Utah Code § 17B-1-505.5 — Utah Code / Title 17B / Chapter 17B-1 / § 17B-1-505.5
§ 17B-1-505.5. Feasibility study for withdrawal from a special district providing fire protection, paramedic, and emergency services or law enforcement service -- Notice of hearing.
Status: in_force

(1) As used in this section: (a) "Eligible area" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17B-1-505. (b) "Feasibility consultant" means a person with expertise in: (i) the processes and economics of local government; and (ii) the economics of providing fire protection, paramedic, and emergency services or law enforcement service. (c) "Feasibility study" means a study to determine the functional and financial feasibility of a municipality's withdrawal from a first responder special district. (d) "First responder district" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17B-1-505. (e) "Withdrawing entity" means: (i) a municipality whose legislative body has adopted a resolution under Subsection 17B-1-505(3)(a) to initiate the process of the municipality's withdrawal from a first responder district; or (ii) a county whose legislative body has adopted a resolution under Subsection 17B-1-505(3)(a) to initiate the process of withdrawing all unincorporated areas of the county from a first responder district. (2) This section applies and a feasibility study shall be conducted, as provided in this section, if: (a) the legislative body of a withdrawing entity has adopted a resolution under Subsection 17B-1-505(3)(a) to initiate the process of the withdrawal from a first responder district; (b) the withdrawing entity and first responder district have not agreed in writing to the withdrawal; and (c) a feasibility study is a condition under Subsection 17B-1-505(6)(a) for an election to be held approving the withdrawal. (3) (a) As provided in this Subsection (3), the withdrawing entity and first responder district shall choose and engage a feasibility consultant to conduct a feasibility study. (b) The withdrawing entity and first responder district shall jointly choose and engage a feasibility consultant according to applicable county, municipal, or special district procurement procedures. (c) (i) If the withdrawing entity and first responder district cannot agree on and have not engaged a feasibility consultant under Subsection (3)(b) within 45 days after the legislative body of the withdrawing entity submits written notice to the first responder district under Subsection 17B-1-505(3)(c), the withdrawing entity and first responder district shall, as provided in this Subsection (3)(c), choose a feasibility consultant from a list of at least eight feasibility consultants provided by the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants. (ii) A list of feasibility consultants under Subsection (3)(c)(i) may not include a feasibility consultant that has had a contract to provide services to the withdrawing entity or first responder district at any time during the two-year period immediately preceding the date the list is provided under Subsection (3)(c)(i). (iii) (A) Beginning with the first responder district, the first responder district and withdrawing entity shall alternately eliminate one feasibility consultant each from the list of feasibility consultants until one feasibility consultant remains. (B) Within five days after receiving the list of consultants from the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants, the first responder district shall make the first elimination of a feasibility consultant from the list and notify the withdrawing entity in writing of the elimination. (C) After the first elimination of a feasibility consultant from the list, the withdrawing entity and first responder district shall each, within three days after receiving the written notification of the preceding elimination, notify the other in writing of the elimination of a feasibility consultant from the list. (d) If a withdrawing entity and first responder district do not engage a feasibility consultant under Subsection (3)(b), the withdrawing entity and first responder district shall engage the feasibility consultant that has not been eliminated from the list at the completion of the process described in Subsection (3)(c). (4) A feasibility consultant that conducts a feasibility study under this section shall be independent of and unaffiliated with the withdrawing entity and first responder district. (5) In conducting a feasibility study under this section, the feasibility consultant shall consider: (a) population and population density within the eligible area; (b) current and five-year projections of demographics and economic base in the withdrawing entity, including household size and income, commercial and industrial development, and public facilities; (c) projected growth in the withdrawing entity during the next five years; (d) subject to Subsection (6)(a), the present and five-year projections of the cost, including overhead, of providing the same service in the withdrawing entity as is provided by the first responder district, including: (i) the estimated cost if the first responder district continues to provide service; and (ii) the estimated cost if the withdrawing entity provides service; (e) subject to Subsection (6)(a), the present and five-year projections of the cost, including overhead, of the first responder district providing service with: (i) the eligible area included in the first responder district's service area; and (ii) the withdrawing entity excluded from the first responder district's service area; (f) a projection of any new taxes per household that may be levied within the withdrawing entity within five years after the withdrawal; (g) the fiscal impact that the withdrawing entity's withdrawal has on other municipalities and unincorporated areas served by the first responder district, including any rate increase that may become necessary to maintain required coverage ratios for the first responder district's debt; (h) the physical and other assets that will be required by the withdrawing entity to provide, without interruption or diminution of service, the same service that is being provided by the first responder district; (i) the physical and other assets that will no longer be required by the first responder district to continue to provide the current level of service to the remainder of the first responder district, excluding the withdrawing entity, and could be transferred to the withdrawing entity; (j) subject to Subsection (6)(b), a fair and equitable allocation of the first responder district's assets between the first responder district and the withdrawing entity, effective upon the withdrawal of the withdrawing entity from the first responder district; (k) a fair and equitable allocation of the debts, liabilities, and obligations of the first responder district and any local building authority of the first responder district, between the withdrawing entity and the remaining first responder district, taking into consideration: (i) any requirement to maintain the excludability of interest from the income of the holder of the debt, liability, or obligation for federal income tax purposes; and (ii) any first responder district assets that have been purchased with the proceeds of bonds issued by the first responder district that the first responder district will retain and any of those assets that will be transferred to the withdrawing entity; (l) the number and classification of first responder district employees who will no longer be required to serve the remaining portions of the first responder district after the withdrawing entity withdraws from the first responder district, including the dollar amount of the wages, salaries, and benefits attributable to the employees and the estimated cost associated with termination of the employees if the withdrawing entity does not employ the employees; (m) maintaining as a base, for a period of three years after withdrawal, the existing schedule of pay and benefits for first responder district employees who are transferred to the employment of the withdrawing entity; and (n) any other factor that the feasibility consultant considers relevant to the question of the withdrawing entity's withdrawal from the first responder district. (6) (a) For purposes of Subsections (5)(d) and (e): (i) the feasibility consultant shall assume a level and quality of service to be provided in the future to the withdrawing entity that fairly and reasonably approximates the level and quality of service that the first responder district provides to the withdrawing entity at the time of the feasibility study; (ii) in determining the present value cost of a service that the first responder district provides, the feasibility consultant shall consider: (A) the cost to the withdrawing entity of providing the service for the first five years after the withdrawal; and (B) the first responder district's present and five-year projected cost of providing the same service within the withdrawing entity; and (iii) the feasibility consultant shall consider inflation and anticipated growth in calculating the cost of providing service. (b) The feasibility consultant may not consider an allocation of first responder district assets or a transfer of first responder district employees to the extent that the allocation or transfer would impair the first responder district's ability to continue to provide the current level of service to the remainder of the first responder district without the withdrawing entity, unless the first responder district consents to the allocation or transfer. (7) A feasibility consultant may retain an architect, engineer, or other professional, as the feasibility consultant considers prudent and as provided in the agreement with the withdrawing entity and first responder district, to assist the feasibility consultant to conduct a feasibility study. (8) The withdrawing entity and first responder district shall require the feasibility consultant to: (a) complete the feasibility study within a time established by the withdrawing entity and first responder district; (b) prepare and submit a written report communicating the results of the feasibility study, including a one-page summary of the results; and (c) attend all public hearings relating to the feasibility study under Subsection (14). (9) A written report of the results of a feasibility study under this section shall: (a) contain a recommendation concerning whether a withdrawing entity's withdrawal from a first responder district is functionally and financially feasible for both the first responder district and the withdrawing entity; and (b) include any conditions the feasibility consultant determines need to be satisfied in order to make the withdrawal functionally and financially feasible, including: (i) first responder district assets and liabilities to be allocated to the withdrawing entity; and (ii) (A) first responder district employees to become employees of the withdrawing entity; and (B) sick leave, vacation, and other accrued benefits and obligations relating to the first responder district employees that the withdrawing entity needs to assume. (10) The withdrawing entity and first responder district shall equally share the feasibility consultant's fees and costs, as specified in the agreement between the withdrawing entity and first responder district and the feasibility consultant. (11) (a) Upon completion of the feasibility study and preparation of a written report, the feasibility consultant shall deliver a copy of the report to the withdrawing entity and first responder district. (b) (i) A withdrawing entity or first responder district that disagrees with any aspect of a feasibility study report may, within 20 business days after receiving a copy of the report under Subsection (11)(a), submit to the feasibility consultant a written objection detailing the disagreement. (ii) (A) A withdrawing entity that submits a written objection under Subsection (11)(b)(i) shall simultaneously deliver a copy of the objection to the first responder district. (B) A first responder district that submits a written objection under Subsection (11)(b)(i) shall simultaneously deliver a copy of the objection to the withdrawing entity. (iii) A withdrawing entity or first responder district may, within 10 business days after receiving an objection under Subsection (11)(b)(ii), submit to the feasibility consultant a written response to the objection. (iv) (A) A withdrawing entity that submits a response under Subsection (11)(b)(iii) shall simultaneously deliver a copy of the response to the first responder district. (B) A first responder district that submits a response under Subsection (11)(b)(iii) shall simultaneously deliver a copy of the response to the withdrawing entity. (v) If an objection is filed under Subsection (11)(b)(i), the feasibility consultant shall, within 20 business days after the expiration of the deadline under Subsection (11)(b)(iii) for submitting a response to an objection: (A) modify the feasibility study report or explain in writing why the feasibility consultant is not modifying the feasibility study report; and (B) deliver the modified feasibility study report or written explanation to the withdrawing entity and first responder special district. (12) Within seven days after the expiration of the deadline under Subsection (11)(b)(i) for submitting an objection or, if an objection is submitted, within seven days after receiving a modified feasibility study report or written explanation under Subsection (11)(b)(v), but at least 30 days before a public hearing under Subsection (14), the withdrawing entity shall: (a) make a copy of the report available to the public at the primary office of the withdrawing entity; and (b) if the withdrawing entity has a website, post a copy of the report on the entity's website. (13) A feasibility study report or, if a feasibility study report is modified under Subsection (11), a modified feasibility study report may not be challenged unless the basis of the challenge is that the report results from collusion or fraud. (14) (a) Following the expiration of the deadline under Subsection (11)(b)(i) for submitting an objection, or, if an objection is submitted under Subsection (11)(b)(i), following the withdrawing entity's receipt of the modified feasibility study report or written explanation under Subsection (11)(b)(v), the legislative body of the withdrawing entity shall, at the legislative body's next regular meeting, schedule at least one public hearing to be held: (i) within the following 60 days; and (ii) for the purpose of allowing: (A) the feasibility consultant to present the results of the feasibility study; and (B) the public to become informed about the feasibility study results, to ask the feasibility consultant questions about the feasibility study, and to express the public's views about the proposed withdrawal. (b) At a public hearing under Subsection (14)(a), the legislative body of the withdrawing entity shall: (i) provide a copy of the feasibility study for public review; and (ii) allow the public to: (A) ask the feasibility consultant questions about the feasibility study; and (B) express the public's views about the withdrawing entity's proposed withdrawal from the first responder district. (15) (a) The clerk or recorder of the withdrawing entity shall publish notice of a hearing under Subsection (14) for the withdrawing entity, as a class A notice under Section 63G-30-102, for three consecutive weeks immediately before the public hearing. (b) A notice under Subsection (15)(a) shall state: (i) the date, time, and location of the public hearing; and (ii) that a copy of the feasibility study report may be obtained, free of charge, at the office of the withdrawing entity or on the withdrawing entity's website. (16) Unless the withdrawing entity and first responder district agree otherwise, conditions that a feasibility study report indicates are necessary to be met for a withdrawal to be functionally and financially feasible for the withdrawing entity and first responder district are binding on the withdrawing entity and first responder district if the withdrawal occurs.