Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 42-6109 – Jail facilities excise tax; maintenance of effort; definition

A. If approved by the qualified electors voting at a countywide general election, a county with a population of at least one million five hundred thousand persons shall levy and the department shall collect a transaction privilege tax, in addition to all other taxes, at rates of not more than 4.0 per cent of the transaction privilege tax rate prescribed by section 42-5010, subsection A applying to each person engaging or continuing in the county in a business taxed under chapter 5, article 1 of this title.
B. If a tax is levied under subsection A of this section, the county board of supervisors, by resolution, may levy and, if levied, the department shall collect a use tax on the use or consumption of electricity or natural gas by retail electric or natural gas customers in the county and subject to use tax pursuant to section 42-5155. The use tax levied pursuant to this subsection shall be applied as a percentage of the use tax imposed by chapter 5, article 4 of this title equal to the percentage determined under subsection A of this section.
C. Taxes shall be levied under this section beginning January 1 or July 1, whichever date first occurs after approval by the voters, or county board of supervisors, as applicable, and may continue in effect until the amount of nine hundred million dollars of revenue is collected, as determined by the department of revenue, but in any event not more than nine years as adopted by resolution of the county board of supervisors before the election and as approved by the voters. The board of supervisors may, by resolution, decrease or increase the rates of taxes during the term of the taxes, subject to the maximum rates prescribed by this section.
D. At the end of each month the state treasurer shall transmit the net revenues collected pursuant to this section to the treasurer of the county levying the tax. If the county that initially imposes the tax under this section is divided into two or more new counties during the term of the tax, each new county shall continue to impose the tax, but the state treasurer shall transmit the net revenues collected within both counties equally to each of the new counties. The county treasurer shall segregate all the monies received under this section for use only for the purposes authorized by this section. The county treasurer may disburse monies from the fund only to:
1. 1. Finance construction of new adult and juvenile jail facilities.
2. 2. Maintain and operate adult and juvenile jail facilities.
3. 3. Fund the following for the purpose of reducing the expense of adult and juvenile jail facilities:
  1. (a) Implementing an integrated criminal justice information system.
  2. (b) Developing regional centers for courts not of record.
  3. (c) Implementing differentiated case management for criminal cases in superior court.
  4. (d) Consolidating criminal divisions of the superior court in the county to a common location.
  5. (e) Expanding pretrial release supervision.
  6. (f) Implementing electronic monitoring of preadjudicated defendants.
  7. (g) Enhancing substance abuse evaluation and programming.
  8. (h) Increasing drug court admissions to include preadjudicated defendants and expanding drug court jurisdiction.
  9. (i) Using community based juvenile detention and postadjudication programs.
E. The county shall maintain its support of adult and juvenile jail facilities. The county shall determine the amount the county spent for maintenance and operation of adult and juvenile jail facilities in the fiscal year immediately preceding the first fiscal year in which the tax is levied under this section. The auditor general shall audit this amount and the audited amount is the base expenditure. Any outstanding debt due from a city, this state or the United States for the county housing prisoners pursuant to section 31-121 shall be excluded from the base expenditure. In the first year the tax is levied under this section the county shall pay an amount equal to the base expenditure adjusted by the percentage change in the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the county, determined for secondary property tax purposes, from the preceding year. In each year the tax is imposed, the county shall pay an amount equal to the amount paid under this subsection in the preceding fiscal year, adjusted by the percentage change in the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the county, determined for secondary property tax purposes, from the preceding year. The county treasurer shall transfer that amount, without further authorization, in twelve equal monthly installments from the county general fund for the uses prescribed in subsection D of this section. For purposes of this subsection, "maintenance and operation" includes detention personnel compensation, employee related expenses, utility expenses of the facility, costs of food and care of prisoners, administrative support costs and costs of maintaining and repairing the facility and grounds.
F. For the purposes of this section, "jail facility" means a jail or other place of detention of persons charged with or convicted of a crime or of persons who are subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.