Local Government – Week of March 3, 2011

STAFF CONTACT:  Kerry Wright

SF 98 – EMS Pilot Project

SF 305 – Satellite Voting Locations

SSB 1050 – Recorder Transactions

SSB 1124 – Drainage District Notices

SSB 1178 – County Treasurer Technical bill

SSB 1181 – Lake Delhi Benefitted Recreational Lake Districts

COMMITTEE ACTION:

SF 98 gives Woodbury, Story and Jones counties an optional pilot program to provide emergency medical services. These counties may provide emergency medical services for all the incorporated and unincorporated areas of a county. The bill would be limited to three counties based upon population. Under countywide emergency medical services, a city, each township in the county and the board of supervisors may enter into an agreement for the county to provide emergency medical service on a countywide basis. If the county participates, it shall adopt a resolution, establish an Emergency Medical Services Commission to oversee, and provide for a two-year transition plan. The plan must describe how this is to operate, including how the assets will be transitioned, services provided, the financing, the use of the local income surtax, and how debt will be dealt with. The commission may issue bonds payable from taxes collected in the county. The EMS property tax levy is set out not to exceed $0.80 per thousand dollars of the assessed value of all taxable property in the county. The rate should be set to only generate the amount needed. An additional $0.20 is allowed if the earlier amount is insufficient. The board may credit to a reserve account annually an amount not to exceed $0.30 per thousand for the purchase or replacement of supplies and equipment required. [3/2: 7-4 (party-line)]

SF 305 states that a satellite absentee voting station on private property shall only be open at a time when the private property is open to the general public and free from any activity that creates or would create the appearance of preferential access by members of any race, religion or ethnic group or by persons of either gender. [3/2: 7-4 (party-line)]

SSB 1050 involves the fees charged by a county recorder for each recorded transaction. Current law requires, from July 1, 2009, to July 1, 2011, that a recorder charge a fee of $3 for each recorded transaction regardless of the number of pages. Current law also reduces this fee to $1 for each transaction beginning July 1, 2011. This bill increases the fee from $1 to $2 for the next five years. [1/28: Short form (Rielly, Hamerlinck “no,” McCoy excused)]

SSB 1124 is based on a recommendation of the Levee And Drainage District Law Study Committee, which met during the 2010 interim. It addresses the levee and drainage districts. A district is managed by a “board” which is the county board of supervisors in a district which crosses county lines, or by the district’s landowners acting through an elected board of trustees. The bill applies when a board or county officer is required to deliver a written communication to a state agency or local government. Under the bill, the written communication may be delivered to the head of the agency or its governing body or the governing council. [2/28: Short form (McCoy excused)]

SSB 1178 is a County Treasurer’s clean-up bill. The bill will match language passed two years ago keeping delinquent water and sewer special assessments from being added to a parcel for a deed that has been transferred to a new owner. It also allows a check to serve as receipt unless a receipt is requested. The bill moves the date to send delinquent notices from February to November to keep the interest from accumulating on a new homeowner of the property after July of the previous year. Finally, the bill allows an extra day to pay drainage fund assessments without penalty to match the existing tax collection language. [3/2: Short form]

SSB 1181 deals with Chapter 357E, which relates to benefitted or self-taxing lake districts formed in 1989, specifically Lake Delhi in Delaware County. The bill clarifies that the trustees are a public entity; expands the board of trustees from three to seven to better represent the Lake District; and provides better transparency. The bill also expands board membership eligibility to property owners. As past practice, the Delaware County Board of Supervisors would appoint the four new trustees until elections are held. The proposal expands bonding authority of trustees to allow response to flood recovery. The bill provides the same restrictions that cities have for disaster bonding and a voting requirement for all bonding efforts. Finally, the bill accelerates the action to start dam recovery.  [3/2: Short form]