257.3 - FOUNDATION PROPERTY TAX.
257.3 FOUNDATION PROPERTY TAX.
1. Amount of tax. Except as provided in subsections 2 and 3,
a school district shall cause to be levied each year, for the school
general fund, a foundation property tax equal to five dollars and
forty cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation on all taxable
property in the district. The county auditor shall spread the
foundation levy over all taxable property in the district.
The amount paid to each school district for the tax replacement
claim for industrial machinery, equipment and computers under section
427B.19A shall be regarded as property tax. The portion of the
payment which is foundation property tax shall be determined by
applying the foundation property tax rate to the amount computed
under section 427B.19, subsection 3, paragraph "a", as adjusted
by paragraph "d", if any adjustment was made.
Replacement taxes under chapter 437A shall be regarded as property
taxes for purposes of this chapter.
2. Tax for reorganized and dissolved districts.
a. Notwithstanding subsection 1, a reorganized school
district shall cause a foundation property tax of four dollars and
forty cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation to be levied
on all taxable property which, in the year preceding a
reorganization, was within a school district affected by the
reorganization as defined in section 275.1, or in the year preceding
a dissolution was a part of a school district that dissolved if the
dissolution proposal has been approved by the director of the
department of education pursuant to section 275.55.
b. In succeeding school years, the foundation property tax
levy on that portion shall be increased to the rate of four dollars
and ninety cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation the first
succeeding year, five dollars and fifteen cents per thousand dollars
of assessed valuation the second succeeding year, and five dollars
and forty cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation the third
succeeding year and each year thereafter.
c. The foundation property tax levy reduction pursuant to
this subsection shall be available if either of the following apply:
(1) In the year preceding the reorganization or dissolution, the
school district affected by the reorganization or the school district
that dissolved had a certified enrollment of fewer than six hundred
pupils.
(2) In the year preceding the reorganization or dissolution, the
school district affected by the reorganization or the school district
that dissolved had a certified enrollment of six hundred pupils or
greater, and entered into a reorganization or dissolution with one or
more school districts with a certified enrollment of fewer than six
hundred pupils. The amount of foundation property tax reduction
received by a school district qualifying for the reduction pursuant
to this subparagraph shall not exceed the highest reduction amount
provided in paragraphs "a" and "b" received by any of the
school districts with a certified enrollment of fewer than six
hundred pupils involved in the reorganization pursuant to
subparagraph (1) of this paragraph "c".
d. For purposes of this section, a reorganized school
district is one which absorbs at least thirty percent of the
enrollment of the school district affected by a reorganization or
dissolved during a dissolution and in which action to bring about a
reorganization or dissolution is initiated by a vote of the board of
directors or jointly by the affected boards of directors to take
effect on or after July 1, 2007, and on or before July 1, 2014. Each
district which initiated, by a vote of the board of directors or
jointly by the affected boards, action to bring about a
reorganization or dissolution to take effect on or after July 1,
2007, and on or before July 1, 2014, shall certify the date and the
nature of the action taken to the department of education by January
1 of the year in which the reorganization or dissolution takes
effect. For a reorganization or dissolution that took effect on or
after July 1, 2002, and on or before July 1, 2006, the reorganized
school district shall continue to receive the benefits of paragraphs
"a" and "b" of this subsection for the time specified in
those paragraphs.
3. Railway corporations. For purposes of section 257.1, the
"amount per pupil of foundation property tax" does not include
the tax levied under subsection 1 or 2 on the property of a railway
corporation, or on its trustee if the corporation has been declared
bankrupt or is in bankruptcy proceedings. Section History: Recent Form
89 Acts, ch 135, § 3; 91 Acts, ch 178, §1; 93 Acts, ch 180, §
92--95; 95 Acts, ch 206, §34; 98 Acts, ch 1194, § 27, 40; 2001 Acts,
ch 126, §1--3; 2003 Acts, ch 180, §10, 71; 2007 Acts, ch 130, §1
Referred to in § 275.55