Virginia § 29.1-355 - Disposition of funds

§ 29.1-355. Disposition of funds

All moneys received from the sale of the special stamps shall be paid into the local treasury to the credit of a special damage stamp fund and identified by the year in which the moneys were collected. The special fund shall be used for the following purposes:

1. Payment for damages to crops, fruit trees, commercially grown Christmas trees, nursery stock, livestock, colonies of bees, bee equipment and appliances, as defined in § 3.2-4400, or farm equipment that is caused by deer, elk, or bear at any time, or by big game hunters during hunting season; and

2. Payment of the actual and necessary costs of the administration of the provisions of this article, including the printing and distribution of the required stamps and the payment of reasonable fees to persons designated by a local governing body to inspect, evaluate, and confirm reported claims and adjust such claims; and

3. In the discretion of the local governing body, payment of the costs of law enforcement directly related to and incidental to carrying out the provisions of this article and the general game laws of the Commonwealth; any person compensated to engage in such law-enforcement activities shall be approved for such employment by the director and appointed to be a special conservation police officer in accordance with the Board's standards and policies governing such appointment; and

4. In the discretion of the local governing body, administrative expenses related to the special stamps, support of a county volunteer fire prevention and suppression program when the program includes firefighting on big game hunting lands open to the public, and support of local volunteer emergency medical services agencies whose services are available to hunters in distress. However, the money appropriated from the special damage stamp fund for these purposes shall not exceed, in the aggregate, in any calendar year, an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount paid into the special damage stamp fund during the fiscal year or previous calendar year. Once selecting the fiscal year or previous calendar year, the local governing body must continue to use that selected period of time in determining the amount of money to be appropriated from the special damage stamp fund.

1981, c. 16, § 29-92.4; 1983, c. 198; 1985, c. 284; 1986, c. 361; 1987, c. 488; 2003, c. 137; 2004, cc. 87, 463; 2007, c. 87; 2015, cc. 502, 503.