11-258. County fair fund; district fairs; operation of fair by corporation; county and state appropriations

A. The board may appropriate each year from the general fund a sum, which shall be known as a county fair fund, as follows:

1. In counties having a census of two hundred thousand or more as determined by the latest preceding federal decennial census, not more than one hundred thousand dollars.

2. In counties having a census of more than twenty-five thousand but less than two hundred thousand as determined by the latest preceding federal decennial census, not more than twenty-five thousand dollars.

3. In counties having a census of less than twenty-five thousand as determined by the latest preceding federal decennial census, not more than fifteen thousand dollars.

The board may expend the money in aid of a county or district fair, or to make an exhibit of the county's resources at the state fair. A district fair is one at which the boards of two or more counties shall, by resolution entered upon their minutes, invite the people of their respective counties to exhibit the resources of the county.

B. The money shall not be expended in aid of a fair conducted under the auspices of any corporation, unless the stockholders of the corporation shall, by resolution entered upon its minutes, provide that no dividends shall ever be paid upon its stock, and that in the event of the dissolution of the corporation all money appropriated and expended by any county in aid of the fair shall be repaid before any assets of the corporation shall be distributed to its stockholders.

C. To encourage county and district fairs, there shall be paid from the general fund of the state and from the appropriation for the state fair, a sum of not exceeding one thousand dollars in any one year for any one county having a county or district fair in such year. A county desiring to claim the benefits of this section shall certify to the Arizona exposition and state fair board the fact that a county or district fair is being held in the county during the year together with a statement of the amount appropriated by the county for the current year for such fair, and upon order therefor by the Arizona exposition and state fair board, the director of the department of administration shall draw his warrant in favor of the county in the amount appropriated by the county, not exceeding one thousand dollars.