Minnesota Session Laws - 2000, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 396-S.F.No. 2968 
                  An act relating to lake improvement districts; 
                  modifying provisions relating to lake improvement 
                  districts; amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 
                  103B.535; 103B.545, subdivision 1; 103B.551, 
                  subdivision 1; 103B.555, subdivision 1; and 103B.571, 
                  subdivision 3; Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, 
                  section 275.70, subdivision 5. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 103B.535, is 
        amended to read: 
           103B.535 [ORDER ESTABLISHING DISTRICT.] 
           An order by the county board or joint county authority 
        establishing a district must state the:  
           (1) name of the district; 
           (2) boundaries of the district, which are encouraged to be 
        as consistent as practical with natural hydrologic boundaries; 
           (3) water and related land resources management programs 
        and services to be undertaken; 
           (4) manner of financing programs and services; and 
           (5) number, qualifications, terms of office, and method of 
        election, removal, and filling of vacancies of the board of 
        directors, including a method for property owners not present at 
        the annual meeting to participate in the election of the 
        district board.  
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 103B.545, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [PETITION.] Twenty-six percent of the 
        property owners within the lake improvement district established 
        proposed by the board or a joint county authority on its own 
        initiative under section 103B.515, by petition under section 
        103B.521, or by the commissioner under section 103B.531, may 
        petition for a referendum on establishing the district before 
        the effective date of its establishment.  After receiving the 
        petition, the county board or, joint county authority, or 
        commissioner that proposed establishing the district must issue 
        an order staying the establishment until a referendum vote is 
        taken of all qualified voters and property owners within the 
        proposed lake improvement district.  
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 103B.551, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [MEMBERSHIP.] After a lake improvement 
        district is established, the county board or, joint county 
        authority, or commissioner that established the district shall 
        appoint persons to serve as an initial board of directors for 
        the district.  Subsequent board members must be elected by 
        persons owning property in the district at the annual meeting of 
        the district.  The number, qualifications, terms of office, and 
        method of election, removal, and filling of vacancies of 
        directors shall be as provided in the order creating the board 
        of directors.  The initial and all subsequent boards of 
        directors must include persons owning property within the 
        district, and a majority of the directors must be residents of 
        the district.  
           Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 103B.555, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [REVENUE.] The county board or joint county 
        authority may undertake projects of improvement consistent with 
        purposes of the district.  To finance projects and services of 
        the district, the county board or joint county authority may, 
        only after seeking other sources of funding:  
           (1) assess the costs of the projects upon benefited 
        property within the district in the manner provided under 
        chapter 429; 
           (2) impose service charges on the users of lake improvement 
        district services within the district; 
           (3) issue obligations as provided in section 429.091; 
           (4) levy an ad valorem tax solely on property within the 
        lake improvement district, to be appropriated and expended 
        solely on projects of special benefit to the district; or 
           (5) impose or issue any combination of service charges, 
        special assessments, obligations, and taxes. 
           Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 103B.571, 
        subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 3.  [AGENDA.] (a) At the annual meeting the district 
        property owners present shall: 
           (1) elect one or more directors to fill any midterm 
        vacancies in the board of directors; 
           (2) approve a budget for the fiscal year; 
           (3) approve or disapprove proposed projects by the district 
        having a cost to the district in excess of $5,000; and 
           (4) take up and consider other business that comes before 
        them.  
           (b) At the annual meeting all district property owners, 
        including absent members as provided in the order establishing 
        the district, shall elect one or more directors for board 
        positions with expiring terms. 
           Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 
        275.70, subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 5.  [SPECIAL LEVIES.] "Special levies" means those 
        portions of ad valorem taxes levied by a local governmental unit 
        for the following purposes or in the following manner: 
           (1) to pay the costs of the principal and interest on 
        bonded indebtedness or to reimburse for the amount of liquor 
        store revenues used to pay the principal and interest due on 
        municipal liquor store bonds in the year preceding the year for 
        which the levy limit is calculated; 
           (2) to pay the costs of principal and interest on 
        certificates of indebtedness issued for any corporate purpose 
        except for the following: 
           (i) tax anticipation or aid anticipation certificates of 
        indebtedness; 
           (ii) certificates of indebtedness issued under sections 
        298.28 and 298.282; 
           (iii) certificates of indebtedness used to fund current 
        expenses or to pay the costs of extraordinary expenditures that 
        result from a public emergency; or 
           (iv) certificates of indebtedness used to fund an 
        insufficiency in tax receipts or an insufficiency in other 
        revenue sources; 
           (3) to provide for the bonded indebtedness portion of 
        payments made to another political subdivision of the state of 
        Minnesota; 
           (4) to fund payments made to the Minnesota state armory 
        building commission under section 193.145, subdivision 2, to 
        retire the principal and interest on armory construction bonds; 
           (5) for unreimbursed expenses related to flooding that 
        occurred during the first half of calendar year 1997, as allowed 
        by the commissioner of revenue under section 275.74, paragraph 
        (b); 
           (6) for local units of government located in an area 
        designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency pursuant 
        to a major disaster declaration issued for Minnesota by 
        President Clinton after April 1, 1997, and before June 11, 1997, 
        for the amount of tax dollars lost due to abatements authorized 
        under section 273.123, subdivision 7, and Laws 1997, chapter 
        231, article 2, section 64, to the extent that they are related 
        to the major disaster and to the extent that neither the state 
        or federal government reimburses the local government for the 
        amount lost; 
           (7) property taxes approved by voters which are levied 
        against the referendum market value as provided under section 
        275.61; 
           (8) to fund matching requirements needed to qualify for 
        federal or state grants or programs to the extent that either 
        (i) the matching requirement exceeds the matching requirement in 
        calendar year 1997, or (ii) it is a new matching requirement 
        that didn't exist prior to 1998; 
           (9) to pay the expenses reasonably and necessarily incurred 
        in preparing for or repairing the effects of natural disaster 
        including the occurrence or threat of widespread or severe 
        damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from 
        natural causes, in accordance with standards formulated by the 
        emergency services division of the state department of public 
        safety, as allowed by the commissioner of revenue under section 
        275.74, paragraph (b); 
           (10) for the amount of tax revenue lost due to abatements 
        authorized under section 273.123, subdivision 7, for damage 
        related to the tornadoes of March 29, 1998, to the extent that 
        neither the state or federal government provides reimbursement 
        for the amount lost; 
           (11) pay amounts required to correct an error in the levy 
        certified to the county auditor by a city or county in a levy 
        year, but only to the extent that when added to the preceding 
        year's levy it is not in excess of an applicable statutory, 
        special law or charter limitation, or the limitation imposed on 
        the governmental subdivision by sections 275.70 to 275.74 in the 
        preceding levy year; 
           (12) to pay an abatement under section 469.1815; 
           (13) to pay the employer contribution to the local 
        government correctional service retirement plan under section 
        353E.03, subdivision 2, to the extent that the employer 
        contribution exceeds 5.49 percent of total salary; and 
           (14) to pay the operating or maintenance costs of a county 
        jail as authorized in section 641.01 or 641.262, or of a 
        correctional facility as defined in section 241.021, subdivision 
        1, paragraph (5), to the extent that the county can demonstrate 
        to the commissioner of revenue that the amount has been included 
        in the county budget as a direct result of a rule, minimum 
        requirement, minimum standard, or directive of the department of 
        corrections.  If the county utilizes this special levy, any 
        amount levied by the county in the previous levy year for the 
        purposes specified under this clause and included in the 
        county's previous year's levy limitation computed under section 
        275.71, shall be deducted from the levy limit base under section 
        275.71, subdivision 2, when determining the county's current 
        year levy limitation.  The county shall provide the necessary 
        information to the commissioner of revenue for making this 
        determination; and 
           (15) to pay for operation of a lake improvement district, 
        as authorized under section 103B.555.  If the county utilizes 
        this special levy, any amount levied by the county in the 
        previous levy year for the purposes specified under this clause 
        and included in the county's previous year's levy limitation 
        computed under section 275.71 shall be deducted from the levy 
        limit base under section 275.71, subdivision 2, when determining 
        the county's current year levy limitation.  The county shall 
        provide the necessary information to the commissioner of revenue 
        for making this determination. 
           Sec. 7.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Section 6 is effective beginning with taxes levied in 2000, 
        payable in 2001 and thereafter, providing that the levy limits 
        provisions in Minnesota Statutes, sections 275.70 to 275.74 are 
        extended to taxes levied in 2000. 
           Presented to the governor April 11, 2000 
           Signed by the governor April 14, 2000, 2:20 p.m.