Local government finance: property tax revenue allocations: negative sum counties.

Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenues to local jurisdictions in accordance with specified formulas and procedures, and generally requires that each jurisdiction be allocated an amount equal to the total of the amount of revenue allocated to that jurisdiction in the prior fiscal year, subject to certain modifications, and that jurisdiction's portion of the annual tax increment, as defined. Existing law requires, for purposes of property tax revenue allocations for the 2011–12 and 2012–13 fiscal years, the county auditor for a county for which a negative sum was calculated pursuant to a specified former statute, in reducing the amount of property tax revenue otherwise allocated to the county by an amount attributable to that negative sum, to apply a reduction amount equal to the reduction amount determined for specified fiscal years. This bill would instead require, for the 2010–11 fiscal year, the county auditor for a county for which a negative sum was calculated as described above, to increase the total amount of ad valorem property tax revenues deemed allocated to the county in the immediately preceding fiscal year by an amount equal to the absolute value of the negative sum calculated for the county, and the proportional share of any growth in assessed valuations of property attributable to that negative sum through the 2009–10 fiscal year. This bill would also require, for the 2011–12 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the amount of property tax revenue deemed allocated to a county in the immediately preceding fiscal year include the full amount of any increase implemented by the auditor, as so described, in that fiscal year, and would require that amount to be reduced from the total amount of ad valorem property tax revenue deemed allocated to the county's Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund. By imposing new duties in the annual allocation of ad valorem property tax revenues, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.