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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session
fire districts; formation; county supervisors
Purpose
Prescribes an alternative formation process for a fire district in a county with a population of fewer than 500,000 persons.
Background
A fire district must be created by any adult person desiring to propose creation of a district. The person proposing formation of the district must prepare and submit a district impact statement to the county board of supervisors (county BOS) in which the district is located. The district impact statement must contain at least: 1) a legal description of the boundaries of the proposed district and a map and a general description of the area to be included in the district; 2) a detailed list of taxable properties provided by the county assessor; 3) an estimate of the assessed valuation within the proposed district; 4) an estimate of the change in the property tax liability, as a result of the proposed district, of a typical resident of the proposed district; 4) a list and explanation of benefits and the injuries that may result from the proposed district; 5) the names, addresses and occupations of the proposed members of the district's organizing board of directors; and 6) a general description of the scope of services to be provided by the district during its first five years of operation.
On receipt of the district impact statement, the county BOS must set a day, at least 30 but not more than 60 days after that date, for a hearing on the impact statement with proper notice. If the county BOS determines that the public health, comfort, convenience, necessity or welfare will be promoted, it must approve the district impact statement and authorize the circulation of petitions. The petitions must be signed by owners of more than one-half of the taxable property units in the area of the proposed district and by persons owning collectively more than one-half of the assessed valuation of property in the area of the proposed district within one year after the date of approval from the county BOS. On receipt of the petitions, the county BOS must hold a hearing to order the creation of the district if the petitions are determined to be valid (A.R.S. § 48-261)
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Allows a fire district to be formed in a county with a population of fewer than 500,000 persons, until December 31, 2026, by an alternative formation process.
2. Allows the county BOS, on written request to the county BOS for formation of a fire district with 5,000 or fewer persons and submission of a map delineating the proposed boundaries of the district, to hold a hearing on the matter at a meeting of the county BOS.
3. Allows the county BOS to consider the matter, including by taking testimony from the public, and revise the proposed boundaries for the district.
4. Requires the county BOS to revise the proposed boundaries for the district as necessary to ensure that no one property in the proposed boundaries of the district will be required to contribute more than 2.5 percent of the total funding of the proposed district.
5. Requires the county BOS, on a determination to proceed with a possible formation of the fire district, to submit the matter to a vote of the qualified electors within the proposed boundaries of the district.
6. Requires the election to be held on one of the four dates prescribed by statute for special districts.
7. Requires the election to comply with the general election laws of Arizona.
8. Requires, at the election on the formation of the fire district, the words to appear on the ballots to be "fire district, yes" and "fire district, no."
9. Requires the returns of the election to be made to the county BOS.
10. Requires the county BOS, if approved at the formation election by 65 percent of the votes cast thereon, to:
a) declare the fire district formed; and
b) name three persons who are residents of the fire district to serve on the fire district organizing board of directors until fire district board members are elected as otherwise provided by law at the next general election immediately following formation of the fire district.
11. Requires the county BOS to transmit to the county assessor a certified copy of the description of the boundaries of the fire district after declaring the fire district formed.
12. Stipulates that a fire district formed in accordance with the alternative formation process has all the powers and duties as any other fire district.
13. Prohibits a fire district from being formed after December 31, 2026.
14. Makes conforming changes.
15. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
MAPS 2/5/24 DPA 7-2-3-2
3rd Read 2/26/24 54-2-3-0-1
Prepared by Senate Research
March 18, 2024
JT/slp