ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
schools override
election
Allows a school district to hold two override elections on different dates for the same budget year if one of the elections is to exceed the capital outlay revenue limit and the other election is to exceed the revenue control limit. Allows the amount of the additional increase in the capital outlay revenue limit to vary after the first year of the override election.
According to the Arizona Association of County School Superintendents, since 1989, County School Superintendents have declined on two occasions to prepare the informational report and sample ballot necessary for a school budget override election when a school board requests a second override election in the same fiscal year. These decisions have been based on the premise that only one budget override election is authorized for a school district in a single fiscal year pursuant to A.R.S. §15-481.
In the most current example, the Washington
Elementary School District held and lost a maintenance and operation budget
override election on November 2, 1999.
Subsequently, the school board requested an additional override election
on May 16, 2000 in another attempt to pass the override. When the County
Superintendent declined to prepare the documents, the Washington Elementary
School District challenged the County Superintendent in the Maricopa County
Superior Court. The Superior Court
denied relief and the State Court of Appeals held that a school district,
having lost (or won) an override election, is not entitled to resubmit the
school year budget to the voters a second time in the same fiscal year.
S.B. 1132 allows a school district to hold two override elections on different dates for the same budget year if one of the elections is to exceed the capital outlay revenue limit (CORL) and the other election is to exceed the revenue control limit (RCL).
Currently, school districts may hold override elections
for multiple years; however, the amount of the increase must be uniform during
each year of the budget increase. S.B.
1132 allows school districts to vary the amount of the CORL increase
after the first year of the override election.
1. Specifies that a school district is not precluded from holding two override elections on different dates for the same budget year if one of the elections is to exceed the CORL and the other election is to exceed the RCL.
2. Requires the report for an override election prepared by the county superintendent to include the following:
a) Information on the proposed number of years of the increase and whether the increase will remain the same or increase above the amount in the first year for an override to exceed the CORL for a period of more than a year.
b) In the case of an override to exceed the CORL in which the annual amount will vary, the average annual amount of revenues funding the increase in the budget and the amount obtained from a tax levy on the taxable property within a school district or from sources other than a tax levy.
c) The dollar amount and the purpose for which the budget increase was adopted for the first year in the case of an override to exceed the RCL.
d) A statement requiring the governing board to adopt a budget excluding the proposed increase or the portion of the proposed increase exceeding the previously authorized budget increase amount if the electors disapprove the proposed budget.
3. Requires the ballot for an override to exceed the CORL to contain a statement specifying that the proposed increase must be the average annual increase and the tax rate must be the projected average annual tax rate if the amount of the proposed increase varies from the amount of the increase in the first year in future years.
4. Requires a ballot for an override to exceed a combination of the RCL to contain a statement specifying that the amount of the proposed increase will be the average annual increase if the amount of the proposed increase varies from the amount of the increase in the first year in future years.
5. Stipulates the following in the case of a CORL override funded either by a levy of taxes or by revenues from sources other than a levy of taxes:
a) Allows the amount of the additional increase in the CORL to vary after the first year of the override and requires that the total amount budgeted for the entire term not exceed the average amount specified in the county superintendent’s informational report multiplied but the number of years of the override.
b) Prohibits the amount in any year from exceeding the amount specified in the county superintendent’s informational report for an override of the CORL.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 5, 2002