A.R.S. tit. 48 ch. 8 — Arizona Revised Statutes Title 48 Chapter 8 — Community Park Maintenance Districts

48-1201. Definitions In this article, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Assessment" means a tax assessment made under this article for the purpose of financing the maintenance and operating costs of the district. 2. "Board" means the district board of directors. 3. "Chairman of the board" means the person designated to preside over meetings of the board of directors. 4. "Clerk" or "district clerk" means the clerk of the board of supervisors. 5. "Community park" means an area of developed or undeveloped land within the boundaries of a district not exceeding one hundred sixty acres in size which has been dedicated for unrestricted public use by a county, city or town or private entity. 6. "Department" means the parks and recreation department or the agency exercising the functions of a parks and recreation department of the county in which the major portion of the community park maintenance district is located or proposed to be established. 7. "District" means a community park maintenance district established pursuant to this article. 8. "Lot" includes any portion, piece, parcel or subdivision of land except a railroad right-of-way. 9. "Maintain" or "maintenance" means the maintenance of community parks certified for inclusion within a district by the board. Maintenance does not include capital improvements in community parks of any kind. 10. "Operating costs" includes personnel, equipment, necessary capital investments in maintenance of related real property and related costs. 11. "Owner" means the person in whose name legal title appears by recorded deed, or the person in possession under claim of title, as the person exercising acts of ownership for himself or as the personal representative of the owner, including the governing boards of school districts owning property within the district. 12. "Time of delinquency" means the time when assessments become delinquent. 13. "Treasurer" or "district treasurer" means the treasurer of the county in which the major portion of the district is situated. 14. "Unincorporated district area" means any portion of a district not within the limits of an incorporated city or town. 48-1202. Establishment of community park maintenance district; territory; purpose; approval A. In addition to the requirements for the establishment of a community park maintenance district as set forth in section 48-261, a district shall: 1. Include contiguous territories located in one or more counties. 2. Be formed only for the purpose of maintaining existing community parks that are certified by the board for inclusion in the district. The board of directors, subject to available tax revenues, may certify any existing community park within the district's boundaries that will facilitate and encourage the use and enjoyment of recreational land within the district. 3. Be approved by a vote of the board of supervisors for each of the counties in which the community park maintenance district is to be located, if proposed for territory that is located in more than one county. B. A leaseholder of real property is not authorized to sign a formation petition or a boundary change petition, and the board of supervisors may accept only the signature of the real property owner. 48-1206. Establishment of community park maintenance district; denial of petition; costs A. Following the hearing, if it appears after consideration of all objections that the petition is signed by the requisite numbers of registered voters, that the proposed maintenance and operating program for community parks within the district is necessary and that the public health, comfort, convenience, necessity or welfare will be promoted by establishment of the district, the boards of supervisors, by formal order, shall declare its findings, establish the boundaries and declare the district organized under a corporate name by which it shall be known in all proceedings. The boards of supervisors shall eliminate any territory described in the petition which it finds will not be benefited by establishment of the district. After the formal order of establishment the district is a body corporate with the powers of a municipal corporation for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this article. B. If the district is established, certified bills covering the costs of the boards of supervisors and the disbursements of the petitioners shall be presented to the board of directors of the district and paid from funds of the district. If the boards of supervisors find that the territory described in the petition should not be incorporated into a community park maintenance district, the boards shall dismiss the proceedings and may collect the costs on the bond of the petitioners. 48-1208. Board of directors; qualifications; term; appointment; election; compensation; expenses A. A district having an area of one hundred sixty acres or more shall be governed by a board of at least three directors. Members of the board of directors shall be registered voters of the district and, after the initial members, shall be elected by the registered voters of the district. The number of directors and the dates of elections and of expiration of terms of the directors shall be specified in the petition for establishment of the district pursuant to section 48-261. Candidates for a district board office shall file nominating petitions with the board of supervisors as prescribed by title 16, chapter 3. If only one person files or no person files a nominating petition for an election to fill a district office, the board of supervisors may cancel the election for the position and appoint the person who filed the nominating petition to fill the position. If no person files a nominating petition for an election to fill a district office, the board of supervisors may cancel the election for that office and that office is deemed vacant and shall be filled as otherwise provided by law. A person who is appointed pursuant to this section is fully vested with the powers and duties of the office as if elected to that office. B. A director who resides in an area which is deleted from the district during the director's term of office shall continue to serve until the next regular election, and until the director's successor is elected and qualified. If the director's term does not expire at that time, a new qualified director shall be elected to serve out the unexpired portion. C. A district having an area of less than one hundred sixty acres shall be governed by the boards of supervisors or their designees of the counties in which the district is located, and the boards of supervisors shall constitute the board of directors of the district. D. Members of the board are not eligible to receive compensation but are eligible for reimbursement of expenses pursuant to title 38, chapter 4, article 2. E. The board of directors shall annually elect from among its members a chairman of the board to serve as the chief executive officer of the board of directors of the district. 48-1209. Powers of community park maintenance district In addition to the powers specifically granted, a community park maintenance district, acting through its board of directors, may: 1. Maintain community parks certified for inclusion within the district by the board of directors. 2. Acquire in the name of the district any real or personal property or interest in property by gift, purchase, condemnation or otherwise and own, control, manage or dispose of such property or interest if necessary or convenient for the purpose specified in paragraph 1. Private funds or contributions received by a district for the purpose of defraying expenses of work done under its direction may be expended by the district in compliance with the terms and conditions under which such funds are received, provided the terms and conditions meet the approval of the board and are within the scope of the statutory powers and duties of the district. 3. Join with any other community park maintenance district, municipality or federal or state agency in the maintenance of community parks, located within or without the district, certified for jurisdictional inclusion in the district by the board. No community park may be maintained within an incorporated city or town or within one-half mile of an incorporated city or town without the consent of the governing body of the city or town as evidenced by a formal resolution or ordinance of approval. 4. Sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any property of the district or interest in the property if such property is no longer required for the purposes of the district or if use of it may be permitted without interfering with the use to which it is put by the district. 5. Sell or otherwise dispose of any by-product resulting from the maintenance of community parks within the district. 6. Pay expenses incidental to the exercise of its powers. 7. Employ staff to perform maintenance of community parks within the district. 8. Formulate and adopt rules and regulations necessary to operate community parks included within the district. 9. Levy a tax assessment pursuant to this article on the real property of the district sufficient to pay the maintenance and operating costs of the district. 48-1210. Tax levies; delinquency assessment A. Maintenance and related operating costs incurred by each district shall be paid from revenues derived from an annual tax levy on the real property located within the district. The real property of the district remains liable to taxes for payment of the prorated maintenance costs within the district until paid in full. B. If the district fails in any fiscal year to collect sufficient revenues through the regular tax levy to pay the required costs of community park maintenance within the district, the difference may be made up by an emergency levy in the current fiscal year under the restrictions of section 48-1211, subsection C, and, if not so made up, shall be included in a required levy the forthcoming fiscal year. C. On or before July 1 of each year the board of directors shall estimate the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation to defray maintenance and operation costs, taking into account any deficit or surplus from the preceding year, but not exceeding eighteen per cent of the appraised market value of the community park. The board shall certify the estimate to the county boards of supervisors on or before August 15. D. The boards of supervisors, at the time of levying general county taxes, shall levy and cause to be collected in the manner prescribed by law for county taxes a tax upon the real property located in the district, based upon the current assessment rolls, sufficient to pay the amount certified by the board of directors. If the board of directors fails to certify to the boards of supervisors the amount necessary, the boards of supervisors shall ascertain the amount which should have been certified and shall levy and cause to be collected a tax sufficient to produce that amount. E. The tax, when collected, shall be paid into the county treasury of the county in which the major portion of the district is situated to the credit of the maintenance and operating fund of the district. The monies shall be used strictly for the payment of maintenance and related operating costs incurred by the district. F. The boards of supervisors shall annually establish a time of delinquency for payment of the tax levied pursuant to this section. The failure to pay the regular tax when due subjects the owner of the real property in question to an additional delinquency assessment of fifteen per cent in addition to the amount already owed. 48-1211. Fees, rentals and service charges; reserve fund A. The board of directors may charge and collect fees, rentals and service charges for any service performed or property furnished by the district. Revenue derived from such sources shall be paid into the maintenance and operating fund of the district established pursuant to section 48-1210, subsection E or to the reserve fund established pursuant to subsection B of this section. B. The proceedings for the collection of a tax levy under section 48-1210 may provide for the establishment of a reserve fund in an amount found by the board of directors to be sufficient to secure payment of all potential maintenance and operating costs if the regular tax levy fails to collect sufficient monies to fund ordinary maintenance and operating costs for the district. The reserve fund may be funded from either excess revenues from the regular tax levy or from fees, rentals and service charges collected pursuant to this section. C. Whenever the regular tax levy generates revenues insufficient to meet actual maintenance and regulated operating costs for the district in any fiscal year, the reserve fund shall be exhausted before making an emergency assessment levy on the real property located in the district. 48-1212. Dissolution of community park maintenance district; disposition of property; tax for outstanding indebtedness A. A district organized under this article which has no outstanding legal indebtedness may be dissolved on a vote of a majority of the registered voters of the district at a special election called by the board of directors on the question of dissolution. If a majority of the votes cast favors dissolution, the board shall by resolution declare the district dissolved. Within fifteen days after its adoption, a certified copy of the resolution shall be filed with the clerk of the boards of supervisors of the counties in which the district was located. B. Upon dissolution of a district the property of the district which is located in the corporate limits of a city or town vests in that city or town. Other property of the district vests in the county. Any funds of the district at the time of dissolution shall be transferred to the incorporated city or town and to the county in direct proportion to the assessed valuation of taxable real property within the city, town or county, respectively, as it appears on the current assessment rolls. C. After dissolution of a district, if it appears that there remains unpaid a legal indebtedness, the boards of supervisors of the counties in which the district was located shall levy a tax on the real property within the district, as it existed at the time of dissolution, sufficient to pay the indebtedness and interest on the indebtedness and shall pay the indebtedness and interest from the proceeds of the tax. 48-1213. Alternative method of dissolution of community park maintenance district A. A district organized under this article, the territory of which is wholly included within the corporate limits of a city or town, may be dissolved in the following manner: 1. The board of directors shall approve the transfer of all powers, duties and responsibilities of the board, officers and employees of the district to such city or town, as trustee, and the dissolution of the district by ordinance or resolution. 2. The governing body of the city or town shall approve the acceptance of the trusteeship of the district by ordinance or resolution. 3. Within thirty days after the date of the passage of the latter of the ordinances or resolutions called for in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this subsection, the governing body of the city or town shall call a special election of the city or town on the question of whether to accept the trusteeship of the district. The election shall take place on such date as the governing body may designate but not more than sixty days after the ordinance or resolution calling the election is passed, except that no election may be called within twelve months from the date of a previous election called for the same purpose. Only registered voters of the city or town are eligible to vote on the question. 4. When, on the basis of the adoption of the ordinances and resolutions under paragraphs 1 and 2 of this subsection, an election is called upon the question of acceptance of the trusteeship under paragraph 3 of this subsection, the board of directors of the district shall also call, at the same time as the election provided for in paragraph 3 of this subsection is called, a separate election among the registered voters of the district on the question of dissolution of the district. B. If a majority of registered voters of the city or town voting on the question approves it, and a majority of the registered voters of the district voting on the question approves it, the district shall be dissolved as provided in this section. If the registered voters voting in the election conducted pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 3 of this section fail to accept the trusteeship or if the registered voters voting in the election conducted pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section fail to approve dissolution, the district shall not be dissolved and the proceedings shall be terminated. C. If the district has no legal indebtedness or when all legal indebtedness has been discharged or assumed by the city or town, after otherwise complying with this section, the governing body of the city or town shall as trustees of the district by resolution declare the district dissolved. Within three days after its adoption, a certified copy of the resolution shall be filed with the clerk of the governing body of the city or town in which the district is situated. D. If the district has legal indebtedness following approval of dissolution as provided in this section, the district shall be administered as provided in this section. Pending dissolution, the administration of district affairs vests in trust in the governing body of the city or town. Members of the governing body of the city or town are trustees of the district for all purposes of the district and as such have the powers and duties prescribed for the board of directors of the district. Such trustees may, except as provided by law, operate the facilities of the district. Indebtedness on behalf of the district does not become indebtedness or obligations of such city or town, except that such city or town is responsible as trustees to insure that all obligations and debts of the district are paid when due from funds available to the trustees from the district. Until dissolution, nothing precludes a district from otherwise continuing to carry on its activities and transacting its business, or from entering into contracts and agreements otherwise authorized or from transferring any property of the district to each city or town. E. Members of the board of directors, if the terms of such members have not expired, serve as an advisory board to the trustees under subsection D of this section and to the governing body of the city or town following dissolution until expiration of the terms or earlier vacancy, and thereafter the office is abolished. F. Upon dissolution of a district pursuant to this section, all property of the district vests in the city or town. G. Notwithstanding section 9-514, the affirmative vote on the dissolution of the district by both the district and the affected city or town under the provisions of this section vests in the city or town authority to construct, purchase, acquire or lease any plant or property for the purpose of community park maintenance and is also authority for the city or town to assume the obligations of a district through the issuance of bonds pursuant to title 9, chapter 5, article 3 and in amounts not exceeding the outstanding value of all obligations of the district. H. The election held pursuant to this section is deemed to be the election required by section 48-1212. 48-1214. Reimbursement for county services Services provided by a county to a community park maintenance district are subject to reimbursement pursuant to section 11-251.06.