O.C.G.A. § 48-8-260 — Deﬁnitions

As used in this article, the term: (1) “Intergovernmental agreement” means a contract entered into pursuant to Article IX, Section III, Paragraph I of the Constitution. (2) “Mass transportation” means any mode of transportation serving the general public which is appropriate to transport people by highways or rail. (3) “Qualiﬁed municipality” means a qualiﬁed municipality as deﬁned in paragraph (4) of Code Section 48-8-110 which is located wholly or partly within a special district. (4) “Transportation purposes” means and includes: (A) Roads, bridges, public transit, rails, airports, buses, seaports, including without limitation road, street, and bridge purposes pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Code Section 48-8-121, and all accompanying infrastructure and services necessary to provide access to these transportation facilities, including new general obligation debt and other multiyear obligations issued to ﬁnance such purposes; 1030 48-8-261 (B) The retirement of previously incurred general obligation debt with respect only to such purposes as identiﬁed in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; (C) A capital outlay project or projects under subparagraph (a)(1)(M) of Code Section 48-8-111, with respect only to such purposes as identiﬁed in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; or (D) Any combination of two or more of the foregoing. History. Code 1981, § 48-8-260, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 236, § 7-5/HB 170; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1443, § 2/HB 106; Ga. L. 2016, p. 105, § 2-1/SB 369; Ga. L. 2017, p. 179, § 1/HB 134; Ga. L. 2024, p. 680, § 1/HB 946, effective May 6, 2024. Amendments. The 2024 amendment, effective May 6, 2024, deleted “, but only if an intergovernmental agreement has been entered into under this part” from the end of subparagraph (4)(B). See Editor’s notes for applicability. Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2024, p. 680, § 7/HB 946, not codiﬁed by the General Assembly, makes subparagraph (4)(B) of this Code section not applicable to or affect any intergovernmental agreement entered into prior to May 6, 2024. 48-8-261. Creation of special districts; authority to impose a transportation special purpose local option sales and use tax. (a) Pursuant to the authority granted by Article IX, Section II, Paragraph VI of the Constitution of this state, 159 special districts are created within this state. The geographical boundary of each county shall correspond with and shall be conterminous with the geographical boundary of the 159 special districts created. (b) Any county: (1) That is not located within a special district levying a special sales and use tax pursuant to Article 5 of this chapter; (2) That is not deﬁned as a metropolitan county special district that is governed by the provisions of Part 2 of this article; and (3) In which a tax is currently being levied and collected pursuant to: (A) Part 1 of Article 3 of this chapter; (B) A local constitutional amendment for purposes of a metropolitan area system of public transportation set out at Ga. L. 1964, p. 1008, and the laws enacted pursuant to such local constitutional amendment; or (C) Code Section 48-8-96 may, by following the procedures required by this part, impose for a limited period of time within the special district under this part a 1031 48-8-262 transportation special purpose local option sales and use tax, the proceeds of which shall be used only for transportation purposes. (c) At any time, more than one tax under this part shall be authorized to be imposed concurrently within a special district as long as the combined rate of the taxes does not exceed 1 percent. History. Code 1981, § 48-8-261, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 236, § 7-5/HB 170; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1443, § 2/HB 106; Ga. L. 2016, p. 105, § 2-1/SB 369; Ga. L. 2017, p. 179, § 2/HB 134. 48-8-262. Notice; agreement memorializing levy and rate of tax; rate; resolution required. (a) Prior to the issuance of the call for the referendum required by Code Section 48-8-263, any county that desires to levy a tax under this part shall: (1) Determine whether the region has proposed a referendum on a tax under Article 5 of this chapter. This determination shall be based on whether, pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c) of Code Section 48-8-245, a majority of the governing authorities of counties within the region containing the county proposing the tax have passed resolutions calling for the levy of a tax under Article 5 of this chapter. If a majority of the governing authorities of the counties in the region have passed such a resolution, the county proposing a tax under this part shall postpone the referendum under this part until the regional referendum has been decided. No ballot shall propose a tax under this part and under Article 5 of this chapter at the same election; (2) After the determination under paragraph (1) of this subsection has been made, if a county is qualiﬁed to levy a tax under this part, deliver or mail a written notice to the mayor or chief elected official in each qualiﬁed municipality located within the special district. Such notice shall contain the date, time, place, and purpose of a meeting at which the governing authorities of the county and of each qualiﬁed municipality are to meet to discuss possible projects for inclusion in the referendum and the rate of tax. The notice shall be delivered or mailed at least ten days prior to the date of the meeting. The meeting shall be held at least 30 days prior to the issuance of the call for the referendum. (b)(1) Following the meeting required by paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of this Code section and prior to any tax being imposed under this part, the county and qualiﬁed municipalities therein shall execute an intergovernmental agreement memorializing their agreement to the levy of a tax and the rate of such tax. 1032 48-8-262 (2) The intergovernmental agreement required by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall, at a minimum, include the following: (A) A list of the projects and purposes qualifying as transportation purposes proposed to be funded from the tax, including an expenditure of at least 30 percent of the estimated revenue from the tax on projects consistent with the state-wide strategic transportation plan as deﬁned in paragraph (6) of subsection (a) of Code Section 32-2-22; (B) The estimated or projected dollar amounts allocated for each transportation purpose from proceeds from the tax; (C) The procedures for distributing proceeds from the tax to qualiﬁed municipalities; (D) A schedule for distributing proceeds from the tax to qualiﬁed municipalities which shall include the priority or order in which transportation purposes will be fully or partially funded; (E) A provision that all transportation purposes included in the agreement shall be funded from proceeds from the tax except as otherwise agreed; (F) A provision that proceeds from the tax shall be maintained in separate accounts and utilized exclusively for the speciﬁed purposes; (G) Record-keeping and audit procedures necessary to carry out the purposes of this part; and (H) Such other provisions as the county and qualiﬁed municipalities choose to address. (c)(1) If an intergovernmental agreement is entered into by the county and one or more qualiﬁed municipalities within the special district, and the combined population of the territory of all qualiﬁed municipalities lying within the special district which are absent from the agreement is less than one-half of the total population of the territory of all qualiﬁed municipalities lying within the special district, then the rate of the tax may be up to 1 percent, provided that such intergovernmental agreement provides for the percentage or the proceeds of the tax collected pursuant to this part that each absent municipality is to receive, which shall not be less than the absent municipality minimum percentage. (2) As used in this subsection, the term: (A) “Absent municipality minimum percentage” means, for any given absent municipality, the product of the absent municipality ratio and the percentage of the total proceeds in the intergovernmental agreement that are not allocated to the county. 1033 48-8-262 (B) “Absent municipality ratio” means, for any given municipality, the sum of its municipal population ratio and its municipal centerline mile ratio. (C) “Municipal centerline mile ratio” means, for any given municipality, the product of 0.67 multiplied by the quotient of the municipality’s total paved and unpaved centerline road miles within the special district divided by the total paved and unpaved centerline road miles for all municipal roads within the special district. (D) “Municipal population ratio” means, for any given municipality, the product of 0.33 multiplied by the quotient of the municipality’s population which is located inside the special district divided by the total municipal population of the special district. (3)(A) For purposes of determining population in this subsection, the most recent census estimates published by the Bureau of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce prior to the date the intergovernmental agreement was entered into shall be used. (B) For purposes of determining the paved and unpaved centerline road miles, the most recent annual certiﬁcation of paved and unpaved centerline road miles submitted by a local government to the Georgia Department of Transportation prior to the date the intergovernmental agreement was entered into shall be used. (4) Any intergovernmental agreement entered into pursuant to this subsection shall provide for the disbursement of proceeds in an amount which shall account for 100 percent. (d)(1) As soon as practicable after the meeting between the governing authorities of the county and qualiﬁed municipalities and the execution of an intergovernmental agreement, the governing authority of the county shall by a majority vote on a resolution offered for such purpose submit the list of transportation purposes and the question of whether the tax should be approved to electors of the special district in the next scheduled election and shall notify the county election superintendent within the special district by forwarding to the superintendent a copy of such resolution calling for the imposition of the tax. Such list, or a digest thereof, shall be available during regular business hours in the office of the county clerk. (2) The resolution authorized by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall describe: (A) The speciﬁc transportation purposes to be funded; 1034 48-8-263 (B) The approximate cost of such transportation purposes, which shall be the maximum amount of net proceeds to be raised by the tax; provided, however, that, if an intergovernmental agreement has been entered into pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section, the maximum amount of net proceeds to be raised shall correspond to the period of time the tax shall be imposed as set forth in subparagraph (C) of this paragraph; and (C) The maximum period of time, to be stated in calendar years, for which the tax may be imposed and the rate thereof. The maximum period of time for the imposition of the tax shall not exceed ﬁve years; provided, however, that, if an intergovernmental agreement is entered into by a county and all qualiﬁed municipalities within the special district, the maximum period of time for the imposition of the tax shall not exceed six years. History. Code 1981, § 48-8-262, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 236, § 7-5/HB 170; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1443, § 2/HB 106; Ga. L. 2016, p. 105, § 2-1/SB 369; Ga. L. 2017, p. 179, § 3/HB 134; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 48/HB 323; Ga. L. 2022, p. 256, § 1/HB 934; Ga. L. 2024, p. 680, § 2/HB 946, effective May 6, 2024. Amendments. The 2022 amendment, effective May 2, 2022, in subparagraph (d)(2)(B), deleted “also” following “shall” near the beginning, and added the proviso near the end. See Editor’s notes for applicability. The 2024 amendment, effective May 6, 2024, in paragraph (b)(1), deleted “all” preceding “qualiﬁed” and substituted “shall” for “may”; in paragraph (b)(2), substituted “The” for “If an” at the beginning, “required” for “authorized” near the middle, and deleted “is entered into, it” following “subsection”; substituted the current provisions of subsection (c) for the former provisions, which read: “(1) If an intergovernmental agreement is entered into by the county and all qualiﬁed municipalities, the rate of the tax may be up to 1 percent. “(2) If an intergovernmental agreement is not entered into by the county and all qualiﬁed municipalities, the maximum rate of the tax shall not exceed 0.75 percent and such rate shall be determined by the governing authority of the county.”; deleted “, if applicable,” following “agreement” in the ﬁrst sentence in paragraph (d)(1); and added the proviso at the end of subparagraph (d)(2)(C). See Editor’s notes for applicability.