Fiscal Note & Local Impact Statement
123 rd General Assembly of Ohio
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STATE
GOVERNMENT |
FY 2001 |
FY 2002 |
FUTURE YEARS |
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General Revenue Fund |
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Revenues |
Potential decrease |
Potential decrease |
Potential decrease |
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Expenditures |
- 0 - |
- 0 - |
- 0 - |
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Note: The state fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. For
example, FY 2001 is July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2001.
·
The
bill eliminates compensation of the Treasurer of State’s office for services
related to registering and paying bonds and interest. This could minimally decrease revenues for the office.
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LOCAL
GOVERNMENT |
FY 2000 |
FY 2001 |
FUTURE YEARS |
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Conservancy Districts |
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Revenues |
- 0 - |
- 0 - |
- 0 - |
|||
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Expenditures |
Potential decrease |
Potential decrease |
Potential decrease |
|||
Note: For most local governments, the fiscal year is the calendar year. The school district fiscal year is July 1 through June 30.
·
The
bill’s provisions that update requirements for selling bonds would save the
conservancy districts a considerable amount of money, perhaps aggregately for
the state several thousands of dollars.
·
Changes
in the requirements for the deposit of moneys would follow provisions already
in effect in the Uniform Depository Act (ORC 135),
and, therefore, should not have a fiscal impact.
·
The
public notice requirements are loosened, which could save individual
conservancy districts thousands of dollars over the course of a year.
·
Other
administrative changes, such as authorizing electronic storage and establishing
a minimum assessment to cover administrative costs, are also expected to save
the conservancy districts moneys.
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This bill makes changes in
the issuance of bonds, the deposit of moneys, assessments, and the
administration of conservancy districts. The provisions update laws to conform
to newer regulations for securities and streamline administrative steps. The
Treasurer of State’s office could experience a decrease in revenues with the
elimination of compensation for registering and paying bonds and interest.
However, this bill would probably save the conservancy districts considerable
moneys in administrative costs.
Conservancy districts are
political subdivisions formed by local citizens to solve local water management
problems, such as flood control, and many serve as local sponsors for federal
flood projects. Other activities
undertaken by the conservancy districts include conserving and developing water
supply, improving drainage, collecting and disposing of waste, providing for
irrigation, and mitigating shoreline erosion. Ohio has 22 conservancy
districts, located primarily in the western part of the state and in
the eastern Appalachian counties. The
largest conservancy district is the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, covering part or
all of more than 20 counties that surround the Muskingum, Mohican, Walhonding,
and Tuscarawas rivers.
The bill loosens
requirements by removing language that specifies the manner in which bonds are
issued. Included in these requirements
are the denominations of bonds, the time intervals of maturity of the bonds,
and mandating that interest rates follow rates in current law.
Other provisions require the boards
of directors of conservancy districts to adopt note and bonding resolutions to
further modernize the conservancy district laws. The note resolution provides the districts greater flexibility in
issuing bonds, whereas the bonding resolution specifies the rate of interest
and maturity of the bonds.
The bill authorizes boards of
conservancy districts to issue anticipatory notes or bonds to fund or refund
previously issued notes or bonds. These
anticipatory notes or bonds would be placed in an escrow fund of which leftover
escrow moneys are to be used for the bond retirement fund. The bill also makes other changes to administering
bonds and anticipatory notes. The rules
for bidding on the bonds are also changed to allow for bids at 97% of the
principal amount of the anticipatory notes or bonds, as opposed to the current
100% of the amount.
The provisions that affect the issuance of bonds
would save the conservancy districts considerable amount of moneys in
administrative costs.
The bill eliminates several
provisions related to depositing district moneys, updating the Conservancy
District laws to comply with the existing Uniform Depository law (ORC 135).
These provisions include requiring selecting banks that offer the highest
interest rates for bonds, the acknowledgement of bonds, allowing the amount of
pledged securities to be reduced as the amount on deposit is reduced. The bill
also removes the requirement that all moneys of a conservancy that are for
payment of bonds and interest be deposited in the same manner as state moneys
are deposited. These provisions have no fiscal impact because they update the
Conservancy District laws to comply with existing laws.
The bill removes references
to taxes to distinguish assessments, from taxes. The annual maintenance
assessments are used by the conservancy for district expenses and are assessed
to parcels of land within the district. The bill reduces the interval for
readjusting benefits from eight to six years.
Also, it sets a minimum assessment of $2 although this language is
unclear. According to a conservancy
district spokesperson, the minimum assessment fee would probably allow
conservancy districts to cover more of their operating costs, thus saving
moneys for the districts.
Current law allows
conservancy districts to levy taxes of all taxable property of the district in
order to pay for capital improvements.
This bill removes this authorization, leaving conservancy districts the
other existing option to levy special assessments on public corporations having
lands within the district. According to a conservancy district spokesperson,
conservancy districts do not opt to levy taxes on all taxable property and,
therefore, would not experience a direct fiscal effect from this
provision. However, future potential
revenues could be forfeited with this provision.
Changes are made to remove the maximum limit on the daily compensation of the Board of Directors. That daily compensation limit is currently $50. This could cause a substantial cost for conservancy districts, especially those that meet more frequently and for smaller conservancy districts.
Public notice requirements
are loosened to reduce the number of times notices must be published. Other
changes loosen requirements of listing the names of affected persons that must
appear in the notice. The reduction in
the number of times the public notice must be published could save the
conservancy districts thousands of dollars.
The requirement that all
contracts for capital projects that cost over $15,000 be publicly advertised is
loosened to require only capital projects that cost more than $25,000. This
change could also save administrative costs for the conservancy districts.
The bill also clarifies that
provisions that provide liability to conservancy districts should not be
construed as expressly imposing liability upon a conservancy district. This provision has no direct fiscal effect.
q LBO staff: Sybil Haney,
Budget/Policy Analyst
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