LRB-4048/1
MES:bjk:rs
2007 - 2008 LEGISLATURE
February 22, 2008 - Introduced by Representatives Hines, Albers, Ballweg,
Montgomery and Townsend, cosponsored by Senators Lassa and
Olsen.
Referred to Committee on Homeland Security and State Preparedness.
AB869,1,3
1An Act to amend 66.0602 (3) (e) 5. of the statutes;
relating to: expanding an
2exception to local levy limits for levies for debts incurred by a joint fire
3department.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, as created in
2007 Wisconsin Act 20, the biennial budget
bill, local levy limits are applied to the property tax levies that are imposed in
December 2007 and 2008. Current law prohibits a political subdivision (any city,
village, town, or county) from increasing its levy by a percentage that exceeds its
"valuation factor," which is defined as the greater of either 2 percent or the
percentage change in the political subdivision's equalized value due to new
construction, less improvements removed, except that for 2007 the levy limit is 3.86
percent. In addition, the calculation of a political subdivision's levy may include any
tax increment that is generated by a tax incremental district.
Current law contains a number of exceptions to the levy limit. These exceptions
include amounts which may be levied for the following purposes or because of the
following situations: political subdivisions that transfer the provision of services to
another governmental unit; cities or villages that annex town territory; political
subdivisions that levy to pay debt service on debt authorized on or after July 1, 2005;
a levy for certain charges assessed by a joint fire department; a county levy that
relates to a county children with disabilities education board, bridge and culvert
repairs, payments to public libraries, and a countywide emergency medical system;
and the amount a village levies to pay for police services, but only for the year after
the year in which a town, which did not have a police force, changed to village status.
This bill expands on the current exception to the levy limit for amounts levied
by a political subdivision for any revenue shortfall for debt service on a revenue bond
issued by the political subdivision. Under the bill this current law exception also
applies to amounts levied by a political subdivision to pay for an assessment issued
by a joint fire department, for a revenue bond issued by the department to pay for
a fire station, if the political subdivision is responsible for the joint fire department's
debt under an intergovernmental cooperation agreement.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB869,2,93
66.0602
(3) (e) 5. The amount that a political subdivision levies in that year to
4make up any revenue shortfall for the debt service on a revenue bond issued under
5s. 66.0621
by the political subdivision or by a joint fire department if the joint fire
6department uses the proceeds of the bond to pay for a fire station and assesses the
7political subdivision for its share of that debt, under an agreement entered into
8under s. 66.0301, which is incurred by the joint fire department but is the
9responsibility of the political subdivision.
