District Boundary Reporting

1. District Boundary Reporting W.S. 39-11-102(b) and W.S. 39-11-102(c)(xxiv)

2. Purpose • Establish standards for reporting the formation and legal boundaries of entities with the authority to levy taxes to the Wyoming Department of Revenue (DOR), county assessors and county clerks, as required by Wyoming statutes

3. DOR Duties • Map and keep record of the geographical boundaries for all governmental entities with authority to levy a mill(W.S. 39-11-102(xxi) • Map and keep record of the geographical boundaries for all special districts(W.S. 39-11-102 (xxii)) • Review boundaries for proposed special districts(W.S. 39-11-102 (xxiii)) • Administer the rules and regulations necessary to map and keep record of the geographical boundaries for all special districts and governmental entities with authority to levy or require the levy of property taxes(W.S. 39-11-102 (xxiv))

4. Duties of the DOR , cont. • Determine if taxing authorities meet the compliancy requirements • Notification to taxing authorities of compliant or non-compliant status • Notification to county commissioners, county assessor and county clerk of compliant and non-compliant entities

5. Definitions • Compliant: The entity has met the mapping and reporting requirements to form and levy property taxes • Non-compliant: The entity has failed to meet the mapping and reporting requirements to form and levy property taxes • Entity/taxing authority: Any governmental entity with authority to levy or require the levy of property taxes • GIS: Acronym for geographic information systems • Levy: The imposition or collection of an assessment • Metes and bounds: Describes a property by reference to physical features • PLSS: Acronym for public land survey system which denotes the township, range, sections, and subsections (aliquots)

6. Governmental Levies • State levies • Cities and towns • County levies • School districts • Community college districts

7. Special District Levies • Cemetery districts • Conservation districts • Downtown development authority districts • Fire protection districts • Hospital districts • Improvement and service districts • Museum districts • Rural health care districts • Weed and pest districts • And many more

8. Formation Requirements Before a petition for formation is filed with county commissioners, the DOR shall review within 60 days of receiving notice of petition, the boundaries of proposed district for any conflict, overlap, gap or other boundary issues (W.S. 22-29-109(a))

9. Filing Requirements • To be considered compliant, the DOR requires: • Forming documents • Official boundary map and/or • Legal description • All mapping rules and regulations can be found in Rules and Regulations, Chapter 21-“Tax District Mapping,” under Department Key Reports on the Wyoming Department of Revenue website

10. Non-Taxing Authorities • Some entities do not have the ability to levy mills, such as watershed improvement districts, which are formed as a sub-district of a conservation district. • Normally, these are fee based only and do not have the ability to levy a mill

11. Forming Document Requirements • Documents authorizing formation must have: • Name of new district • Date of formation • States that it is organized • Citation to the law under which the entity was formed (i.e. W.S. 18-12-101) • Signed by the County Commissioner • Let’s look at a Formation Document

13. Forming Document Requirements, cont. • If formation documents are not available, submit a letter outlining • Official name and mailing address • Date entity was formed • Names of Board members and contact person • Statute under which it was formed • This is also called an In Lieu Of (ILO) document • Here’s an ILO document

15. Legal Description Requirements • Legal descriptions must: • Reference a PLSS grid or use metes and bounds system • Include townships, ranges, sections and aliquot parts (i.e., T13N R66W S8 SW1/4SW1/4) • Metes and bounds call in bearings and distances in the proper format (i.e., S89 0’ 0’’E 1326’) • Contain a complete description of boundary from beginning to end point

16. Legal Description Issues • Legal descriptions that refer to a specific page in book located in county clerk office and use of personal names • E.g., Thence along the northwest boundary of said parcel owned by John Smith recorded in book 711, page 670 recorded in office of Teton County Clerk • The use of witness points to an undefined location • E.g., Proceed generally in NE direction 100’ more or less to a witness point • Legal descriptions should reference points that are globally known, not locally known • E.g., Point of beginning is large oak tree north of town

17. Example of Legal Descriptions The following is an example of correct and accurate legal description:

19. Public Land Survey System(PLSS) • Consist of Township, Range, Section & Aliquots • Township values run North and South • Range values is from East to West • Township/Range = 36 square miles • Section = 1 square mile • 36 Sections = 1 Township/Range • 640 Acres = 1 Section • 160 Acres = Quarter Section (i.e. NW) • 40 Acres = 1 Quarter/Quarter Section (i.e. NWSW) PLSS Examples

22. Mapping Requirements • Maps must include: • Title • Clear & complete reference to township, range and section • Clearly marked boundary lines • North arrow • Appropriate scale to show boundaries in complete detail • May submit digital maps in PDF format • GIS data must be in shapefile or format readable by ESRI products

23. Examples of Maps The following are examples of correct and accurate maps:

26. Examples of Documents • And those not so correct and accurate…

29. What may cause an entity to be considered non-compliant? • Missing two of the three required documents • Incomplete documents, such as legal, forming document and map • Boundary map and legal description do not coincide • District overlaps an existing district of same type • Required paperwork filed after the deadline date

30. Wyoming Department of Revenue Rights & Responsibilities • Upon receiving documentation, the DOR will review for compliance • Within 60 days, the DOR will notify the entity of their compliant status. If non-compliant, the DOR will issue a deadline for correcting information • DOR will issue notification to all special districts of their compliancy status no later than March 1st of each year

31. DOR Rights & Responsibilities, cont. • Notify county commissioners, county assessor, and county clerk of all compliant and non-compliant entities in their county • Assure that all tax district boundaries are plotted on a uniform set of district maps that can be easily reproduced or distributed • Maps are available on our CAMA website at: http://cama.wy.gov/districts • Maps available in PDF format, GIS shapefile or Google Earth

32. District Responsibilities • If district changes its boundary, they must notify the county assessor, county clerk, and DOR within 10 days(39-13-102(p)) • Districts do not need to re-submit boundary information unless changes are made to existing boundaries

33. Timeline • January 1: Assessment date • January 31: DOR completes tax maps and processes data • March 1: DOR notice of compliancy • March/April: Notices of value for local assessment • May: Deadline for filing appeals • June: DOR certifies values to counties • August: County commissioners certifying mill levy • October: Assessors pass tax roll to treasurer • December: DOR assessed utilities are notified of all taxing authority boundary changes • January 10: DOR deadline for accepting change (must be dated from the prior year)

34. Contact Information Wyoming Department of Revenue Property Tax Division 122 West 25th Street Herschler Building, 2nd Floor West Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002-0110 Telephone: (307) 777-5289 Facsimile: (307) 777-7527 Web Page: http://revenue.wyo.gov District Maps: http://cama.wy.gov/districts