(1) (a) In order to support and provide for public library service on a regional basis, particularly in any region of the state lacking sufficient public library resources to adequately serve the needs of the public, any combination of two or more governmental units acting through their governing bodies, regardless of whether such unit currently maintains a public library, may, by contracting with or among each other, establish a separate governmental entity to be known as a regional library authority, referred to in this section as an "authority". Such authority may be used by such contracting member governmental units to effect the acquisition, construction, financing, operation, or maintenance of publicly supported library services on a regional basis within the jurisdiction of the authority. For purposes of this section, a governmental unit may include a library district within the meaning of section 24-90-103 (6).
No such authority shall be formed pursuant to this section unless each of the contracting member governmental units forming such authority has passed a resolution or ordinance in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (d) of this subsection (1) and has entered into a contract pursuant to section 29-1-203, C.R.S., for the creation, operation, and administration of such authority.
(I) In connection with the establishment of an authority, at least one public hearingshall be conducted by each of the contracting member governmental units that intend to enter into a contract for the purpose of forming the authority. Any such hearing shall be preceded by adequate and timely notice of the time and place of the hearing. The notice shall specify the matters to be included in the resolution or ordinance and shall fix a date for the hearing that shall be held not less than thirty nor more than sixty days after the date of first publication of such notice.
(II) Any public hearing conducted in accordance with the requirement of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c) shall address, without limitation, the purposes of the authority, and, where more than one governmental unit is involved in the formation of the authority, the powers, rights, obligations, and responsibilities, financial and otherwise, of each governmental unit that is forming the authority.
(d) The resolution or ordinance to be adopted by each of the contracting member governmental units forming the authority in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (b) of this subsection (1) shall:
Describe the legal service area of the authority;
Describe the proposed governance of the authority; and
State that the registered electors residing within the territorial boundaries of suchcontracting member governmental units shall approve any amount of sales or use tax, or both, in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (f) of subsection (3) of this section or an ad valorem tax in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (h) of subsection (3) of this section not previously approved by the electors before the authority shall levy such taxes.
(2) Upon establishment of an authority satisfying the requirements of this section, a contract between the legislative bodies of the contracting member governmental units, shall be effected within ninety days. Any contract establishing such authority shall, without limitation, specify:
The name and purpose of such authority and the functions or services to be providedby such authority;
The boundaries of the authority, which boundaries may include less than the entirearea of any separate county, but shall not be less than the entire area of any municipality and any other governmental unit forming the authority, and may be modified after the establishment of the authority as provided in the contract;
The establishment and organization of a governing body of the authority, which shallbe a board of directors, referred to in this section as the "board of the authority", in which all legislative power of the authority is vested, including:
The number of directors, their manner of appointment, their terms of office, theircompensation, if any, and the procedure for filling vacancies on the board of the authority;
The officers of the authority, the manner of their selection, and their duties;
The voting requirements for action by the board of the authority; except that, unlessspecifically provided otherwise, a majority of directors shall constitute a quorum, and a majority of the quorum shall be necessary for any action taken by the board of the authority; and
The duties of the board of the authority, which shall include the obligation to comply with the provisions of parts 1, 5, and 6 of article 1 of title 29, C.R.S.;
Provisions for the disposition, division, or distribution of any property or assets ofthe authority;
The term of the contract, which may be continued for a definite term or until rescinded or terminated, and the method, if any, by which it may be rescinded or terminated; except that such contract may not be rescinded or terminated so long as the authority has bonds, notes, or other obligations outstanding, unless provision for full payment of such obligations, by escrow or otherwise, has been made pursuant to the terms of such obligations; and
The expected sources of revenue of the authority and any requirements that contracting member governmental units consent to the levying of any taxes within the jurisdiction of such member. If the authority levies any taxes, the contract shall further include requirements that:
Prior to and as a condition of levying any such taxes or fees, the board of the authority shall adopt a resolution determining that the levying of the taxes or fees will fairly distribute the costs of the authority's activities among the persons or communities benefited thereby and will not impose an undue burden on any particular group of persons or communities;
Each such tax shall conform with any requirements specified in subsection (3) of thissection; and
The authority shall designate a financial officer who shall coordinate with the department of revenue regarding the collection of a sales and use tax authorized pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection (3) of this section. This coordination shall include but not be limited to the financial officer identifying those businesses eligible to collect the sales and use tax and any other administrative details identified by the department.
(3) The general powers of such authority shall include the following powers:
To acquire, construct, finance, operate, or maintain public library services locatedwithin the territorial boundaries of the authority;
To make and enter into contracts with any person, including, without limitation, contracts with state or federal agencies, private enterprises, and nonprofit organizations also involved in providing such public library services or the financing for the services, irrespective of whether the agencies are parties to the contract establishing the authority;
To employ agents and employees;
To cooperate with state and federal governments in all respects concerning the financing of such library services;
To acquire, hold, lease, as lessor or lessee, sell, or otherwise dispose of any real orpersonal property, commodity, or service;
(I) Subject to the provisions of subsection (9) of this section, to levy, in all of the areadescribed in subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (f) within the boundaries of the authority, a sales or use tax, or both, at a rate not to exceed one percent, upon every transaction or other incident with respect to which a sales or use tax is levied by the state pursuant to the provisions of article 26 of title 39, C.R.S. The tax imposed pursuant to this paragraph (f) is in addition to any other sales or use tax imposed pursuant to law. The executive director of the department of revenue shall collect, administer, and enforce the sales or use tax, to the extent feasible, in the manner provided in section 29-2-106, C.R.S. However, the executive director shall not begin the collection, administration, and enforcement of a sales and use tax until such time as the financial officer of the authority and the executive director have agreed on all necessary matters pursuant to subparagraph (III) of paragraph (f) of subsection (2) of this section. The executive director shall begin the collection, administration, and enforcement of a sales and use tax on a date mutually agreeable to the department of revenue and the authority.
The area in which the sales or use tax authorized by this paragraph (f) is levied shallnot include less than the entire area of any municipality located within the area in which the tax will be levied. The area may also include portions of unincorporated areas located within a county.
The executive director of the department of revenue shall make monthly distributions of the tax collections to the authority, which shall apply the proceeds solely to the acquisition, construction, financing, operation, or maintenance of public library services within the jurisdiction of the authority.
The department of revenue shall retain an amount not to exceed the cost of thecollection, administration, and enforcement and shall transmit the amount retained to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same amount to the regional library authority sales tax fund, which fund is hereby created in the state treasury. The amounts so retained are hereby appropriated annually from the fund to the department to the extent necessary for the department's collection, administration, and enforcement of the provisions of this section. Any moneys remaining in the fund attributable to taxes collected in the prior fiscal year shall be transmitted to the authority; except that prior to the transmission to the authority of such moneys, any moneys appropriated from the general fund to the department for the collection, administration, and enforcement of the tax for the prior fiscal year shall be repaid.
(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any sales tax authorized pursuant to subparagraph (I) of paragraph (f) of this subsection (3) shall not be levied on:
The sale of tangible personal property delivered by a retailer or a retailer's agent ordelivered to a common carrier for delivery to a destination outside the boundaries of the authority; and
The sale of tangible personal property on which a specific ownership tax has beenpaid or is payable when such sale meets the following conditions:
The purchaser does not reside within the boundaries of the authority or the purchaser's principal place of business is outside the boundaries of the authority; and
The personal property is registered or required to be registered outside the boundaries of the authority under the laws of this state.
Subject to the provisions of subsection (9) of this section, to levy, in all of the areawithin the boundaries of the authority, an ad valorem tax in accordance with the requirements of this section. The tax imposed pursuant to this paragraph (h) shall be in addition to any other ad valorem tax imposed pursuant to law. In accordance with the schedule prescribed by section 395-128, C.R.S., the board of the authority shall certify to the board of county commissioners of each county within the authority, or having a portion of its territory within the district, the levy of ad valorem property taxes in order that, at the time and in the manner required by law for the levying of taxes, such board of county commissioners shall levy such tax upon the valuation for assessment of all taxable property within the designated portion of the area within the boundaries of the authority. It is the duty of the body having authority to levy taxes within each county to levy the taxes provided by this subsection (3). It is the duty of all officials charged with the duty of collecting taxes to collect the taxes at the time and in the form and manner and with like interest and penalties as other taxes are collected and when collected to pay the same to the authority ordering the levy and collection. The payment of such collections shall be made monthly to the authority or paid into the depository thereof to the credit of the authority. All taxes levied under this paragraph (h), together with interest thereon and penalties for default in payment thereof, and all costs of collecting the same shall constitute, until paid, a perpetual lien on and against the property taxed, and the lien shall be on a parity with the tax lien of other general taxes.
To incur debts, liabilities, or obligations;
To sue and be sued in its own name;
To have and use a corporate seal;
To fix, maintain, and revise fees, rents, security deposits, and charges for functions,services, or facilities provided by the authority;
To adopt, by resolution, rules respecting the exercise of its powers and the carryingout of its purposes;
To exercise any other powers that are essential to the provision of functions, services,or facilities by the authority and that are specified in the contract; and
To do and perform any acts and things authorized by this section under, through, orby means of an agent or by contracts with any person, firm, or corporation.
The authority established by such contracting member governmental units shall be apolitical subdivision and a public corporation of the state, separate from the parties to the contract, and shall be a validly created and existing political subdivision and public corporation of the state, irrespective of whether a contracting member governmental unit withdraws, whether voluntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise, from the authority subsequent to its creation under circumstances not resulting in the rescission or termination of the contract establishing such authority pursuant to its terms. It shall have the duties, privileges, immunities, rights, liabilities, and disabilities of a public body politic and corporate. The authority may deposit and invest its moneys in the manner provided in section 43-4-616, C.R.S.
The bonds, notes, and other obligations of such authority shall not be the debts,liabilities, or obligations of the contracting member governmental units.
The contracting member governmental units may provide in the contract for paymentto the authority of funds from proprietary revenues for services rendered or facilities provided by the authority, from proprietary revenues or other public funds as contributions to defray the cost of any purpose set forth in the contract, and from proprietary revenues or other public funds as advances for any purpose subject to repayment by the authority.
The authority may issue revenue or general obligation bonds, as the term "bond" isdefined in section 43-4-602 (3), C.R.S., and may pledge its revenues and revenue-raising powers for the payment of the bonds. The bonds shall be issued on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in section 43-4-609, C.R.S.
The income or other revenues of the authority, all properties at any time owned by anauthority, any bonds issued by an authority, and the transfer of and the income from any bonds issued by the authority are exempt from all taxation and assessments in the state.
(a) No action by an authority to establish or increase any tax authorized by this section shall take effect unless first submitted to a vote of the registered electors residing within the boundaries of the authority in which the tax is proposed to be collected.
No action by an authority creating a multiple-fiscal year debt or other financial obligation that is subject to section 20 (4)(b) of article X of the state constitution shall take effect unless first submitted to a vote of the registered electors residing within the boundaries of the authority.
The questions proposed to the registered electors under paragraphs (a) and (b) of thissubsection (9) shall be submitted at a general election or any election to be held on the first Tuesday in November of an odd-numbered year. The action shall not take effect unless a majority of the registered electors voting thereon at the election vote in favor thereof. The election shall be conducted in substantially the same manner as county elections and the county clerk and recorder of each county in which the election is conducted shall assist the authority in conducting the election. The cost of the election shall be incurred by the contracting member governmental units that have formed the authority in proportion to the percentage of the population of the governmental units within the territorial boundaries of the authority. No moneys of the authority may be used to urge or oppose passage of an election required under this section.
(10) (a) For the purpose of determining any authority's fiscal year spending limit under section 20 (7)(b) of article X of the state constitution, the initial spending base of the authority shall be the amount of revenues collected by the authority from sources not excluded from fiscal year spending pursuant to section 20 (2)(e) of article X of the state constitution during the first full fiscal year for which the authority collected revenues.
(b) For purposes of this subsection (10), "fiscal year" means any year-long period used by an authority for fiscal accounting purposes.
An authority established by contracting member governmental units shall, if thecontract so provides, be the successor to any nonprofit corporation, agency, or other entity theretofore organized by the contracting member governmental units to provide the same function, service, or facility, and the authority shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges and shall assume all the obligations and liabilities of such other entity under existing contracts to which such other entity is a party.
(a) The authority granted pursuant to this section shall in no manner limit the powers of any governmental unit to cooperate on an intergovernmental basis, to enter into any contract with another governmental entity, or to establish a separate legal entity pursuant to the provisions of section 29-1-203, C.R.S., or any other applicable law, or otherwise to carry out their individual powers under applicable statutory or charter provisions, nor shall such authority limit the powers reserved to cities and towns pursuant to the state constitution.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any governmental unit that has enteredinto a contract for the purpose of forming an authority may form such authority in accordance with the requirements of this section without any effect on the ability of the unit to own its own property, maintain a separate governing body or board of trustees, levy its own taxes for library purposes, or retain its own identity.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing in this section shall be construedto authorize any one or more library districts to:
Form an authority without entering into a contract with one or more governmentalunits to form such authority in accordance with the requirements of this section; or
Exercise any of the powers of said authority, including, without limitation, the powerto levy a sales or use tax, in the absence of entering into a contract with one or more governmental units for the purpose of forming such authority in accordance with the requirements of this section.
Source: L. 2003: Entire section added, p. 2450, § 11, effective August 15. L. 2008:
(3)(f)(I) amended, p. 989, § 2, effective August 5.