2023 23LSO-0016
STATE OF WYOMING
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0040
Airport districts.
Sponsored by: Joint Transportation, Highways & Military Affairs Interim Committee
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to aeronautics; authorizing counties and
2 municipalities to establish airport districts; specifying
3 requirements; specifying duties and powers of airport
4 districts; specifying duties of municipalities and
5 counties; authorizing assessments; authorizing the airport
6 district to issue bonds and incur debt as specified;
7 authorizing distribution from fuel taxes to airport
8 districts; requiring cooperation from the aeronautics
9 commission with airport districts and joint powers boards;
10 making conforming amendments; and providing for an
11 effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
14
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1 Section 1. W.S. 10-5-401 through 10-5-405 are created
2 to read:
3
4 ARTICLE 4
5 AIRPORT DISTRICTS
6
7 10-5-401. Airport districts; creation.
8
9 (a) Each board of county commissioners that has
10 established an airport or airport board either singly or
11 jointly under W.S. 10-5-101 through 10-5-202 may establish
12 by resolution an airport district provided that:
13
14 (i) The airport district is to be composed of
15 lands within counties and municipalities that plan to
16 participate in the district, which:
17
18 (A) Are not within an existing airport
19 district;
20
21 (B) Are not within the boundaries of a
22 county or municipality exercising its powers authorized
23 under W.S. 10-5-101 to own and operate an airport; and
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1
2 (C) Are not within the boundaries of a
3 county or municipality that has appointed an airport board
4 under W.S. 10-5-202, unless the governing board of that
5 county or municipality elects to participate in the
6 district.
7
8 (ii) If an airport or airport board has been
9 formed jointly by more than one (1) county or municipality,
10 the resolution is adopted by all participating counties and
11 municipalities;
12
13 (iii) The resolution provides a plan to transfer
14 to the district all responsibility for operation of the
15 airport or airports, and to the extent necessary, ownership
16 and debt related to airport facilities.
17
18 (b) Not less than sixty (60) days before any
19 resolution under subsection (a) of this section is adopted,
20 the board of county commissioners of each county in which
21 the district is located shall submit the proposed
22 boundaries of the airport district to the county assessor
23 and the department of revenue for review for any conflict,
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1 overlap, gap or other boundary issue. The assessor and the
2 department may make written comments thereon to the county
3 commissioners.
4
5 (c) After adoption of the resolution under subsection
6 (a) of this section, the airport district shall be a
7 governmental subdivision of the state of Wyoming and a body
8 corporate with all the powers of a public or
9 quasi-municipal corporation specified in this article. The
10 airport district shall operate and be empowered to sue and
11 be sued under the name and style of ".... Airport District"
12 and shall be the successor to any similar organization or
13 corporation. The district shall have perpetual existence
14 except as provided in W.S. 10-5-402(g). The participating
15 counties and municipalities adopting the resolution under
16 subsection (a) of this section shall file with the county
17 clerk of each county in which the district is located and
18 with the secretary of state a certificate showing the
19 district's creation.
20
21 (d) Lands may be added to or subtracted from an
22 existing airport district by adoption of a resolution as
23 provided in subsections (a) and (b) of this section.
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1
2 (e) Unless otherwise provided in this article,
3 airport districts shall be governed by the Special District
4 Elections Act of 1994.
5
6 10-5-402. Powers; management; removal; dissolution.
7
8 (a) Each airport district shall be governed by an
9 airport district governing board consisting of not less
10 than three (3) nor more than nine (9) appointed qualified
11 electors of the district. The formation of the airport
12 district governing board including the specific number of
13 members on the board and terms of the initial board members
14 shall be decided by mutual agreement among the governing
15 bodies of the counties and municipalities located within
16 the boundaries of the airport district. Board members shall
17 serve a term of three (3) years, except for initial board
18 members, and may be reappointed. Terms of initial board
19 members shall be staggered with one (1) or more members
20 serving for one (1) year, one (1) or more members serving
21 for two (2) years and one (1) or more members serving for
22 three (3) years.
23
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1 (b) The airport district governing board shall
2 organize each year by selecting members to fill the roles
3 of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. The
4 roles of secretary and treasurer may be held concurrently
5 by the same member of the board. No individual member of
6 the board shall be personally liable for any action or
7 procedure of the board. Members of the board shall serve
8 without compensation, but shall be entitled to payment for
9 travel and other necessary expenses incurred while
10 attending to business or meetings of the board in the same
11 manner and amount provided for state employees.
12
13 (c) The airport district governing board may exercise
14 all powers granted to municipal corporations and counties
15 under W.S. 10-5-101 and to regional transportation
16 authorities under W.S. 18-14-102.
17
18 (d) The airport district governing board may appoint
19 a full-time or part-time manager and other personnel as
20 necessary to operate and maintain the airport and its
21 allied facilities. These employees shall be paid a
22 reasonable compensation as the board deems proper.
23
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1 (e) The airport district governing board is
2 authorized to enact any ordinances necessary to establish
3 and operate an airport district and shall file any enacted
4 ordinance with the county clerk for each county in which
5 the district is located. The airport district governing
6 board shall administer the finances of its district
7 according to the Uniform Municipal Fiscal Procedures Act.
8
9 (f) The governing bodies of the participating
10 counties and municipalities may mutually agree to remove
11 any member of the airport district governing board without
12 public hearing unless the member requests that the action
13 be taken during a public hearing. Vacancies on the airport
14 district governing board shall be filled by the governing
15 bodies of the participating counties and municipalities for
16 the balance of the unexpired term created by the vacancy.
17
18 (g) An airport district may be dissolved by
19 resolution of the county commissioners in a regular and
20 public meeting. If the airport district governing board was
21 formed by appointees from more than one (1) governing body
22 of the participating counties and municipalities, the
23 resolution shall be adopted by all participating counties
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1 and municipalities. The resolution shall provide for a plan
2 to transfer or otherwise dispose of all responsibility for
3 operation of the airport, and to the extent necessary,
4 ownership and debt related to airport facilities, to an
5 accepting public entity.
6
7 (h) The airport district governing board shall make
8 meeting agendas, minutes and financial information
9 available to the public by publication on the special
10 district website in each county in which the airport
11 district is located. All meetings of an airport district
12 governing board shall be held in accordance with public
13 meeting requirements provided by W.S. 16-4-401 through
14 16-4-408, and all records of an airport district are
15 subject to the Wyoming Public Records Act provided by W.S.
16 16-4-201 through 16-4-205.
17
18 10-5-403. Taxation; limitation.
19
20 (a) After the governing body of each county and
21 municipality participating in the airport district
22 authorizes a request from an airport district governing
23 board to propose a levy, an airport district governing
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1 board may submit to the qualified electors of the district
2 the question of whether the district shall annually levy
3 not to exceed three (3) mills on the dollar of assessed
4 valuation of the district to operate the district. The
5 question shall be submitted by the county clerk of each
6 county in which the district is located as ordered by the
7 board of county commissioners in each county in which the
8 district is located at an election called, conducted,
9 canvassed and returned in the manner provided for bond
10 elections by the Political Subdivision Bond Election Law.
11
12 (b) If the proposition in subsection (a) of this
13 section is approved by the electors, the annual mill levy
14 shall expire ten (10) years from the date of initial
15 imposition and the same proposition or a proposition to
16 impose a mill levy in a different amount, not to exceed
17 three (3) mills, may be submitted at the general election
18 held ten (10) years from the date the proposition was
19 approved and every ten (10) years thereafter until the
20 proposition is defeated. If a proposition to impose or
21 continue the levy is defeated, it shall not again be
22 submitted to the electors until an election occurring not
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1 less than twenty-three (23) months after the election at
2 which the proposition was defeated.
3
4 (c) The assessed valuation of the district mill levy
5 under this section shall not be construed as being part of
6 the general county mill levy.
7
8 (d) An airport district governing body for which a
9 mill levy approved according to subsection (a) of this
10 section will be levied shall not later than the second
11 Wednesday in June of each fiscal year in which the mill
12 levy will be levied present the airport district's budget
13 for approval to the governing bodies of all participating
14 counties and municipalities during a public hearing at a
15 regularly scheduled meeting of each participating governing
16 body or at a joint meeting scheduled for that purpose. The
17 budget presentation required in this subsection shall
18 include forecasted operating revenues and expenditures,
19 forecasted capital expenditures, forecasted grant revenues
20 and forecasted reserves.
21
22 (e) After presentation of the airport district budget
23 as provided in subsection (d) of this section, the board of
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1 county commissioners in each county in which the airport
2 district is located shall, at the time of making any
3 general county mill levy, impose the airport district mill
4 levy upon the taxable property within an airport district
5 to be used solely to operate the district, if approved by
6 the electors in accordance with subsection (a) of this
7 section. These monies shall be placed in an account
8 certified by the airport district governing board.
9
10 10-5-404. Issuance of bonds, notes, warrants and
11 other revenue securities.
12
13 (a) Upon majority vote of the members of an airport
14 district governing board, the board may issue revenue
15 bonds, notes, warrants and other revenue securities for the
16 purposes of this article in the same manner provided by
17 W.S. 35-2-424 through 35-2-436 for trustees of hospital
18 districts.
19
20 (b) There shall be no limit on the assessed valuation
21 of the district for payment of principal and interest on
22 bonds approved by the airport district governing board, the
23 governing bodies of the participating counties and
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1 municipalities and the electors of a district as provided
2 in subsection (a) of this section. The aggregate amount of
3 bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall not exceed
4 four percent (4%) of the assessed value of the taxable
5 property within the district, and bearing a certain rate of
6 interest, payable and redeemable at a certain time, shall
7 not exceed twenty-five (25) years. In determining the
8 aggregate amount of indebtedness, there shall not be
9 included with the computation bonds or other evidences of
10 indebtedness payable solely from net revenues of an income
11 producing facility or project.
12
13 10-5-405. Borrowing money without election in
14 anticipation of collection of taxes; issuance of short-term
15 notes.
16
17 Upon majority vote of the members of an airport district
18 governing board, the board may borrow money without an
19 election in anticipation of the collection of taxes or
20 other revenues and may issue short-term notes to evidence
21 the amount borrowed. The amounts borrowed under this
22 section shall not exceed the anticipated revenue and shall
23 be repaid as soon as the anticipated revenue is received.
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1 Short-term notes issued under this section shall be payable
2 from the fund for which the money is borrowed and shall
3 mature before the close of the fiscal year in which the
4 money is borrowed.
5
6 Section 2. W.S. 10-3-201(a)(iii), (b) and (c)(intro),
7 10-3-401(a) and (b), 10-5-101(a)(viii) and (b), 10-5-301,
8 16-12-202(a) by creating a new paragraph (xxiv) and by
9 renumbering (xxiv) as (xxv), 22-29-103(a) by creating a new
10 paragraph (xiv) and by renumbering (xiv) as (xv),
11 39-17-111(c)(i), 39-17-211(d)(iii) and 39-17-311(a)(iii)
12 and (b)(iv)(C) are amended to read:
13
14 10-3-201. Powers and duties generally.
15
16 (a) The commission shall cooperate with:
17
18 (iii) The cities, and counties, airport
19 districts and joint powers boards in Wyoming;
20
21 (b) In lieu of the requirements of this subsection,
22 any airport sponsor may directly apply for, receive or
23 disburse federal airport funds, and may also direct all
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1 construction and maintenance of the airport. The
2 aeronautics commission may designate the airports to be
3 built and maintained with the assistance of state or
4 federal funds and