P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 260c
The Secretary of the Treasury shall annually, commencing with fiscal year 1969-70, after computing the assessment as provided in the foregoing § 260 of this title, apply, as a subsidy, the sum of money as may be necessary to reduce to sixteen dollars ($16) per acre annually the amount to be paid on an area up to five hundred (500) acres from the total of lands included under irrigation in the South Coast Irrigation District belonging to the same owner; and to also reduce to nineteen dollars ($19) per acre annually the amount to be paid for the excess of the area on five hundred (500) acres from the total of lands included in the District belonging to the same owner; Provided, That for the purpose of the determination of the area of the five hundred (500) acres of land above-mentioned on which there is granted to the owners the subsidy or tax reduction above stated, there shall be considered as part of a single unit the total area of lands of the different tracts included in said district and belonging to the same owner, but without considering the area of the tracts of land which enjoy credit against the irrigation tax by reason of rights or concessions of water ceded to the Commonwealth; Provided, however, That the tracts of land whose concession rights are ceded to the Commonwealth, after receiving the credit corresponding to said cession, as provided in § 260 of this title, shall enjoy the subsidy above-mentioned to reduce the amount of the irrigation tax to nineteen dollars ($19) per acre annually only on the area equivalent without credit for the concessions of said tract of land. For the purposes of §§ 260 and 260c—260e of this title, landowner shall be understood to mean: Natural persons, corporations, partnerships, communities, estates, conjugal partnerships, common enterprises and any other associations, juridic or de facto entities.
The Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall make the additional deduction hereinafter stated with respect to the irrigation tax to be paid in accordance with the tax receipts corresponding to fiscal year 1969-70, and to subsequent fiscal years with reference to the lands included in the South Coast Irrigation District. Such additional deduction shall consist of the amount corresponding to the deficiency in the offer of monthly water deliveries as compared to seventy-five percent (75%) of the regular monthly supply. The Electric Power Authority shall not later than April 1, of each year, certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the percentage to be applied to determine the additional deduction above-mentioned in the irrigation tax with regard to each one of three channel systems of Patillas, Guamani and Juana Díaz, on the basis of the offer of monthly water deliveries during the calendar year preceding July 1, of the fiscal year for which tax receipts are issued.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall make the additional deduction in the irrigation tax to be paid for fiscal year 1969-70 applying the percentage that the Electric Power Authority may certify as corresponding to the offers of water supply from the period of July to December of 1968. For each one of the subsequent fiscal years, commencing with the year 1970-71, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make the additional deduction applying the percentage that the Authority may certify as corresponding to the offers of water delivery of the preceding calendar year to each one of said fiscal years.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall establish the procedure, so that each landowner, as above stated, may receive evidence of the tax reduction and of the additional deduction that as subsidies of the Commonwealth Government are granted hereunder.
The Electric Power Authority is hereby empowered commencing with fiscal year 1968-69 to withhold annually from the five percent (5%) of its gross receipts that is set aside annually according to § 212(b)(1) of this title, such sums as may be necessary, to refund to the South Coast Irrigation Fund, the total amount of any reduction in the receipts of the Irrigation Service by reason of the reduction and additional deduction in the irrigation tax that may result from the application of the provisions of this section and with regard to the subsidies to reduce to sixteen dollars ($16) per acre annually the amount to be paid on an area of up to five hundred (500) acres, and to nineteen dollars ($19) per acre annually for the excess of the area on five hundred (500) acres, from the total of lands included in the District appertaining to the same landowner and to the additional deduction, that may be granted by reason of the deficiencies in the offers of water deliveries, everything, subject to the limitations imposed by this section.
The provisions of this section, including the corresponding annual withholdings made by the Authority from the five percent (5%) of the gross receipts, as regards said subsidies and deductions, shall continue, until otherwise provided, in force and effect.
History —Aug. 8, 1913, No. 128, p. 54, added as § 11-C on June 18, 1965, No. 54, p. 97, § 4; renumbered as § 11-A and amended on Dec. 6, 1966, No. 3, p. 10, § 3; June 27, 1969, No. 98, p. 270, § 1.