Assembly Bill No. 149–Committee on
Government Affairs

 

CHAPTER..........

 

AN ACT relating to local government finance; authorizing a special district to petition the Department of Taxation for a conditional exemption from the requirement of providing for an annual audit under certain circumstances; excepting the receipt by a local government of certain revenue from
the prohibition against the expenditure of any money or the incurrence of any liability by the local government in excess of the amounts appropriated for that function; 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. NRS 354.475 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    354.475  1.  All special districts subject to the provisions of

the Local Government Budget and Finance Act with annual total

expenditures of less than $200,000 may petition the Department of

Taxation for exemption from the requirements of the Local

Government Budget and Finance Act for the filing of certain budget

documents and audit reports. Such districts may further petition to

use a cash basis of accounting. [The minimum required of such

districts is the filing with the Department of Taxation of an annual

budget on or before April 15 of each year and the filing of fiscal

reports in accordance with NRS 354.6015. Such petitions]

    2.  A special district subject to the provisions of the Local

Government Budget and Finance Act with budgeted annual total

expenditures of $200,000 or more in a fiscal year that reasonably

anticipates its actual annual total expenditures for that fiscal year

will be less than $200,000 may petition the Department of

Taxation for a conditional exemption from the requirement of

providing for an annual audit pursuant to NRS 354.624 for that

fiscal year. If the actual annual total expenditures of the special

district are $200,000 or more, the special district shall provide for

an annual audit for that fiscal year.

    3.  A petition filed with the Department of Taxation:

    (a) Pursuant to subsection 1 must be received by the

Department of Taxation on or before [April 15] March 1 to be

effective for the succeeding fiscal year [or, in a case of an annual

audit exemption,] ; or

    (b) Pursuant to subsection 2 must be received by the

Department of Taxation on or before March 1 to be effective for

the current fiscal year.

    4.  A board of county commissioners may request the

Department of Taxation to audit the financial records of [such an

exempt district.

    2.  Such districts are] a special district that is exempt from the

requirement of providing for an annual audit pursuant to this

section.

    5.  If a petition filed by a special district pursuant to

subsection 1 is granted by the Department of Taxation:

    (a) The minimum required of the special district is the filing

with the Department of Taxation of an annual budget on or before

April 15 of each year and the filing of fiscal reports in accordance

with NRS 354.6015; and

    (b) The special district is exempt from all publication

requirements of the Local Government Budget and Finance Act,

except that the Department of Taxation by regulation shall require

an annual publication of a notice of budget adoption and filing.

    6.  The Committee on Local Government Finance shall adopt

regulations pursuant to NRS 354.594 which are necessary to carry

out the purposes of this section.

    [3.] 7. The revenue recorded in accounts that are kept on a cash

basis must consist of cash items.

    [4.] 8. As used in this section, “cash basis” means the system

of accounting under which revenues are recorded only when

received and expenditures or expenses are recorded only when paid.

    Sec. 2.  NRS 354.5945 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    354.5945  1.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 6, on

or before July 1 of each year, each local government shall prepare,

on a form prescribed by the Department of Taxation for use by local

governments, a capital improvement plan for the ensuing 5 fiscal

years.

    2.  Each local government [must] shall submit a copy of the

capital improvement plan of the local government to the:

    (a) Department of Taxation; and

    (b) Debt management commission of the county in which the

local government is located.

    3.  Each local government [must] shall file a copy of the capital

improvement plan of the local government for public record and

inspection by the public in the offices of:

    (a) The clerk or secretary of the governing body; and

    (b) The county clerk.

    4.  The total amount of the expenditures contained in the capital

improvement plan of the local government for the next ensuing

fiscal year must equal the total amount of expenditures for capital

outlay set forth in the final budget of the local government for each

fund listed in that budget.

    5.  The capital improvement plan must reconcile the capital

outlay in each fund in the final budget for the first year of the capital

improvement plan to the final budget in the next ensuing fiscal year.

The reconciliation must identify the minimum level of expenditure

for items classified as capital assets in the final budget and the

minimum level of expenditure for items classified as capital projects

in the capital improvement plan. The reconciliation of capital outlay

items in the capital improvement plan must be presented on forms

created and distributed by the Department of Taxation.

    6.  Local governments that are exempt from the requirements of

the Local Government Budget and Finance Act pursuant to

subsection 1 of NRS 354.475 are not required to file a capital

improvement plan.

    Sec. 3.  NRS 354.626 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    354.626  1.  No governing body or member thereof, officer,

office, department or agency may, during any fiscal year, expend or

contract to expend any money or incur any liability, or enter into

any contract which by its terms involves the expenditure of money,

in excess of the amounts appropriated for that function, other than

bond repayments, medium-term obligation repayments[,] and any

other long-term contract expressly authorized by law. Any officer or

employee of a local government who willfully violates NRS

354.470 to 354.626, inclusive, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon

conviction thereof ceases to hold his office or employment.

Prosecution for any violation of this section may be conducted by

the Attorney General, or, in the case of incorporated cities, school

districts or special districts, by the district attorney.

    2.  Without limiting the generality of the exceptions contained

in subsection 1, the provisions of this section specifically do not

apply to:

    (a) Purchase of coverage and professional services directly

related to a program of insurance which require an audit at the end

of the term thereof.

    (b) Long-term cooperative agreements as authorized by chapter

277 of NRS.

    (c) Long-term contracts in connection with planning and zoning

as authorized by NRS 278.010 to 278.630, inclusive.

    (d) Long-term contracts for the purchase of utility service such

as, but not limited to, heat, light, sewerage, power, water and

telephone service.

    (e) Contracts between a local government and an employee

covering professional services to be performed within 24 months

following the date of such contract or contracts entered into between

local government employers and employee organizations.

    (f) Contracts between a local government and any person for the

construction or completion of public works, money for which has

been or will be provided by the proceeds of a sale of bonds,

medium-term obligations or an installment-purchase agreement and

that are entered into by the local government after:

        (1) Any election required for the approval of the bonds or

installment-purchase agreement has been held;

        (2) Any approvals by any other governmental entity required

to be obtained before the bonds, medium-term obligations or

installment-purchase agreement can be issued have been obtained;

and

        (3) The ordinance or resolution that specifies each of the

terms of the bonds, medium-term obligations or installment-

purchase agreement, except those terms that are set forth in

[paragraphs (a) to (e), inclusive, of] subsection 2 of NRS 350.165,

has been adopted.

Neither the fund balance of a governmental fund nor the equity

balance in any proprietary fund may be used unless appropriated in

a manner provided by law.

    (g) Contracts which are entered into by a local government and

delivered to any person solely for the purpose of acquiring supplies,

services and equipment necessarily ordered in the current fiscal year

for use in an ensuing fiscal year[,] and which, under the method of

accounting adopted by the local government, will be charged against

an appropriation of a subsequent fiscal year. Purchase orders

evidencing such contracts are public records available for inspection

by any person on demand.

    (h) Long-term contracts for the furnishing of television or FM

radio broadcast translator signals as authorized by NRS 269.127.

    (i) The receipt and proper expenditure of money received

pursuant to a grant awarded by an agency of the Federal

Government.

    (j) The incurrence of obligations beyond the current fiscal year

under a lease or contract for installment purchase which contains a

provision that the obligation incurred thereby is extinguished by the

failure of the governing body to appropriate money for the ensuing

fiscal year for the payment of the amounts then due.

    (k) The receipt by a local government of increased revenue

that:

        (1) Was not anticipated in the preparation of the final

budget of the local government; and

        (2) Is required by statute to be remitted to another

governmental entity.

    Sec. 4.  This act becomes effective on July 1, 2003.

 

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