P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 5803
The Center shall have the following general powers and duties:
(a) Enforce the provisions of §§ 5001 et seq. of this title and the regulations adopted by virtue thereof, carry out the necessary and appropriate efforts that lead to a better administration of said sections, including keeping up to date and updating the official record of real estate of each municipality, and improving and rendering more efficient the billing and collection systems of said taxes.
(b) Collect the property taxes established in §§ 5001 and 5002 of this title, corresponding to each municipality, according to the tax rates that each of these provides through a municipal ordinance to such effects, including the surtax for the amortization and redemption of general obligation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(c) Establish a trust with the Government Bank to receive all revenues collected from property taxes, as provided in subsection (b) of this section, and those resulting from the Additional Lottery System, and the percent of the net internal revenues that correspond to the municipalities, and from any other funds provided by law for them.
(d) Carry out all efforts needed to collect the property taxes accounts that are transferred by the Secretary in accordance with §§ 5801–5820 of this title.
(e) Enter into covenants or agreements, chargeable to their operating funds, with public agencies, financial institutions and savings and credit unions to collect municipal property taxes.
(f) Develop and carry out programs together with the municipalities, to expedite the appraisal of newly-constructed properties and existing properties that have not been previously appraised, subject to the provisions of §§ 5801–5820 of this title. In every improvement whose cost exceeds two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), the calculation of the property tax shall be retroactive to three (3) years or to the date that the improvement was made, whichever is less.
Develop together with the municipalities, administrative processes to expedite the collection of the property tax, through the promulgation of regulations to such effects.
(g) Receive and distribute matching funds and other funds that through the provisions of §§ 5801–5820 of this title and §§ 4001 et seq. of this title, known as the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Autonomous Municipalities Act”, are assigned to the municipalities.
(h) Collect and allocate the public funds that are entrusted to it by legal provision or municipal ordinance to such effects.
(i) Grant monthly funds advances to the municipalities in the manner provided hereinbelow.
(j) Make loans and authorize the issuing of notes through resolutions to such effects in advance of the collection of pending taxes and estimated revenues, with the sole purpose of advancing funds to the municipalities subject to the provisions of § 5814 of this title, as well as to borrow money and incur debts for its operations under those terms and conditions that the Center shall determine from time to time, with or without collateral. If the Center is required to post a collateral, it may borrow money secured by the collection of the basic municipal tax. If necessary, only the surplus, if any, shall be used, of the sum destined to meet the payment of municipal bonds (C.A.E., Spanish acronym), to secure loans.
The Center may dispose of its obligations evidenced by said loans, to make, grant and deliver trust instruments and other covenants with regard to any of said loans, contracting of debts, bond issues, notes, mortgage obligations or other obligations, under those redemption terms with or without premiums, and sell the same in public or private sale for the price or prices, as determined therefor by the Board of Directors.
(k) Adopt and alter an official seal, which shall be affixed to all official documents of the Center.
(l) Sue and be sued.
(m) Establish its own administrative structure.
(n) Control and administrate its operating funds and decide the nature and need of all its expenses and the manner in which they shall be incurred and authorized.
(ñ) Adopt, amend and repeal regulations to govern its affairs, and prescribe rules, regulations and norms related to the compliance of its functions and duties and the execution of the acts whose administration is delegated upon it.
(o) Receive and accept funds and contributions from any public agency of the Government of Puerto Rico, the Government of the United States of America, the municipalities and non-profit entities, in order to attain the purposes of §§ 5801–5820 of this title and comply with the conditions and requirements with respect to any funds or contributions it receives.
(p) Take steps and obtain the technical and financial aid from public agencies that it deems necessary, regardless of its nature, in order to comply with the functions of the Center and the municipalities.
(q) Acquire through purchase, lease, donation or any other legal manner, that equipment and property necessary to comply with the purposes of §§ 5801–5820 of this title.
(r) Enter into and execute covenants, leases, contracts and any other documents needed and pertinent to exercise the functions granted to it by law.
(s) Carry out by itself or in coordination with the municipalities and public agencies, the studies and research needed on those matters that affect the collection of municipal property taxes.
(t) Compile, construe and publish information and statistical data relative to municipal property taxes, revenues from the Additional Lottery System, net internal revenues, legislative appropriations, yield of investments and any other funds entrusted to the Center, as well as any other information of its interest.
(u) Attach and execute, on behalf and in representation of the corresponding municipality, any properties and assets of those taxpayers who owe property taxes, after complying with the applicable legal procedures.
(v) Send every taxpayer a notice about the collection of taxes on real property to include an accounts statement containing the following information: an itemized balance of the debt, if any, to include the principal, interest, penalties and payments made as well as a statement of the debts and payments made during the past five (5) years. It shall also include a warning as to the action the Center shall take in the case of noncompliance with the payment of the tax debt, if any, within the term established to make the same and the procedure the taxpayer may follow to clarify or correct the information furnished by the Center.
Any notice sent by the Center shall not be deemed to be a collection notice for any pertinent legal purposes, if any of the above indicated information is missing.
(w) To receive and distribute the funds from the appropriations that must be appropriated annually by the Legislature starting in Fiscal Year 1993-94, from federal contributions and others that nourish Citizen Participation Program for Municipal Development established by §§ 4001 et seq. of this title, known as the “Autonomous Municipalities Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”. The funds to be appropriated annually by the Legislature shall be consigned in the Public Improvements Fund of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Provided, That until the Center is constituted, the funds corresponding to this Program shall be appropriated and distributed to the municipalities by the Office of the Municipal Affairs Commissioner. The Commissioner shall promulgate the regulations that are necessary for the distribution of said funds during the stated fiscal year.
The following criteria shall apply in distributing the funds proceeding from the Citizens Participation program for Municipal Development:
(A) Contribution from the Commonwealth Government as of Fiscal Year 1993-94.—
(1) Fifty percent (50%) of the total amount of the available Commonwealth funds for the Citizens Participation Program for Municipal Development during one (1) year shall be divided equally among all the municipalities.
(2) The remaining fifty percent (50%) shall be distributed, based on a formula which provides for the investment of the same amount of funds for each low-income family in each municipality. To such effects, low-income families in each municipality are those who receive less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) a year. The sum of the amounts corresponding to each municipality as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this clause shall represent the Commonwealth contribution of funds, for each municipality.
(B) Funds from the Federal Government.— The contributions made by the Government of the United States to the Citizens Participation Program for the Municipal Development shall be distributed in direct proportion to the number of families earning less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) a year in Puerto Rico, except as otherwise provided by federal legislation or regulation.
(x) Inform the municipalities on the amount of money reserved for each one of them during the first month of each fiscal year, once the amount of funds available for the Citizen Participation Program for the Municipal Development is known, and pursuant to the criteria of subsection (w) of this section.
(y) Inform the Office of the Municipal Affairs Commissioner, during the first month of each fiscal year on the amounts of the Citizens Participation Program for Municipal Development that shall be available for each municipality, for purposes of the central statistics system by municipality system which said office must keep. The Center shall also inform the changes that occur in said amounts as they arise during the fiscal year.
(z) Determine and periodically review the relative and absolute contribution of the federal or State Government to the Citizens Participation Program for Municipal Development for each municipality, based on the most recent statistical data compiled for each municipality regarding population and households with incomes of less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) a year. The Center shall also prepare an annual report compiling the appropriation of funds for said program by municipalities, including goals or aspects requiring review in order to achieve the objectives of the program. For such purposes, additional indicators such as social and economic aid, social security and nutritional assistance payments, among others, shall be used.
(aa) Impose, serve and collect any imposts for benefits or profits required by any law.
(bb) Exercise any other powers and duties and conduct activities and programs and execute agreements assigned thereto or that are inherent or necessary to fulfill the purposes of §§ 5801–5820 of this title.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 80, § 4; July 31, 1992, No. 42, § 1; Aug. 12, 1995, No. 182, § 1; July 3, 1996, No. 64, § 32, renumbered as § 34 on Aug. 12, 1997, No. 75, § 35; Aug. 8, 1998, No. 207, § 6.005; Sept. 23, 2004, No. 445, § 1, retroactive to June 1, 2003.