SSB 3140 – County Treasurers’ technical bill
SSB 3171 – Vehicle registration and delinquent parking fines
SSB 3187 — City property disposition
SF 2069 – County bonding flexibility
SF 2177 – Construction manager public building with public hearing
COMMITTEE ACTION:
SSB 3140 covers several actions requested by the county treasurers:
• Including a vehicle owner’s spouse on any credit of a vehicle sold, traded or junked toward the annual registration fee for another vehicle purchased.
• Clearing-up inconsistencies with the Department of Revenues’ (DOR) interpretation of use tax exemption on rental trailers (UT05 Exemption). Under DOR’s direction, all 99 county treasurers have said that rental trailers qualify for the use tax exemption. In 2013, rental companies in Iowa began receiving audits stating they owe back use tax, penalties and interest on their rental trailers. This legislation would codify the practice that Treasurers have been conducting under the direction of the DOR.
• Cleaning up Code language on destroying drainage and special assessment records in the treasurers’ offices after 10 years. In recent years, legislation took care of how long to keep other kinds of records and specifically drainage or special assessment records slipped through the cracks.
• Cleaning up Code language for the requirement of cash payment for assessments less than $20 and for fixing a time within which all assessments in excess of $100 may be paid in cash. [2/19: short form]
SSB 3171 codifies the current practice of charging a $5 administration fee to collect Clerk of Court fees and allows county treasurers to charge a $5 administrative convenience fee for collection of delinquent parking tickets to be consistent with Clerk of Court and Department of Revenue collections. [2/19: short form ]
SSB 3187 gives cities the ability to not dispose of an interest in real property valued at more than $10,000 by sale, lease for a term of more than three years or gift, except under these circumstances:
The council must pass a resolution and publish notice, of the resolution and of a date, time and place of a public hearing on the proposal. After the public hearing, the council may make a final determination on the proposal by resolution. A city may not dispose of real property by gift except to a governmental body for a public purpose or to a non-profit entity engaged in the provision of affordable housing. The assessed value most recently established by the county assessor may be used as to determine fair market value. [2/19: short form (Chelgren, Sinclair “no”)]
SF 2069provides flexibility in essential bonding for counties, which would mean less reliance on property taxes for bond repayment going forward. Currently, counties have pre-set bonding limits based on population against which they may bond with no referendum. Uses include road maintenance and minor repairs. Under current law, counties don’t have the flexibility to levy less than the maximum allowed by law. This bill allows counties to bond for a portion of their bonding limit or less than their bonding limit, and allows them to seek other funds to apply toward their projects. [2/19: short form]
SF 2177 requires a governmental entity to hold a public hearing before beginning the process of selecting a construction manager to administer construction of a public improvement. [2/19: 8-3 (Chelgren, Guth, Sinclair “no”)]