ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
state treasurer; procedures;
omnibus
Makes changes to various
administrative policies within the State Treasurer’s Office.
Under current statutes, any municipality,
which is exempt from property taxes and owns remote property, may pay a
voluntary in-lieu payment of property taxes to the county in which the property
is located. In order to allow for the
bonding of these monies, the payments are made to the State Treasurer’s Office
and dispersed to the counties in monthly increments. However, the option to bond the funds has never been utilized
and, according to the State Treasurer’s Office, there is no benefit from this pass-through
function.
Special Taxing Districts
Also under current statute,
all special taxing districts must submit their annual reports to the county
board of supervisors and the State Treasurer’s Office. The State Treasurer’s Office serves in a
library capacity, housing the annual reports without any oversight or auditing
functions. According to the State
Treasurer’s Office, there is no formal connection between special taxing
districts and the Treasurer’s Office and their involvement in this process
provides no benefit.
Currently, several funds are
restricted to investment in bonds or notes bearing the full faith and credit of
the United States. While this
restriction is necessary for numerous funds, several other funds that do not
require such language are similarly restricted limiting investment yields to
these funds.
Since 1977, citizens who
meet specific age and income criteria can apply to County Assessors to defer
their property taxes for the year. If
approved, these deferred taxes are certificated and the certificate is then
purchased by either the County or State Treasurer’s Office and becomes part of
their investment portfolio. A total of six citizens have applied for deferral,
and only four have been approved. All
of these were in 1999. These four
deferrals were for a total of $3, 674 in taxes. The costs associated with processing, tracking and ultimately
redeeming these deferrals, by both the County and the State Treasurer, exceed
the less than $600 in yearly interest thy earn as part of the investment
portfolio.
The Arizona State
Treasurer’s Office anticipates some employee turnover and is currently unable
to request criminal background checks from the Department of Public Safety and
would have to rely on private agencies for criminal background checks.
According to the State
Treasurer’s Office, there is no expected fiscal impact to either the state
general fund or the State Treasurer’s Office as a result of SB 1134.
1. Requires that voluntary urban in-lieu payments be made to the County Treasurer of the county in which the property is located and not the State Treasurer’s Office.
2. Requires the Board of supervisors to notify the city, town or political subdivision of the amount of property taxes that would otherwise be payable on the remote property.
3. Eliminates payment to the State of voluntary payments made by municipalities in-lieu of monies owed to the County for remote property taxes.
4. Eliminates the requirement that the State Treasurer be notified when an urban in-lieu payment is made.
5. Eliminates the requirement that the State Treasurer’s Office deposit these monies into the urban in-lieu payment fund.
6. Repeals the urban in-lieu payment fund effective July 1, 2002.
7. Specifies that all monies remaining in the urban in lieu payment fund be transferred to the state general fund on June 30, 2002.
8. Eliminates the requirement that the board of supervisors submit to the State Treasurer a report of all special taxing districts while maintaining the requirement that the report be compiled.
9. Transfers from the State Treasurer to the County Board of Supervisors the responsibility for submitting to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Governor an annual report showing the special taxing districts compliance with reporting requirements.
10. Transfers from the State Treasurer to the County Board of Supervisors the responsibility for notifying those districts, which are out of compliance.
11. Assigns responsibility to the Board of Supervisors to assess monies from districts that remain out of compliance for more than 30 days.
12. Eliminates the requirement that the County Treasure transfer to the State Treasurer monies assessed by the Board of Supervisors and collected by the County Treasurer.
13. Specifies that monies collected must be deposited in the County General Fund.
14. Broadens the allowable investments of the Arizona highway user revenue fund to include any obligations issued or guaranteed by the Untied States or any of its agencies, sponsored agencies, corporations, sponsored corporations or instrumentalities.
15. Requires that the earnings from investments be credited to other funds.
16. Requires upon notice from the director, that the State Treasurer invest monies in the local transportation assistance fund and the State aviation fund in commercial bonds and investments other than those for which the full faith and credit of the United States are pledged. Currently these monies may be invested in interest bearing obligations of the United States for which the full faith and credit of the United States are pledged.
17. Eliminates the requirement that all interest earned on monies in the highway user revenue fund be credited to the Arizona highway user revenue fund.
18. Eliminates the Treasurer’s office’s option to accept bids from eligible depositories for certificates of deposit, repurchase agreements and interest bearing savings accounts.
19. Broadens the allowable investments and reinvestments of trust and treasury monies.
20. Broadens the allowable commercial paper investments to those whose issuer is rated in one of the two highest rating categories for short-term obligations by any two nationally recognized statistical rating organizations.
21. Repeals the deferred residential property tax program.
22. Provides for maintenance of current deferred property tax accounts.
23. Specifies that any property taxes levied after January 1, 2002 are not eligible for the deferred residential property program.
24. Repeals the notification, application and approval processes for the deferred residential property tax program effective January 1, 2002.
25. Allows the State Treasurer to obtain criminal history reports from the Arizona Department of Public Safety for use in the hiring of personnel.
26. Ensures the transfer of funds from transient lodging taxes, amusement taxes and restaurant taxes to the tourism fund beginning on July 1, 2001 in order to blend and conform with existing statutes.
27. Makes technical and conforming changes.
28. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 18, 2001