Legislative intent; centralized location.

It is the intent of the Legislature through the adoption of this chapter to have one centralized location for all legislation governing special districts and to:

(1) Improve the enforcement of statutes currently in place that help ensure the accountability of special districts to state and local governments.

(2) Improve communication and coordination between state agencies with respect to required special district reporting and state monitoring.

(3) Improve communication and coordination between special districts and other local entities with respect to ad valorem taxation, non-ad valorem assessment collection, special district elections, and local government comprehensive planning.

(4) Move toward greater uniformity in special district elections and non-ad valorem assessment collection procedures at the local level without hampering the efficiency and effectiveness of the current procedures.

(5) Clarify special district definitions and creation methods in order to ensure consistent application of those definitions and creation methods across all levels of government.

(6) Specify in general law the essential components of any new type of special district.

(7) Specify in general law the essential components of a charter for a new special district.

(8) Encourage the creation of municipal service taxing units and municipal service benefit units for providing municipal services in unincorporated areas of each county.