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2018 Georgia Code 36-31-12 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 36-31-12 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 36-31-12

TITLE 36 LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Chapter 31 information not found

ARTICLE 2 GRANTS TO COUNTIES FOR COUNTY ROADS AND MAINTENANCE

36-31-12. Legislative findings; special districts divided into noncontiguous areas; information required in audits; informational summary.

  1. The General Assembly finds that:
    1. The purpose of a special district is to provide services to a given geographic area and to finance the provision of those services from taxes, fees, and assessments levied in the geographic area which benefits from the services;
    2. The creation of a municipal corporation within a county which has a special district for the unincorporated area of the county may result in the special district being divided into noncontiguous areas or in existing noncontiguous areas of such district being even more remote from each other; and
    3. The purpose of a special district is defeated if it becomes divided into noncontiguous areas which are remote from each other and one or more of such noncontiguous areas is subsidizing the provision of services in other such noncontiguous areas.
    1. When a municipal corporation is created by local Act within a county which has a special district for the provision of local government services consisting of the unincorporated area of the county and following the creation of said municipal corporation the special district is divided into two or more noncontiguous areas, any special district taxes, fees, and assessments collected in such a noncontiguous area shall be spent to provide services in that noncontiguous area. Effective January 1, 2006, for the purposes of this Code section, a noncontiguous area located within ten miles of another noncontiguous area may be treated as the same noncontiguous area.
    2. If, on or after May 14, 2008:
      1. Excess proceeds derived from the collection of any special district taxes, fees, and assessments or from any earnings thereon remain following the expenditure required under paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
      2. All of the area within the special district shall have become incorporated within one or more municipalities,

        then the excess proceeds shall be disbursed within 60 days to the governing authority of each municipality which has incorporated any portion of the area of the special district; and the county shall continue to make such disbursements for so long as such excess proceeds continue to be received. The amount of proceeds to be disbursed to each municipality shall be determined on a pro rata basis using as a denominator the total value of all tax parcels within the special district and as a numerator the total value of all tax parcels which were incorporated within each municipality.

    3. If, on or after May 14, 2008:
      1. Excess proceeds remain from the collection of any special district taxes, fees, and assessments or from any earnings thereon; and
      2. A new municipality shall have been created from within such special district such that the special district shall have been diminished in size but not all of the special district shall have been incorporated within one or more municipalities,

        then the excess proceeds shall be disbursed within 60 days to the governing authority of each municipality which has incorporated any portion of the area of the special district; and the county shall continue to make such disbursements for so long as such excess proceeds continue to be received. The amount of proceeds to be disbursed to each municipality shall be determined on a pro rata basis using as a denominator the total value of all tax parcels within the special district and as a numerator the total value of all tax parcels which were incorporated within each municipality.

  3. When a municipal corporation is created by local Act within a county subject to this Code section, the county shall for the fiscal year in which the municipal corporation is chartered and for each of the next two fiscal years have included in its annual audit detailed findings as to:
    1. The amount of any special district taxes, assessments, and fees collected in each noncontiguous area of the special district;
    2. The total amount of expenditures by the county for:
      1. The provision of services within each noncontiguous area of the special district, including only those services which are provided by the county only in the special district; and
      2. The construction and maintenance of facilities for the provision of services referred to in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and
    3. The amount by which expenditures stated in paragraph (2) of this subsection exceed or are less than the amount stated in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
  4. The party performing the audit required by subsection (c) of this Code section shall prepare as promptly as is practicable a brief informational summary of the audit findings required by that subsection. The informational summary shall also include a statement of the amount of proceeds collected by the county pursuant to any tax under Article 2 of Chapter 8 of Title 48 which would be allocated to each noncontiguous area of the special district if such area received an allocation equal on a per capita basis to the average per capita allocation to the cities in the county. After each year's summary becomes available, a copy of the summary shall be included with the next ad valorem tax bills mailed by the county to residents of the special district consisting of the unincorporated area of the county.
  5. For purposes of determining applicability of this Code section, a county shall be considered to have a special district for the provision of local government services when a county has created a special district for such purposes pursuant to Article IX, Section II, Paragraph VI of the Constitution or has created a similar district for the provision of services under any other provision of any past or present Constitution or law.

(Code 1981, §36-31-12, enacted by Ga. L. 2005, p. 185, § 3/HB 36; Ga. L. 2006, p. 65, § 1/SB 399; Ga. L. 2006, p. 72, § 36/SB 465; Ga. L. 2008, p. 1019, § 2/SB 154; Ga. L. 2012, p. 810, § 2/HB 990.)

The 2012 amendment, effective May 1, 2012, in paragraph (b)(2), inserted "or after" in the introductory language, inserted "derived from the collection of any special district taxes, fees, and assessments or from any earnings thereon" in subparagraph (b)(2)(A), and inserted "; and the county shall continue to make such disbursements for so long as such excess proceeds continue to be received" in the concluding language; and, in paragraph (b)(3), inserted "or after" in the introductory language, inserted "or from any earnings thereon;" in subparagraph (b)(3)(A), and inserted "; and the county shall continue to make such disbursements for so long as such excess proceeds continue to be received." in the concluding language.

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2008, "May 14, 2008" was substituted for "the effective date of this paragraph" in paragraphs (b)(2) and (b)(3).

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2005, p. 185, § 5/HB 36, not codified by the General Assembly, provides for severability.

Ga. L. 2005, p. 185, § 6/HB 36, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall apply with respect to any local Act enacted at the 2005 regular session of the General Assembly or any future session.

Ga. L. 2012, p. 810, § 3/HB 990, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall not be applied to impair any obligation of contract entered into prior to the date this Act becomes effective." The effective date of this Act is May 1, 2012.

Law reviews.

- For survey article on local government law, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 285 (2007) and 60 Mercer L. Rev. 263 (2008).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Constitutionality.

- O.C.G.A. § 36-31-12(b) did not violate the Georgia Constitution by encroaching on a county's exclusive authority, derived from a local constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 1972, p. 1482, § 1), over the collection and expenditure of revenues collected within the county's special taxing and spending district; the amendment granted concurrent authority to the county and the General Assembly over these matters. Fulton County v. Perdue, 280 Ga. 807, 631 S.E.2d 362 (2006).

Applicability.

- There is nothing in the language of O.C.G.A. § 36-31-12 indicating a legislative intent that the statute applies only to special taxing and spending districts with newly created noncontiguous areas. Fulton County v. Perdue, 280 Ga. 807, 631 S.E.2d 362 (2006).

Cited in City of Atlanta v. Mays, 301 Ga. 367, 801 S.E.2d 1 (2017).

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 36-31-12

Total Results: 2  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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City of Atlanta v. Mays, 301 Ga. 367 (Ga. 2017).

Cited 17 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 5, 2017 | 801 S.E.2d 1

...um standards which must exist as a condition precedent to the original incorporation of a municipal *378corporation of this state,” OCGA § 36-31-1, but Atlanta does not contend that HB 514 violates any of those standards. See OCGA §§ 36-31-2 to 36-31-12.16 Decided June 5, 2017. Bonduran t, Mixson & Elmore, Emmet J....
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Fulton Cnty. v. Perdue, 280 Ga. 807 (Ga. 2006).

Cited 1 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 12, 2006 | 631 S.E.2d 362, 2006 Fulton County D. Rep. 1819

HUNSTEIN, Presiding Justice. Appellant Fulton County appeals from an order granting appel-lees’ motion for judgment on the pleadings and rejecting the County’s constitutional challenge of OCGA § 36-31-12, the Georgia statute governing a county’s collection of revenue and distribution of government services within special tax districts....
...Since the creation of its SSD, Fulton County has collected taxes and other fees to pay for government services provided exclusively within its SSD. The County has not during this same time period limited the expenditure of such revenue to the area in which it was collected. In 2005, the General Assembly enacted OCGA§ 36-31-12, which imposes new requirements upon counties that have created SSDs for the provision of services to their unincorporated areas. At issue in this appeal is OCGA § 36-31-12 (b), which provides: When a municipal corporation is created by local Act within a county which has a special district for the provision of local *808government services consisting of the unincorporated area of the county and following t...
...iguous areas, any special district taxes, fees, and assessments collected in such a noncontiguous area shall be spent to provide services in that noncontiguous area. Pursuant to this language, Fulton County became subject to the requirements of OCGA § 36-31-12 after the incorporation of the City of Sandy Springs. Fulton County thereafter filed a declaratory judgment action arguing both that OCGA § 36-31-12 is unconstitutional and that it is inapplicable to Fulton County....
...307 (5) (264 SE2d 866) (1980) (motion for judgment on pleadings proper where allegations of complaint disclose with certainty plaintiff not entitled to relief under any state of provable facts). This appeal followed. 2. Fulton County argues that OCGA § 36-31-12 (b) is not applicable to its existing SSD because that statute applies only when noncontiguous areas are first created by the incorporation of a new municipality, whereas noncontiguous areas existed in its SSD prior to Sandy Springs’ incorporation. We agree with the trial court, however, that there is nothing in the language of OCGA § 36-31-12 indicating a legislative intent that it apply only to SSDs with newly created noncontiguous areas. Indeed, the General Assembly in OCGA § 36-31-12 (a) specifically acknowledged the need for OCGA § 36-31-12 (b) to be applied to SSDs with existing noncontiguous areas when it found that the creation of a municipal corporation within an SSD with existing noncontiguous areas may cause the noncontiguous areas to become “even more remote from each other,” id. at (a) (2), and result in one noncontiguous area “subsidizing the provision of services in other such noncontiguous areas.” Id. at (a) (3). See also id. at (e) (OCGA § 36-31-12 applicable to SSDs created pursuant to Article IX, Section II, Paragraph VI or similar districts created “under any other provision of any past or present Constitution or law”). Accordingly, the trial court correctly determined that appellees were entitled to judgment on the pleadings on this ground. 3. Fulton County further argues that the trial court erred by upholding the constitutionality of OCGA § 36-31-12 (b) as applied to the County because the statute encroaches on the County’s exclusive authority, derived from a local constitutional amendment, over the expenditure of revenues collected within its SSD....
...e local amendment limited or otherwise supplanted the General Assembly’s long-standing authority in this area. Accordingly, we conclude, as did the trial court, that it was within the constitutional authority of the General Assembly to enact OCGA § 36-31-12 (b), a general law providing for the collection and expenditure of revenue within SSDs....