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County staff flag likely misapplication of flood-control tax; $2to3M shift to general fund proposed
Summary
Doa1a Ana County administrators told commissioners at a May 5 work session that the countys flood commission appears to have used flood-control tax revenues for purposes outside the statutes narrow list, and staff recommended shifting $2to3 million in salaries and operating costs to the general fund while legal and legislative fixes are pursued.
Doa1a Ana County administrators told the Board of County Commissioners on May 5 that a review of the flood commissions joint powers agreement and enabling statute indicates the commission has been treated as a separate entity in ways that likely exceed what state law allows. Assistant County Manager Steven Lopez said county and outside counsel now consider the flood commission to be a county department under statutes including 4-50-1, 4-50-2 and 10-1-13, and that some uses of flood-tax revenue look incompatible with the statutes limited list of permissible projects.
"We probably are not in complete compliance," Lopez told commissioners, adding that the statute restricts taxation proceeds to the construction and maintenance of physical flood-control structures such as dikes, dams, embankments and ditches. Lopez and budget staff said past practice under a decades-old joint powers agreement had…
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