P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4056
The municipality may impose [a] special tax, ad valorem 1957, on all real property which is not tax-exempt, including machinery, that is located within its territorial limits, and which does not affect the fifteen thousand dollar ($15,000) tax exemption in the case of properties dedicated to a principal residence, in order to accrue funds to meet any obligation incurred for solid waste management services, or the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, renewal, expansion, or improvements to any solid waste management facilities.
(a) Tax rate.— The rate to be paid for said special tax shall be determined by the municipality, by taking into account the amounts needed to establish reserves to secure the payment of the obligation, including, without it being understood as a limitation, any reserves for current or contingent obligations, or to prevent deficiencies in the collection of future taxes, and to pay expenses incurred in the negotiation and granting of the obligations. Different taxes may be imposed to meet payments corresponding to different obligations.
Any special tax imposed pursuant to this section shall be billed and collected by the Center according to the rate and to the terms provided by the ordinance to such effects. The municipality shall advise the Center no later than April 15 of the previous fiscal year for which a special additional tax is imposed, of the corresponding tax rate for said year pursuant to this section. Revenues for said special tax shall not be subject to the procedures for advances of funds to municipalities by the Center.
(b) Pacts to impose taxes.— The municipalities are hereby authorized, with regard to any obligation contracted as the result of the establishment of solid waste management facilities, or the rendering of services for the management thereof, to assume the responsibility of imposing the special additional property tax authorized by this section for the term of duration of the obligation contracted therefor, according to the rates and sums that shall be sufficient to opportunely pay any sums due, according to the obligation contracted.
The municipality may likewise waive any defense which it may have under sovereign immunity, in any suit in which the specific compliance of any pact agreed upon pursuant to this subsection, is claimed. The beneficiary of any municipal pact or obligation, entered into pursuant to this section, may yield his/her rights to the person or persons who have granted the financing of the solid waste disposal facilities which cause such pact or obligation.
(c) Use of taxes.— Any taxes collected under the authorization granted in this section, shall be kept in separate accounts and shall be used solely for the purposes for which they have been authorized. The municipality shall impose these taxes each fiscal year, pursuant to a rate that is sufficient to allow the establishing of the needed reserves and the payment of all sums payable during the following fiscal year, according to the obligation for whose payment or guaranty said taxes are imposed.
(d) Ordinance.— Every ordinance to authorize the municipality to incur an obligation which contains or is secured by a pact to impose additional special taxes pursuant to this section, shall have to be approved by two thirds (⅔) of the members of the Legislature. Said ordinance shall provide for the annual imposition of the special additional tax on all real property of the municipality that is not exempted or relieved from taxes, without establishing a limitation to its rate or amount. The ordinance shall also provide that the tax thus imposed shall be sufficient to meet the sums that are payable according to the obligation during each fiscal year, and to establish the reserves required in subsection (c) of this section.
Prior to the approval of the ordinance, the municipality shall hold public hearings on the obligation to be incurred. Notice of said hearings shall be published in two (2) daily newspapers of general circulation in Puerto Rico, no less than fifteen (15) days prior to the date indicated for the hearings. Notices shall also be posted in the City Hall and Internal Revenue Offices located in the municipality in question. Such notices shall inform the public of the date, hour and place of said public hearings and shall explain the nature and purpose of the special additional tax to be imposed.
(e) Notice of approval.— Within five (5) days after the date of approval of an ordinance that authorizes the granting of an obligation that contains or is secured by a pact to impose additional special taxes, one notice shall be published one single time in a daily newspaper of general circulation, informing of the approval of said ordinance. Notices to such effects shall be posted in no less than two (2) public places in the corresponding municipality, within the same period.
(f) Effective date.— Every ordinance adopted in accordance with this section shall be final, twenty (20) days after the date of publication of the notice required in subsection (e) of this section, and it shall be conclusively presumed that it has been duly approved and adopted by the municipality, unless a juridical proceeding or action is initiated to question its validity, prior to the expiration of said term.
The validity of said ordinance and its provisions, including those concerning the payment of the obligations authorized therein, and the validity of the obligations themselves, shall not be questioned subsequently by the municipality, by the taxpayers, nor by any other interested party, notwithstanding what is established in any other legal provision.
(g) Form of collection.— Except as provided in this section, the special additional tax shall be imposed and collected in the same way that the basic property tax is imposed and collected. The amount of said tax shall constitute a lien, such as that provided for property taxes.
(h) Exemption of restrictions in an election year.— Solid waste management services are deemed to be essential services to the community under threat of being interrupted for the purposes of Section of this Act [sic] which establishes special provisions for general election years and, as such, the leasing and service contracts related thereto shall not be subject to the restrictions imposed by said Section.
(i) Environmental impact study.— Before establishing final solid waste management system, the municipalities shall conduct an environmental impact study, and meet all the sanitation provisions required by public agencies, in order to comply with the public policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(j) Obligations not subject to public debt limitations.— Any obligation authorized and agreed upon pursuant to this section which is not otherwise subject to public debt limitations, in which a municipality may incur under legislation in force when said obligation is incurred, shall not be subject to said limitation for the mere fact of the approval of this subtitle, or for the imposition of some tax authorized by it to accrue funds to make payments pursuant to said obligation.
(k) Contracts for the establishing of solid waste management facilities.— The municipality may contract or otherwise enter into agreements with public agencies and private persons for the establishment of solid waste management facilities, and for the rendering of services related thereto. These contracts or agreements may provide for compensation or other fees based on the present or projected tonnage of solid waste delivered or contracted to be delivered by the municipality to the solid waste management facility. Said contracts or agreements may include provisions that bind the municipality to pay compensation or any other fee even though the services are not rendered, provided that it is not due to the negligence or noncompliance of the provider of said services.
The contracts for the establishment of solid waste management and the rendering of solid waste management services, and the lease contracts of municipal real property or chattels incidental to the contracts for the establishment of solid waste management facilities and the rendering of solid waste management services shall be excluded from the requirement of public bidding required in this subtitle for the leasing of municipal property and may be granted for any term of duration. Those contracts for the establishment of solid waste management facilities and for the rendering of services related thereto shall also be excluded from said requirement.
Likewise, the municipality may sell, transfer, lease, loan or otherwise provide space to public entities or persons [or] private entities within the premises, lots, sidewalks or other municipal property without the need for public bidding and under the terms, conditions, installments or rates, fixed or contingent, which it deems are of most benefit to the public interest and to the development of [improvements] and recycling, for the temporary or permanent location of containers, equipment, structures or facilities of any nature or purpose that allows for the collection of solid waste and recyclable materials.
(l) Leasing of municipal property.— Notwithstanding the provisions of this subtitle, in the case of real property or chattels lease contracts incidental to the establishing of solid waste management facilities, and to the rendering of services related thereto, the municipal legislature may authorize the leasing of municipal property under the terms, conditions, installments and rates which it deems are of most benefit to the public interest.
(m) Retroactivity.— The provisions on solid waste management established in this subtitle shall apply to contracts for the establishment of solid waste management facilities, or for the services related thereto executed prior to the effectiveness of this act, provided the obligations thus contracted are not impaired.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 2.006; Sept. 8, 2000, No. 397, § 1; Sept. 7, 2004, No. 258, § 11.