20-9-518. County school oil and natural gas impact fund. (1) The governing body of a county receiving an allocation under 20-9-310(4)(b) shall establish a county school oil and natural gas impact fund.
     (2) Money received by a county pursuant to 20-9-310(4)(b) must remain in the fund and may not be appropriated by the governing body until:
     (a) the amount of oil and natural gas production taxes received by a school district for the fiscal year is 50% or less of the amount of the average received by the district in the previous 4 fiscal years; or
     (b) the average price for a barrel of oil as reported in the Wall Street Journal for west Texas intermediate crude oil during a calendar quarter is less than $65 a barrel. The average price for each barrel must be computed by dividing the sum of the daily price for west Texas intermediate crude oil as reported in the Wall Street Journal for the calendar quarter by the number of days on which the price was reported in the quarter.
     (3) (a) Within 120 days following the end of the fiscal year, the superintendent of public instruction shall determine if the criteria in subsection (2)(a) have been met and the department of revenue shall determine if the criteria in subsection (2)(b) have been met.
     (b) If it is determined under subsection (3)(a) that the criteria in subsection (2)(a) or (2)(b) have been met, the superintendent of public instruction or the department of revenue shall notify the county treasurer.
     (4) Upon notification under subsection (3)(b), the county treasurer shall allocate 80% of the money proportionally to affected high school districts and elementary school districts in the county, which must be calculated by dividing the total funds available for distribution by the total number of quality educators, as defined in 20-4-502, employed by the qualifying school districts in the county in the immediately preceding school fiscal year. The number of quality educators used for the calculation under this subsection in a district with territory in more than one county must be prorated based on the average number belonging of the district residing in school district territory located in each respective county. A school district receiving this money may deposit the funds in any budgeted fund of the district at the discretion of the trustees.
     (5) The governing body of the county may use 20% of the money in the fund to:
     (a) pay for outstanding capital project bonds or other expenses incurred prior to the reduction in the price of oil or the reduction in the receipt of oil and natural gas production taxes described in subsection (2);
     (b) offset property tax levy increases that are directly caused by the cessation or reduction of oil and natural gas activity;
     (c) promote diversification and development of the economic base within the jurisdiction;
     (d) attract new industry to the area impacted by changes in oil and natural gas activity leading to the reduction in the price of oil or the reduction in the receipt of oil and natural gas production taxes described in subsection (2); or
     (e) provide cash incentives for expanding the employment base of the area impacted by the changes in oil and natural gas activity leading to the reduction in the price of oil or the reduction in the receipt of oil and natural gas production taxes described in subsection (2).
     (6) Except as provided in subsection (5)(b), money held in the fund may not be considered as fund balance for the purpose of reducing mill levies.
     (7) Money in the fund must be invested as provided by law. Interest and income from the investment of money in the fund must be credited to the fund.

     History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 418, L. 2011; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 329, L. 2013.