(a)(1) Pursuant to Section 216 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, the City of Dothan currently levies ad valorem taxes on property situated therein at the rate of one-half of one percent (5 mills) of the assessed value of such property, which tax revenues are authorized to be used for general municipal purposes.
(2) Pursuant to Amendment 373(f) of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 217(f) of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, the governing body of the City of Dothan has duly proposed, after a public hearing on such proposal, that the City Council of Dothan be authorized to increase the rate at which the City of Dothan’s municipal ad valorem taxes are levied on property situated therein by up to an additional one and one-half percent (15 mills) of the assessed value of such property, and has further proposed that such additional net ad valorem tax revenues, net of the cost of collection, be distributed as follows:
a. Thirteen-fifteenths of any additional revenues shall be distributed to the Dothan City Board of Education to be used exclusively for public school purposes.
b. The remainder of any additional revenues shall be distributed to the Houston-Love Memorial Library Board to be used exclusively for the improvement, operation, and maintenance of public libraries within the City of Dothan.
(3) The governing body of the City of Dothan has requested that the Legislature approves the proposed authorization for the City Council of the City of Dothan to increase the ad valorem tax, as provided in Amendment 217(f) subject to approval by majority vote of the qualified electors residing in the City of Dothan who vote on the proposal at a special municipal election called and held for such purpose not later than October 1, 2013.
(4) Notice of the intention to propose this section has been published, without cost to the State of Alabama, in the counties wherein the City of Dothan is situated, namely, Houston County, Dale County, and Henry County, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Section 106 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended.
(b) The Legislature does hereby approve a proposed increase of up to one and one-half percent (15 mills) in the rate of ad valorem taxes which may be levied by the City Council of the City of Dothan after the electors of the City of Dothan approve of the increase at a referendum on property situated in the City of Dothan from the current one-half of one percent (5 mills) to an amount not exceeding a total of two percent (20 mills) of the assessed value of such property, such additional net tax revenues, net of cost of collection, to be distributed as follows: Thirteen-fifteenths of any net additional ad valorem tax revenues shall be distributed to the Dothan City Board of Education to be used exclusively for public school purposes and, the remainder of any additional ad valorem tax revenues shall be distributed to the Houston-Love Memorial Library Board to be used exclusively for the improvement, operation, and maintenance of public libraries within the City of Dothan. No increase shall take effect until it has been approved by majority vote of the qualified electors residing in the City of Dothan who vote on the proposal at a special municipal election held in the City of Dothan not later than October 1, 2013. Following approval in the municipal election, the tax increase shall become effective in the tax year specified on the ballot.
(c) All matters relating to the assessment of property and collection of ad valorem taxes in the City of Dothan shall be unaffected by this section. The additional tax revenues approved pursuant to this section shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as existing municipal ad valorem taxes are assessed and collected.