House Bill No. 312
Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________
A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act transferring to the state treasurer certain functions of the state auditor concerning federal land payments; revising the allocation of certain federal land payments between county road funds and school funds; prioritizing the allocation to school funds; amending sections 2-7-505, 17-3-211, 17-3-212, 17-3-213, 17-3-214, 17-3-222, and 17-3-305, MCA; and providing an effective date."
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:
NEW SECTION. Section 1. Resolution of audit findings. (1) Whenever a county audit report discloses a lack of compliance with state statutes, rules, or regulations governing the distribution of revenue to state and county levies in support of public school districts, the department of revenue shall, in cooperation with the county, resolve the audit finding.
(2) If the county fails to make a payment due the state, the department of revenue shall suspend all state payments to the county until the audit finding is resolved. If the audit finding remains unresolved after 60 days from the original notice to the department of revenue, the department of revenue shall assess interest consistent with the interest charged in 15-16-101 and offset the principal and interest due the state against amounts due the county before resuming state distributions to the county. The amount to be offset must be deposited by the department of revenue in the state general fund.
Section 2. Section 2-7-505, MCA, is amended to read:
"2-7-505. Audit scope and standards. (1) Each audit must be a comprehensive audit of the affairs of the local government entity and must be made in accordance with auditing standards and in accordance with federal regulations adopted by the department by rule.
(2) The department, with cooperation from state agencies, shall prepare a local government compliance supplement that contains state and federal regulations applicable to local government entities.
(3) The compliance supplement for all county audits must require the auditor to review county distributions, including nonlevy revenue and interest distributions, to the following levies in support of public school districts:
(a) the county equalization levy;
(b) the state equalization levy;
(c) the county tax levy in support of transportation schedules; and
(d) the county tax levy in support of district retirement obligations.
(4) Each report documenting the results of the audit of a county must include a conclusion as to the reasonableness of the distribution of tax and other revenue to the levies provided in subsection (3)."
Section 3. Section 17-3-211, MCA, is amended to read:
"17-3-211. Forest reserve money. (1) The state treasurer, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of 16 U.S.C. 500,
and all acts subsequent thereto to those provisions, shall divide and distribute all forest reserve moneys money received by
the state thereunder, plus interest earned, to and among the several counties entitled thereto to receive funds and pay the
same funds to the several county treasurers of such the counties within 30 days after receiving full payment of the same
federal funds, as directed by the state auditor.
(2) The forest reserve money shall must be invested and all investment earnings credited to the forest reserve account."
Section 4. Section 17-3-212, MCA, is amended to read:
"17-3-212. Apportionment of forest reserve funds among counties. The forest reserve funds and earned interest are
statutorily appropriated, as provided in 17-7-502, to the state auditor treasurer, who shall apportion said the forest reserve
funds and earned interest for allocation between the several eligible counties as follows:
(1) all funds received from each forest reserve shall must be apportioned between the counties in which such the forest
reserve is situated in proportion to the acreage of such the forest reserve in each county,; and
(2) the state treasurer shall pay the several amounts so apportioned plus interest thereon, as provided in 17-3-211, to the
respective counties."
Section 5. Section 17-3-213, MCA, is amended to read:
"17-3-213. Allocation to general road fund and countywide school levies. (1) The forest reserve funds so apportioned
to each county must be apportioned, as provided in 17-3-212, by the county treasurer in each county as follows:
(a) to the general road fund, 66 2/3% 37.5% of the total amount received;
(b) to the following countywide school levies, 33 1/3% 62.5% of the total sum amount received:, to be distributed in the
following order:
(i) county equalization for elementary schools provided for in 20-9-331; and
(ii) county equalization for high schools provided for in 20-9-333;
(iii) the county transportation fund provided for in 20-10-146; and
(iv) the elementary and high school district retirement fund obligations levy provided for in 20-9-501;
(ii) the county transportation fund levy provided for in 20-10-146;
(iii) the school district transportation fund levy for each school district within the county;
(iv) the BASE budget levy of each school district within the county, to be distributed on a prorated basis among the school districts according to the amount of revenue in district mills and guaranteed tax base aid, excluding all nonlevy revenue, that is required to provide funding up to the BASE budget of each school district; and
(v) as a final distribution, the basic county equalization levy for elementary and high school districts as provided in 20-9-331 and 20-9-333.
(2) The apportionment of money to the funds provided for under subsection (1)(b), except for subsection (1)(b)(iv), must
be made by the county superintendent treasurer by allocating money to each of the funds in the order provided so that the
levy requirements of each fund are eliminated prior to the allocation to the next fund that is listed. Allocations among
school districts must be based on the proportion that the mill levy of each specified fund bears to the total number of mills
for all the funds of that type within the county. Whenever the total amount of money available for apportionment under this
section is greater than the total requirements of a levy, the excess money and any interest income must be retained in a
separate reserve fund, to be reapportioned in the ensuing school fiscal year to the levies designated in subsection (1)(b).
(3) In counties in which special road districts have been created according to law, the board of county commissioners shall
distribute a proportionate share of the 66 2/3% 37.5% of the total amount received for the general road fund to the special
road districts within the county based upon the percentage that the total area of the road district bears to the total area of the
entire county.
(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3), the county commissioners may allocate a portion of the share of the 37.5% received from the general road fund to the county treasurer to be distributed to the school districts of the county based on the proportion that the mill levy of each school district bears to the total number of mills for all school district funds within the county."
Section 6. Section 17-3-214, MCA, is amended to read:
"17-3-214. Correction of errors in apportionment. In the event of any error or errors made in the apportionment or
distribution of said the forest reserve funds, such the error or errors shall must be corrected by the state auditor and state
treasurer, equalizing future payments to the several eligible counties so that the total proportionate sum received by each
eligible county shall be is as fixed provided in 17-3-212."
Section 7. Section 17-3-222, MCA, is amended to read:
"17-3-222. Apportionment of moneys to counties money. It shall be the duty of the The state treasurer to shall properly
apportion and allocate these moneys federal Taylor Grazing Act money to the county treasurers, who will allocate and pay
all such moneys as follows: 50% to the county general fund and 50% to the common school fund of the county basic
county equalization levy for elementary and high school districts as provided in 20-9-331 and 20-9-333."
Section 8. Section 17-3-305, MCA, is amended to read:
"17-3-305. Disposal of moneys money. All (1) Except as provided in Title 17, chapter 3, part 3, for payments received
by school districts or counties, payments of sums in lieu of taxes received by this state shall must be deposited in funds
according to the state levies.
(2) A county receiving money pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 1012 or 16 U.S.C. 715s shall allocate the money as follows:
(a) to the county road fund, 37.5% of the total amount received;
(b) to the following school levies, 62.5% of the total amount received, to be distributed in the following order:
(i) the county transportation fund levy provided for in 20-10-146;
(ii) the elementary and high school retirement fund levy provided for in 20-9-501;
(iii) the school district transportation fund levy for each school district within the county;
(iv) the BASE budget levy of each school district within the county, to be distributed on a prorated basis among the school districts according to the amount of revenue in district mills and guaranteed tax base aid, excluding all nonlevy revenue, that is required to provide funding up to the BASE budget of each school district; and
(v) as a final distribution, the basic county equalization levy for elementary and high school districts as provided in 20-9-331 and 20-9-333.
(3) The apportionment of money to the funds provided for under subsection (2)(b), except for subsection (2)(b)(iv), must be made by the county treasurer by allocating money to each of the funds in the order provided so that the levy requirements of each fund are eliminated prior to the allocation to the next fund that is listed. Allocations among school districts must be based on the proportion that the mill levy of each specified fund bears to the total number of mills for all the funds of that type within the county."
NEW SECTION. Section 9. Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 2, chapter 7, part 5, and the provisions of Title 2, chapter 7, part 5, apply to [section 1].
NEW SECTION. Section 10. Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 1997.
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