 of value to the maintenance and operations tax rate. The school district may retain those additional funds for exclusive use by the district. (If all of these options were to be exercised, a maximum tax rate of $1.50 per $100 of value for the 2006 tax year would result.)
● For the 2007 tax year, the maintenance and operations portion of the school district tax rate is further reduced from $1.33 per $100 of value to $1.00 per $100 of value, provided that sufficient funds are available from the state from the new and increased state taxes to fund this decrease. If sufficient funds are not available, the rate will be lowered in proportion to the additional funding which is available. (School districts whose rates were lower than $1.33 per $100 of value are reduced to 66.67% of their 2005 tax rate.) School district boards of directors may add up to an additional 4¢ per $100 of value and retain those funds for exclusive use by the district. The voters of a school district, in an election, may further add up to an additional 13¢ per $100 of value to the maintenance and operations tax rate. The school district may retain those additional funds for exclusive use by the district. (If all of those options were to be exercised, and if full state funding is available, this would result in a maximum tax rate of $1.17 per $100 of value for the 2007 tax year.)
●The requirement that tax bills reflect comparisons of appraised values and taxes for a property from the current year to the fifth previous year are repealed.
●School district tax bills shall separately identify the maintenance and operations tax rate for the current and prior tax year, the debt rate for the current and prior tax year, and the total tax rate for the current and prior tax year.
●The provision authorizing tax offices to state that they do not have available comparative tax data for prior tax years to place on tax bills is repealed.
●Persons over the age of 65 qualifying their homesteads for a “freeze” of school district taxes in 2006 or 2007 shall be entitled to a proportionate reduction in the taxes to reflect the reductions in tax rates mandated by this bill.
Effective: May 24, 2006.
All revenue resulting from (a) the new margins tax, (b) the increased tobacco taxes and (c) the increased “liar’s affidavit” motor vehicle taxes shall be placed in a special fund in the state treasury. These monies shall be utilized to reduce the average school district maintenance and operations tax rate to $1.00 per $100 of value. Once this goal is achieved, all additional revenue from those sources shall be divided as follows: 2/3 of those funds shall be utilized to further reduce the maintenance and operations tax rate below $1.00 per $100 of value, and 1/3 of those funds shall be utilized to increase the level of school district enrichment tax efforts.
Effective: May 15, 2006.
Portable drilling rigs are deemed sitused at their owner’s principal place of business unless the rig has been located in another county for the entire preceding calendar year.