North Dakota Code 57-40.6-02 – Authority of counties or cities to impose fee on assessed communications service – Procedure
The governing body of a county or city may impose a fee on all assessed communications services in accordance with the following requirements:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 57-40.6-02
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Governing body: means a board of county commissioners, city council, board of city commissioners, school board, or board of education, or the similarly constituted and acting board of any other municipality. See North Dakota Code 57-02-01
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
1. The governing body shall adopt a resolution that proposes the adoption of the fee permitted under this section. The resolution must specify an effective date for the fee which is no more than two years before the expected implementation date of the emergency services communication system to be funded by the fee. The resolution must include a provision for submitting the proposed fee to the electors of the county or city before the imposition of the fee is effective. The resolution must specify a fee that does not exceed one dollar and fifty cents per month per communication connection and must be applied equally upon all assessed communications services. Prepaid wireless service is not subject to the fee imposed under this section.
2. A political subdivision shall add a fee of fifty cents to the fee imposed on assessed communications services established under subsection 1. The additional fifty cents per communication connection must be remitted to the state treasurer for deposit in the statewide interoperable radio network fund in accordance with section 37-17.3-12 for ongoing administrative and operational maintenance costs of the statewide interoperable radio network. The funds collected under this subsection must be expended in a manner consistent with the recommendations of the statewide interoperability executive committee.
3. The question of the adoption of the fee must be submitted on a petition on which the petition title of the proposition includes the maximum monthly rate of the proposed fee authorized under subsection 1. The question of the adoption of the fee may be submitted to electors at a general, primary, or special election or at a school district election if the boundaries of the school district are coterminous with the boundaries of the governing body adopting the resolution proposing the adoption of the fee. The fee is not effective unless it is approved by a majority of the electors voting on the proposition. The ballot must be worded so that a “yes” vote authorizes imposition of the fee.
4. Once established by this section, the maximum fee may be increased, decreased, or eliminated by a majority vote of the electors. The question may be placed on the ballot of any general, primary, or special election by a resolution of the governing body, or by a petition signed by ten percent or more of the total number of qualified electors of the political subdivision voting for governor at the most recent gubernatorial election and submitted to the governing body. By action of the governing body, the fee amount collected may be adjusted, subject to the maximum approved by the voters, to meet the costs allowed by this chapter.
5. In any geographic area, only one political subdivision may impose the fee and imposition must be based on the subscriber service address.
6. In the interest of public safety, where the subscriber’s telephone exchange access service boundary and the boundary of the political subdivision imposing the fee do not coincide, and where all of the political subdivisions within the subscriber’s telephone exchange access service boundary have not complied with subsection 1, and where a majority of the subscribers within the subscriber’s telephone exchange access service boundary have voted for the fee, a telephone exchange access service subscriber whose subscriber service address is outside the political subdivision may receive 911 services by signing a contract agreement with the political subdivision providing the emergency services communication system. The telephone exchange access service provider may collect an additional fee, equal in amount to the basic fee on those subscribers within the exchange boundary. The additional fee amounts collected must be remitted as provided in this chapter.
7. A fee imposed under this section before August 1, 2007, on telephone exchange access service is extended to all assessed communications services and will remain in effect until changed pursuant to subsection 4.