21 ATTACHMENT 3 - Laserfiche WebLink

74 private entity, (ii) the financial source for the provision of services is transferred from taxes to other revenues, or (iii) the voters of the entity approve a change in the limit for a period of time not to exceed four years. Appropriations subject to Article XIIIB generally include the proceeds of taxes levied by the State or other entity of local government, exclusive of certain State subventions and refunds of taxes. “Proceeds of taxes” include, but are not limited to, all tax revenues and the proceeds to an entity of government from (i) regulatory licenses, user charges, and user fees (but only to the extent such proceeds exceed the cost of providing the service or regulation), and (ii) the investment of tax revenues. Article XIIIB includes a requirement that if an entity’s revenues in any year exceed the amounts permitted to be spent, the excess would have to be returned by revising tax rates or fee schedules over the subsequent two years. Certain expenditures are excluded from the appropriations limit including payments of indebtedness existing or legally authorized as of January 1, 1979, or of bonded indebtedness thereafter approved by the voters and payments required to comply with court or federal mandates which without discretion require an expenditure for additional services or which unavoidably make the providing of existing services more costly. The Members are of the opinion that their wastewater fees and charges do not exceed the costs they reasonably bear in providing such services and therefore are not subject to the limits of Article XIIIB. Articles XIIIC and XIIID of the California Constitution General. On November 5, 1996, California voters approved Proposition 218, the so-called “Right to Vote on Taxes Act.” Proposition 218 added Articles XIIIC and XIIID to the State Constitution, which affect the ability of local governments to levy and collect both existing and future taxes, assessments, and property-related fees and charges. Proposition 218, which generally became effective on November 6, 1996, changed, among other things, the procedure for the imposition of any new or increased property-related “fee” or “charge,” which is defined as “any levy other than an ad valorem tax, a special tax or an assessment, imposed by a (local government) upon a parcel or upon a person as an incident of property ownership, including user fees or charges for a property related service” (and referred to in this section as a “property- related fee or charge”). On November 2, 2010, California voters approved Proposition 26, the so-called “Supermajority Vote to Pass New Taxes and Fees Act”. Section 1 of Proposition 26 declares that Proposition 26 is intended to limit the ability of the State Legislature and local government to circumvent existing restrictions on increasing taxes by defining the new or expanded taxes as “fees.” Proposition 26 amended Articles XIIIA and XIIIC of the State Constitution. The amendments to Article XIIIA limit the ability of the State Legislature to impose higher taxes (as defined in Proposition 26) without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Proposition 26’s amendments to Article XIIIC broadly define “tax,” but specifically exclude, among other things: “(1) A charge imposed for a specific benefit conferred or privilege granted directly to the payor that is not provided to those not charged, and which does not exceed the reasonable costs to the local government of conferring the benefit or granting the privilege.