Title: Law Enforcement Services Assessment

Summary: Authorizes municipalities to levy special assessments to fund the costs of providing law enforcement services; provides assessment apportionment methodology; requires reduction in ad valorem millage; authorizes DOR to adopt certain rules & forms.

Full Text:
An act relating to law enforcement services assessment; creating s. 166.212, F.S.; authorizing municipalities to levy a special assessment to fund the costs of providing law enforcement services; providing a methodology for apportionment of the assessment; requiring a reduction in ad valorem millage; authorizing the Department of Revenue to adopt certain rules and forms; providing for construction; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Section 166.212, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 166.212 Law enforcement services assessment. (1) GENERAL.-The governing body of a municip ality may levy a law enforcement services assessment to fund all or a portion of its costs of providing law enforcement services, if the governing body: (a) Adopts an ordinance levying the law enforcement services assessment, which apportions the cost of law enforcement services among the parcels of real property in the municipality in reasonable proportion to the benefit received by each parcel. (b) Reduces its ad valorem millage pursuant to subsection HB 2014 (3). (2) APPORTIONMENT METHODOLOGY.-The methodol ogy used to determine the benefit that a parcel of property derives from law enforcement services may be based on the following: (a) The square footage of structures on the parcel. (b) The location of the parcel. (c) The use of the parcel. (d) The projected amount of time that the municipal law enforcement agency will spend serving and protecting the property, grouped by neighborhood, zone, or category of use, which may include the projected amount of time that will be spent responding to calls for law enforcement services and the projected amount of time that law enforcement officers will spend patrolling or regulating traffic on the streets that provide access to the property. (e) The value of the real property that is served or protected, includ ing the value of each structure on the property and its contents. However, this factor may not be used as the sole factor or as a major factor in determining the benefit of law enforcement services to a parcel of property. (f) Any other factor that may reasonably be used to determine the benefit of law enforcement services to a parcel of property. (3) REDUCTION IN AD VALOREM MILLAGE.-(a) In the first year that the special assessment is levied, the governing body of the municipality must reduce its HB 2014 ad valorem millage, calculated as if there were no law enforcement services assessment, by the millage that would be required to collect revenue equal to the revenue that is forecast to be collected from the special assessment. (b) When preparing the notic eof proposed property taxes pursuant to s. 200.069 in the first year of the assessment, the governing body of the municipality shall calculate the rolled back millage rate pursuant to s. 200.065(5) and shall determine the preliminary proposed millage rate as if there were no law enforcement services assessment. The governing body shall then adopt the proposed law enforcement services assessment and determine the equivalent millage rate pursuant to paragraph (a). The preliminary proposed millage rate shall then be reduced by the amount of the law enforcement services assessment equivalent millage rate and the resulting millage rate shall then be reported to the property appraiser, together with the amount of the law enforcement services assessment, pursuant to the notice requirements of ss. 200.065 and 200.069. The property appraiser shall list the law enforcement services assessment on the notice of proposed property taxes below the line in the columns reserved for non-ad valorem assessments. After the first year of the assessment, the millage rate and rolled-back rate for the notice of proposed property taxes shall be calculated pursuant to s. 200.065(5) and shall be based on the adopted millage rate from the previous year. (c) Notwithstanding paragraph (a ), the governing body of a HB 2014 municipality is not required to reduce its millage, excluding millage approved by a vote of the electors and millage pledged to repay bonds, by more than percent or by more than 81 percent if the ordinance levying the law enfo rcement services assessment is approved by a two-thirds vote of the governing body of the municipality. (4) RULES AND FORMS.-The Department of Revenue may adopt rules and forms necessary to administer this section. (5) CONSTRUCTION.-The levy of a law enforcement services assessment pursuant to this section shall be construed as being authorized by general law in accordance with ss. and 9, Art. VII of the State Constitution. Section 2. This act shall take effec tJuly 1, 2014.