HB 629-FN-A-LOCAL - AS INTRODUCED
2003 SESSION
04/09
HOUSE BILL 629-FN-A-LOCAL
AN ACT relative to adequate education grants to cities and towns and relative to adjusting the education property tax rate based on the statewide cost of an adequate education.
This bill:
I. Requires a gradual reduction in the statewide education property tax rate for each fiscal year in which total state tax receipts exceed an amount which is equal to the statewide cost of an adequate education less state education property tax receipts.
II. Limits adequate education grants made to municipalities and provides that grant amounts shall be increased when such grants fall below 35 percent the average base cost per pupil of an adequate education multiplied by the average daily membership in residence in the municipality.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03-0365
04/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three
AN ACT relative to adequate education grants to cities and towns and relative to adjusting the education property tax rate based on the statewide cost of an adequate education.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Education Property Tax; Rate Amended. Amend RSA 76:3 to read as follows:
76:3 Education Property Tax.
I. An annual education property tax at the uniform rate of $5.80 on each $1000 of the value of taxable property is hereby imposed on all persons and property taxable pursuant to RSA 72 and RSA 73, except property subject to tax under RSA 82 and RSA 83-F.
II.(a) Beginning July 1, 2003, and every fiscal year thereafter, the commissioner of the department of revenue administration shall subtract all education property tax revenues collected for a given fiscal year under paragraph I from the total estimated statewide cost of an adequate education for the fiscal year. This amount shall be subtracted from the total statewide tax receipts collected from all general state tax revenues in a given fiscal year, and the commission shall determine if a surplus exists.
(b) For each fiscal year in which a surplus exists, the education property tax rate imposed in the next fiscal year under RSA 76:3, I shall be reduced by $1.00 on each $1000 of the value of taxable property. If the rate imposed in a fiscal year is less than $1.00 on each $1000 of the value of taxable property, the education property rate in the next fiscal year shall be zero.
(c) For any fiscal year in which there is no surplus, the education property tax rate from the immediately preceding fiscal year shall be imposed.
2 New Paragraph; State Money; Determination of Adequate Education Grants. Amend RSA 198:41 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
III. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, beginning July 1, 2003, and every biennium thereafter, an adequate education grant distributed to a municipality under this section shall remain fixed at the amount distributed for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, provided that such distribution shall at no time be less than 35 percent of the average base cost per pupil of an adequate education multiplied by the average daily membership in residence in a municipality.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.
LBAO
03-0365
Revised 2/19/03
HB 629 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to adequate education grants to cities and towns and relative to adjusting the education property tax rate based on the statewide cost of an adequate education.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Revenue Administration indicates this bill may decrease state education trust fund expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2004 and each year thereafter. The Department of Education indicates this bill will increase state education trust fund expenditures and local revenue by $28 million in FY 2004 and $61 million in FY 2005, and will decrease state education trust fund expenditures and local revenue by $63 million in FY 2006 and $72 million in FY 2007. There will be no fiscal impact on county revenue or county and local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Revenue Administration states this bill's term "all general state tax revenues" is not defined, and as a result, the Department cannot administer this bill.
The Department of Education compared the FY 2003 adequate education grants as adjusted with the hold harmless provision to the adequate education grants computed under the current formula to determine the increases and decreases in the adequate education grants.