The provision appropriates money to the Department of Revenue for ad valorem tax equalization and requires repayment with interest when the Department advances money for a county.
There is hereby appropriated to the Department of Revenue to be used in the program of ad valorem tax equalization provided for in this division, and shall be paid over to the Department of Revenue for this purpose, any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1972, $1,000,000, and for the year ending September 30, 1973, $3,000,000, which amounts shall be the first claim against the funds from which appropriated. The funds here appropriated shall be drawn one third from any Alabama Beverage Control Board income otherwise required by law to be distributed to the several counties and two thirds from the tax levied by Section 40-21-58. This division shall in no way change the distribution of the remainder of the funds from which these appropriations are made. The funds hereby appropriated shall be used by the Department of Revenue to finance the reappraisal program required by this division in any county which for any reason cannot issue the bonds or warrants provided for in Section 40-7-69. Any amount expended by the Department of Revenue on behalf of any county, less the part of the cost to be borne by the state, shall be repaid to the state with interest at the rate of five percent per annum, one tenth of the total for each of 10 successive years beginning with the fiscal year next following the year for which the reappraised values are used as a basis for ad valorem tax assessments. This obligation shall be the first claim against any ad valorem taxes collected in a county for which the funds provided herein are used. The state and each agency of such county shall bear its pro rata share of the costs on the basis of the revenue received from ad valorem taxes. The amounts repaid to the state shall be redistributed to the funds from which appropriated.