SUMMARY--Imposes sales and use taxes for water and wastewater facilities in certain larger counties. (BDR 32-1485)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to taxation; imposing sales and use taxes for water and wastewater facilities in certain larger counties; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 Title 32 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a new chapter to consist of the provisions set forth as sections 2 to 13, inclusive, of this act.
Sec. 2. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the words and terms defined in sections 3, 4 and 5 of this act have the meanings ascribed to them in those sections.
Sec. 3. "Wastewater facilities" means:
1. Any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature, including outfall sewers, pumping, power and other equipment, and their appurtenances;
2. Extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions and alterations of any device or system described in subsection 1;
3. Units essential to provide a reliable recycled supply of water, such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and
4. Land that is or will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used for the ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment.
Sec. 4. "Water authority" means a water authority organized as a public agency or an entity created by cooperative agreement pursuant to chapter 277 of NRS by the three largest retail purveyors in the county that is responsible for the acquisition, treatment and delivery of water and water resources on a wholesale basis to utilities, governmental agencies and entities and other large customers.
Sec. 5. "Water facilities" means facilities pertaining to a water system for the collection, transportation, treatment, purification and distribution of water, including, without limitation, springs, wells, ponds, lakes, water rights, other raw water sources, basin cribs, dams, spillways, retarding basins, detention basins, reservoirs, towers and other storage facilities, pumping plants, infiltration galleries, filtration plants, purification systems, other water treatment facilities, waterworks plants, pumping stations, gauging stations, ventilating facilities, stream gauges, rain gauges, valves, standpipes, connections, hydrants, conduits, flumes, sluices, canals, channels, ditches, pipes, lines, laterals, service pipes, force mains, submains, siphons, other water transmission and distribution mains, engines, boilers, pumps, meters, apparatus, tools, equipment, fixtures, structures, buildings and other facilities for the acquisition, transportation, treatment, purification and distribution of untreated water or potable water for domestic, commercial and industrial use and irrigation, or any combination thereof.
Sec. 6. 1. In each county whose population is 400,000 or more:
(a) For the privilege of selling tangible personal property at retail, a tax is hereby imposed upon all retailers at the rate of one-quarter of one percent of the gross receipts of any retailer from the sale of all tangible personal property sold at retail in the county.
(b) An excise tax is hereby imposed on the storage, use or other consumption in the county of tangible personal property purchased from any retailer for storage, use or other consumption in the county at the rate of one-quarter of one percent of the sales price of the property. The tax is imposed on all property that was acquired out of state in a transaction which would have been a taxable sale if it had occurred within this state.
2. The sales and use taxes imposed by subsection 1 must be collected in the manner provided in chapter 374 of NRS, and all of the provisions of chapter 374 of NRS, not inconsistent with this chapter, apply to the sales and use taxes imposed by this chapter.
Sec. 7. There is hereby exempted from the taxes imposed by this chapter the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use or other consumption in a county of, tangible personal property used for the performance of a written contract for the construction of an improvement to real property, entered into on or before the effective date of the taxes, or for which a binding bid was submitted before that date if the bid was afterward accepted, if under the terms of the contract or bid the contract price or bid amount cannot be adjusted to reflect the imposition of the taxes.
Sec. 8. 1. All fees, taxes, interest and penalties imposed and all amounts of tax required to be paid to the counties pursuant to this chapter must be paid to the department in the form of remittances payable to the department.
2. The department shall deposit the payments with the state treasurer for credit to the sales and use tax account in the state general fund.
3. The state controller, acting upon the collection data furnished by the department, shall monthly:
(a) Transfer from the sales and use tax account to the appropriate account in the state general fund a percentage of all fees, taxes, interest and penalties collected pursuant to this chapter during the preceding month as compensation to the state for the cost of collecting the taxes. The percentage to be transferred pursuant to this paragraph must be the same percentage as the percentage of proceeds transferred pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 3 of NRS 374.785 but the percentage must be applied to the proceeds collected pursuant to this chapter only.
(b) Determine for each county an amount of money equal to any fees, taxes, interest and penalties collected in or for that county pursuant to this chapter during the preceding month, less the amount transferred to the state general fund pursuant to paragraph (a).
(c) Transfer the amount determined for each county to the intergovernmental fund and remit the money to the treasurer for the water authority, or if no water authority exists, to the county treasurer.
Sec. 9. The department may redistribute any fee, tax, interest and penalty to the county entitled thereto, but no such redistribution may be made as to amounts originally distributed more than 6 months before the date on which the department obtains knowledge of the improper distribution.
Sec. 10. 1. The treasurer for the water authority or the county treasurer shall deposit the money received from the state controller pursuant to section 8 of this act in the county treasury for credit to a fund to be known as the water and wastewater facilities fund.
2. The water and wastewater facilities fund must be accounted for as a separate fund and not as a part of any other fund.
Sec. 11. 1. In each county in which a water authority exists, the water authority shall exercise the powers conferred by this section. In such a county in which there is no water authority, the board of county commissioners shall act as the water authority to exercise the powers conferred by this section.
2. A water authority may:
(a) Provide for or perform all functions incident to the administration and operation of the water and wastewater facilities, including the establishment of fees for the use of the facilities or services provided; and
(b) Adopt regulations for the operation of systems or services provided through the water and wastewater facilities and for systems or services financed by the water authority and provided by an agency or a private contractor.
3. The money in the water and wastewater facilities fund, including the interest and any other income from the fund, may only be expended by the water authority for:
(a) The acquisition, establishment, construction, improvement and equipping of water and wastewater facilities;
(b) The payment of principal and interest on notes, bonds or other securities issued to provide money for the cost of projects described in paragraph (a); or
(c) Any combination of those purposes.
Sec. 12. 1. Money for the payment of the cost of establishing and maintaining water and wastewater facilities may be obtained by the issuance of bonds and other securities as provided in subsection 2, or, subject to any pledges, liens and other contractual limitations made pursuant to this chapter, may be obtained by direct distribution from the water and wastewater facilities fund, or may be obtained both by the issuance of such securities and by such direct distribution as the water authority may determine.
2. The water authority, or if so provided in an interlocal agreement to which the water authority is a party, one or more of the members of the water authority, may from time to time issue bonds and other securities which are general or special obligations and which may be secured as to principal and interest by a pledge authorized by this chapter of the receipts from the taxes imposed by this chapter.
Sec. 13. 1. Each document providing for the issuance of any bond or security issued pursuant to this chapter payable from the receipts of the taxes imposed by this chapter or revenue generated by the water or wastewater facilities, or both, may, in addition to covenants and other provisions authorized in the Local Government Securities Law, contain a covenant or other provision to pledge and create a lien upon the receipts of the tax or the revenue generated by the water or wastewater facilities or upon the proceeds of any bond or security pending their application to defray the cost of establishing, operating or maintaining water and wastewater facilities, or any combination of the tax proceeds, generated revenue or security proceeds, to secure the payment of any bond or security issued under this chapter.
2. Any money pledged to the payment of bonds or other securities pursuant to subsection 1 may be treated as pledged revenues of the project for the purposes of subsection 3 of NRS 350.020.
Sec. 14. This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.