P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 5817
As of the date on which the Center receives the transfers established in subsection (f) of section 23 of this Act, and during each subsequent year, the Secretary shall transfer to the Government Development Bank one twelfth (1 / 1 2) part of the estimated pending revenues during the fiscal year in question from the amounts indicated in subsections (b) and (c) of § 5815 of this title, no later than the tenth (10th) day of each month.
The Government Development Bank shall remit to each municipality the amounts indicated hereinbelow no later than the fifteenth (15th) day of each month, pursuant to that which is provided in §§ 5801–5820 of this title, in the trust contract and in the preliminary allocation document prepared by the Center. The amount to be withheld to cover statutory or contracted debts of the municipalities with public agencies or other municipalities shall be specified in said allocation.
The computation of the total amount of the revenues to be allocated during Fiscal Year 1993-94 and in each following fiscal year that is generated on account of the sources described in § 5815, shall be made using the immediately preceding year as base year.
Said remittance shall be made using the following criteria:
(a) One twelfth (1/12th) of the estimated annual revenues which shall correspond to each municipality for the amounts indicated in subsections (a), (b) and (c) of § 5815 of this title.
(b) The basic municipal tax that was levied prior to the approval of this act, plus any additional basic tax levied by the municipalities, as well as the appropriations for the exempted property tax and the twenty hundredths of one percent of the basic tax levied and not collected which is reimbursed by the General Fund, shall be directly adjudicated to the corresponding municipality.
Through the matching mechanism, it is ensured that each municipality receives revenues from property taxes that previously corresponded to the General Fund, the lottery and the government subsidy, equal to those perceived as of the base year. If the property tax does not provide for said matching, it shall receive remittance from the lottery and subsidy until the same is reached. If these funds are not sufficient, the necessary recourses shall be taken to attain the matching of those municipalities whose property tax exceeds its matching requirements.
After the matching has been made, if there were a remainder of revenues from the property tax, it shall be distributed between the municipalities on the basis of the increment in the property tax of each municipality with regard to the total increase thereof.
(c) If the matching is made without exhausting the revenues proceeding from the lottery and the subsidy, any resulting surplus shall be distributed by the Center among all the municipalities on the basis of the following criteria:
(1) The total number of persons per capita benefitting from the Nutritional Assistance Program, pursuant to the certification issued by the Department of the Family to such effects, determined in the immediately preceding fiscal year or in the closest fiscal year for which there is information.
(2) The functional per capita budget of each municipality, of the immediately preceding fiscal year or in the closest fiscal year for which there is information.
(3) The per capita appraised value of the taxable property located within the territorial limits of each municipality, corresponding to the immediately preceding fiscal year, or to the closest fiscal year for which there is information.
(4) The population of the municipality per square mile, according to the last ten-year census.
The above mentioned surplus shall be allocated in six equal parts, of which one-sixth (⅙) of such available funds shall correspond to each factor. The allocation approach shall be determined by the Board, with the participation of the Director of the Management and Budget Office. The application of said approach must benefit those municipalities that receive the lowest revenues from property taxes or other sources, as well as the municipalities with the greatest number of Nutritional Assistance Program dependents and greatest population density.
(d) As of Fiscal Year 1994-95 and in following years, if the total amount of the revenues provided in § 5815 of this title is not sufficient to attain the matching of revenues of each municipality with the base year, the available funds shall be distributed in proportion to the allocation of revenues of each base year.
As of June 30, 1995, and in every subsequent year, the Center shall make a final liquidation of the funds allocated to the municipalities not later than December 31 of each year. Should there be a surplus, the Government Bank shall remit the corresponding amount to each municipality, using the factors established in subsection (c) of this section. If amounts in excess of those which correspond to each municipality are remitted according to said final liquidation, the Center shall report said fact to the Government Bank so that it may withhold those amounts needed to recover the amounts remitted in excess from the remittances of the following fiscal year. In any case, the municipalities must make the needed adjustments against the cash surplus of the previous year so that the corresponding amounts may be accounted as part of the fiscal year to which they correspond. On the other hand, so that the municipalities may be able to comply with the provisions of §§ 4110(j) and 4311 of this title, the Center shall have to issue a preliminary certification on or before September 30 of each year. Said preliminary certification shall be remitted to the municipalities not later than the third working day after said September 30.
(e) When the Center deems it pertinent, it may conduct a revision of the estimated revenues. If, when making said revision, an increase is determined, it may recommend a lump sum payment for the corresponding amount, to the municipality for the months prior to the revision. Any remainder of the increase shall be prorated in the remaining remittances until the end of the fiscal year, in which case the provisions of subsection (d) of this section shall apply with regard to the final liquidation of the funds distributed to the municipalities.
(f) The Board of Directors of the Center is hereby empowered to establish a formula, according to the circumstances of each year, to distribute the funds of subsections (b) and (c) of § 5815 of this title, to attain the matching of the base year, where the municipalities of less than fifty thousand (50,000) inhabitants are assured the same revenue received in the immediately preceding fiscal year.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 80, § 18; July 31, 1992, No. 42, § 5; Aug. 12, 1995, No. 182, § 4; Feb. 15, 1996, No. 5, § 1; Aug. 12, 1998, No. 234, § 1; July 30, 1999, No. 190, § 1; Jan. 26, 2000, No. 42, § 12.