257.3 - FOUNDATION PROPERTY TAX.

        257.3  FOUNDATION PROPERTY TAX.
         1.  Amount of tax.  Except as provided in subsections 2 and 3,
      a school district shall cause to be levied each year, for the school
      general fund, a foundation property tax equal to five dollars and
      forty cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation on all taxable
      property in the district.  The county auditor shall spread the
      foundation levy over all taxable property in the district.
         The amount paid to each school district for the tax replacement
      claim for industrial machinery, equipment and computers under section
      427B.19A shall be regarded as property tax.  The portion of the
      payment which is foundation property tax shall be determined by
      applying the foundation property tax rate to the amount computed
      under section 427B.19, subsection 3, paragraph "a", as adjusted
      by paragraph "d", if any adjustment was made.
         Replacement taxes under chapter 437A shall be regarded as property
      taxes for purposes of this chapter.
         2.  Tax for reorganized and dissolved districts.
         a.  Notwithstanding subsection 1, a reorganized school
      district shall cause a foundation property tax of four dollars and
      forty cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation to be levied
      on all taxable property which, in the year preceding a
      reorganization, was within a school district affected by the
      reorganization as defined in section 275.1, or in the year preceding
      a dissolution was a part of a school district that dissolved if the
      dissolution proposal has been approved by the director of the
      department of education pursuant to section 275.55.
         b.  In succeeding school years, the foundation property tax
      levy on that portion shall be increased to the rate of four dollars
      and ninety cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation the first
      succeeding year, five dollars and fifteen cents per thousand dollars
      of assessed valuation the second succeeding year, and five dollars
      and forty cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation the third
      succeeding year and each year thereafter.
         c.  The foundation property tax levy reduction pursuant to
      this subsection shall be available if either of the following apply:
         (1)  In the year preceding the reorganization or dissolution, the
      school district affected by the reorganization or the school district
      that dissolved had a certified enrollment of fewer than six hundred
      pupils.
         (2)  In the year preceding the reorganization or dissolution, the
      school district affected by the reorganization or the school district
      that dissolved had a certified enrollment of six hundred pupils or
      greater, and entered into a reorganization or dissolution with one or
      more school districts with a certified enrollment of fewer than six
      hundred pupils.  The amount of foundation property tax reduction
      received by a school district qualifying for the reduction pursuant
      to this subparagraph shall not exceed the highest reduction amount
      provided in paragraphs "a" and "b" received by any of the
      school districts with a certified enrollment of fewer than six
      hundred pupils involved in the reorganization pursuant to
      subparagraph (1) of this paragraph "c".
         d.  For purposes of this section, a reorganized school
      district is one which absorbs at least thirty percent of the
      enrollment of the school district affected by a reorganization or
      dissolved during a dissolution and in which action to bring about a
      reorganization or dissolution is initiated by a vote of the board of
      directors or jointly by the affected boards of directors to take
      effect on or after July 1, 2007, and on or before July 1, 2014.  Each
      district which initiated, by a vote of the board of directors or
      jointly by the affected boards, action to bring about a
      reorganization or dissolution to take effect on or after July 1,
      2007, and on or before July 1, 2014, shall certify the date and the
      nature of the action taken to the department of education by January
      1 of the year in which the reorganization or dissolution takes
      effect.  For a reorganization or dissolution that took effect on or
      after July 1, 2002, and on or before July 1, 2006, the reorganized
      school district shall continue to receive the benefits of paragraphs
      "a" and "b" of this subsection for the time specified in
      those paragraphs.
         3.  Railway corporations.  For purposes of section 257.1, the
      "amount per pupil of foundation property tax" does not include
      the tax levied under subsection 1 or 2 on the property of a railway
      corporation, or on its trustee if the corporation has been declared
      bankrupt or is in bankruptcy proceedings.  
         Section History: Recent Form
         89 Acts, ch 135, § 3; 91 Acts, ch 178, §1; 93 Acts, ch 180, §
      92--95; 95 Acts, ch 206, §34; 98 Acts, ch 1194, § 27, 40; 2001 Acts,
      ch 126, §1--3; 2003 Acts, ch 180, §10, 71; 2007 Acts, ch 130, §1
         Referred to in § 275.55