(1) Each county that is entirely within a rural area of opportunity as designated by the Governor pursuant to s. 288.0656 or each county for which the value of a mill will raise no more than $5 million in revenue, based on the taxable value certified pursuant to s. 1011.62(4)(a)1.a., from the previous July 1, shall be considered a fiscally constrained county. (2) Each fiscally constrained county government that participates in the local government half-cent sales tax shall be eligible to receive an additional distribution from the Local Government Half-cent Sales Tax Clearing Trust Fund, as provided in s. 202.18(2)(c)1., in addition to its regular monthly distribution provided under this part and any emergency or supplemental distribution under s. 218.65. (3) The amount to be distributed to each fiscally constrained county shall be determined by the Department of Revenue at the beginning of the fiscal year, using the prior fiscal year’s July 1 taxable value certified pursuant to s. 1011.62(4)(a)1.a., tax data, population as defined in s. 218.21, and millage rate levied for the prior fiscal year. The amount distributed shall be allocated based upon the following factors:(a) The relative revenue-raising-capacity factor shall be the ability of the eligible county to generate ad valorem revenues from 1 mill of taxation on a per capita basis. A county that raises no more than $25 per capita from 1 mill shall be assigned a value of 1; a county that raises more than $25 but no more than $30 per capita from 1 mill shall be assigned a value of 0.75; and a county that raises more than $30 but no more than $50 per capita from 1 mill shall be assigned a value of 0.5. No value shall be assigned to counties that raise more than $50 per capita from 1 mill of ad valorem taxation.
(b) The local-effort factor shall be a measure of the relative level of local effort of the eligible county as indicated by the millage rate levied for the prior fiscal year. The local-effort factor shall be the most recently adopted countywide operating millage rate for each eligible county multiplied by 0.1.
(c) Each eligible county’s proportional allocation of the total amount available to be distributed to all of the eligible counties shall be in the same proportion as the sum of the county’s two factors is to the sum of the two factors for all eligible counties. The counties that are eligible to receive an allocation under this subsection and the amount available to be distributed to such counties shall not include counties participating in the phaseout period under subsection (4) or the amounts they remain eligible to receive during the phaseout.
(4) For those counties that no longer qualify under the requirements of subsection (1) after the effective date of this act, there shall be a 2-year phaseout period. Beginning on July 1 of the year following the year in which the value of a mill for that county exceeds $5 million in revenue, the county shall receive two-thirds of the amount received in the prior year, and beginning on July 1 of the second year following the year in which the value of a mill for that county exceeds $5 million in revenue, the county shall receive one-third of the amount received in the last year that the county qualified as a fiscally constrained county. Following the 2-year phaseout period, the county shall no longer be eligible to receive any distributions under this section unless the county can be considered a fiscally constrained county as provided in subsection (1).
(5) The revenues received under this section may be used by a county for any public purpose, except that such revenues may not be used to pay debt service on bonds, notes, certificates of participation, or any other forms of indebtedness.
