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H.B. 101 Enrolled

                 

INCORPORATION FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR MUNICIPALITIES

                 
1999 GENERAL SESSION

                 
STATE OF UTAH

                 
Sponsor: A. Lamont Tyler

                  AN ACT RELATING TO CITIES AND TOWNS; MODIFYING PROVISIONS RELATING TO
                  THE INCORPORATION PROCESS; MODIFYING THE ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY THE
                  FEASIBILITY CONSULTANT; RESTRICTING THE AMOUNT OF COSTS CONSIDERED
                  BY THE FEASIBILITY CONSULTANT; APPLYING THESE AMENDMENTS TO PENDING
                  INCORPORATION PROCEEDINGS; MAKING TECHNICAL CHANGES; AND PROVIDING
                  AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
                  This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
                  AMENDS:
                      10-2-106, as last amended by Chapter 3, Laws of Utah 1997, Second Special Session
                  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
                      Section 1. Section 10-2-106 is amended to read:
                       10-2-106. Feasibility study -- Feasibility study consultant.
                      (1) Within 60 days of receipt of a certified request under Subsection 10-2-105 (1)(b)(i), the
                  county legislative body shall engage the feasibility consultant chosen under Subsection (2) to
                  conduct a feasibility study.
                      (2) The feasibility consultant shall be chosen by a majority vote of a selection committee
                  consisting of:
                      (a) a person designated by the county legislative body;
                      (b) a person designated by the sponsors of the request for a feasibility study; and
                      (c) a person designated by the governor.
                      (3) The county legislative body shall require the feasibility consultant to:
                      (a) complete the feasibility study and submit the written results to the county legislative
                  body and the contact sponsor no later than 90 days after the feasibility consultant is engaged to
                  conduct the study;
                      (b) submit with the full written results of the feasibility study a summary of the results no


                  longer than one page in length; and
                      (c) attend the public hearings under Subsection 10-2-108 (1) and present the feasibility study
                  results and respond to questions from the public at those hearings.
                      (4) (a) The feasibility study shall consider:
                      (i) the population and population density within the area proposed for incorporation and the
                  surrounding area;
                      (ii) the history, geography, geology, and topography of and natural boundaries within the
                  area proposed to be incorporated and the surrounding area;
                      (iii) whether the proposed boundaries eliminate or create an unincorporated island or
                  peninsula;
                      (iv) whether the proposed incorporation will hinder or prevent a future and more logical and
                  beneficial incorporation or a future logical and beneficial annexation;
                      (v) the fiscal impact on unincorporated areas, other municipalities, special districts, and other
                  governmental entities in the county;
                      (vi) current and five-year projections of demographics and economic base in the proposed
                  city and surrounding area, including household size and income, commercial and industrial
                  development, and public facilities;
                      (vii) projected growth in the proposed city and in adjacent areas during the next five years;
                      (viii) subject to Subsection (4)(c), the present and five-year projections of the cost, including
                  overhead, of governmental services in the proposed city;
                      (ix) the present and five-year projected revenue for the proposed city;
                      (x) the projected impact the incorporation will have over the following five years on the
                  amount of taxes that property owners within the proposed city and in the remaining unincorporated
                  county will pay;
                      (xi) past expansion in terms of population and construction in the proposed city and the
                  surrounding area;
                      (xii) the extension of the boundaries of other nearby municipalities during the past ten years,
                  the willingness of those municipalities to annex the area proposed for incorporation, and the

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                  probability that those municipalities would annex territory within the area proposed for incorporation
                  within the next five years except for the incorporation; and
                      (xiii) whether the legislative body of the county in which the area proposed to be
                  incorporated favors the incorporation proposal.
                      (b) For purposes of Subsection (4)(a)(ix), the feasibility consultant shall assume ad valorem
                  property tax rates on residential property within the proposed city at the same level at which they
                  would have been without the incorporation.
                      (c) For purposes of Subsection (4)(a)(viii)[,]:
                      (i) the feasibility consultant shall assume[: (i)] a level and quality of governmental services
                  to be provided to the proposed city in the future that fairly and reasonably approximate the level and
                  quality of governmental services being provided to the proposed city at the time of the feasibility
                  study; [and]
                      [(ii) that the proposed city will itself provide all governmental services. ]
                      (ii) in determining the present cost of a governmental service, the feasibility consultant shall
                  consider:
                      (A) the amount it would cost the proposed city itself to provide the service after
                  incorporation;
                      (B) if the county is currently providing the service to the proposed city, the county's cost of
                  providing the service; and
                      (C) if the county is not currently providing the service to the proposed city, the amount the
                  proposed city can reasonably expect to pay for the service under a contract for the service; and
                      (iii) the five-year projected cost of a governmental service shall be based on the amount
                  calculated under Subsection (4)(c)(ii), taking into account inflation and anticipated growth.
                      (5) If the results of the feasibility study or revised feasibility study do not meet the
                  requirements of Subsection 10-2-109 (3), the feasibility consultant shall, as part of the feasibility
                  study or revised feasibility study and if requested by the sponsors of the request, make
                  recommendations as to how the boundaries of the proposed city may be altered so that the
                  requirements of Subsection 10-2-109 (3) may be met.

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                      (6) (a) For purposes of this Subsection (6), "pending" means that the process to incorporate
                  an unincorporated area has been initiated by the filing of a request for feasibility study under Section
                  10-2-103 but that, as of the date this Subsection (6) becomes effective, a petition under Section
                  10-2-109 has not yet been filed.
                      (b) The amendments to Subsection (4) that become effective upon the effective date of this
                  Subsection (6):
                      (i) apply to each pending proceeding proposing the incorporation of an unincorporated area;
                  and
                      (ii) do not apply to a municipal incorporation proceeding under this part in which a petition
                  under Section 10-2-109 has been filed.
                      (c) (i) If, in a pending incorporation proceeding, the feasibility consultant has, as of the
                  effective date of this Subsection (6), already completed the feasibility study, the county legislative
                  body shall, within 20 days after the effective date of this Subsection (6) and except as provided in
                  Subsection (6)(c)(iii), engage the feasibility consultant to revise the feasibility study to take into
                  account the amendments to Subsection (4) that became effective on the effective date of this
                  Subsection (6).
                      (ii) Except as provided in Subsection (6)(c)(iii), the county legislative body shall require the
                  feasibility consultant to complete the revised feasibility study under Subsection (6)(c)(i) within 20
                  days after being engaged to do so.
                      (iii) Notwithstanding Subsections (6)(c)(i) and (ii), a county legislative body is not required
                  to engage the feasibility consultant to revise the feasibility study if, within 15 days after the effective
                  date of this Subsection (6), the request sponsors file with the county clerk a written withdrawal of
                  the request signed by all the request sponsors.
                      (d) All provisions of this part that set forth the incorporation process following the
                  completion of a feasibility study shall apply with equal force following the completion of a revised
                  feasibility study under this Subsection (6), except that, if a petition under Section 10-2-109 has
                  already been filed based on the feasibility study that is revised under this Subsection (6):
                      (i) the notice required by Section 10-2-108 for the revised feasibility study shall include a

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                  statement informing signers of the petition of their right to withdraw their signatures from the
                  petition and of the process and deadline for withdrawing a signature from the petition;
                      (ii) a signer of the petition may withdraw the signer's signature by filing with the county
                  clerk a written withdrawal within 30 days after the final notice under Subsection 10-2-108 (2) has
                  been given with respect to the revised feasibility study; and
                      (iii) unless withdrawn, a signature on the petition may be used toward fulfilling the signature
                  requirements under Subsection 10-2-109 (2)(a) for a petition based on the revised feasibility study.
                      Section 2. Effective date.
                      If approved by two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, this act takes effect upon
                  approval by the governor, or the day following the constitutional time limit of Utah Constitution
                  Article VII, Section 8, without the governor's signature, or in the case of a veto, the date of veto
                  override.

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