In April of this year, I posted an article about Assembly Bill 216, which had just been introduced.
Since that date, the bill has moved forward, with fiscal estimates received, amendments proposed, coauthors added and public hearings held.
The bill proposes allocating 20% of real estate transfer fees (currently 30 cents per $100, to be reduced to 20 cents) to the WLIP, with 50% being retained by the counties and 30% going into the state’s general fund. Currently, 20% of all real estate transfer fees are retained by the county and the remainder is transmitted to the state.
The bill would increase county WLIP Base Budget Grants to $175,000 (minus retained fees) and Training and Education Grants to $5,000.
The bill also directs the DOA to award additional grants to counties to fully distribute 46% of the amount of real estate transfer fees deposited into the WLIP fund each year, based on the relative proportion of fees collected in each county.
According to the fiscal estimate prepared by the Department of Administration in June, the proposed changes would increase the annual fee revenue to the WLIP from the current $7 million to almost $24 million, based on a five-year average of county real estate returns. This amount would be returned to counties in the form of land information grants. In addition, total county direct fee revenue from the transfer fee would increase by almost $17 million per year.
Additional details can be found here.
The companion Senate Bill 218 can be found here.