69-25.15. When district or portion thereof annexed by municipality furnishing fire protection.

(a) When the whole or any portion of a fire protection district has been annexed by a municipality furnishing fire protection to its citizens, then such fire protection district or the portion thereof so annexed shall immediately thereupon cease to be a fire protection district or a portion of a fire protection district; and such district or portion thereof so annexed shall no longer be subject to G.S. 69-25.4 authorizing the board of county commissioners to levy and collect a tax in such district for the purpose of furnishing fire protection therein.

(b) Nothing herein shall be deemed to prevent the board of county commissioners from levying and collecting taxes for fire protection in the remaining portion of a fire protection district not annexed by a municipality, as aforesaid.

(c) When all or part of a fire protection district is annexed, and the effective date of the annexation is a date other than a date in the month of June, the amount of the fire protection district tax levied on property in the district for the fiscal year in which municipal taxes are prorated under G.S. 160A-58.10 shall be multiplied by the following fraction: the denominator shall be 12 and the numerator shall be the number of full calendar months remaining in the fiscal year following the day on which the annexation becomes effective. For each owner, the product of the multiplication is the prorated fire protection payment. The finance officer of the city shall obtain from the assessor or tax collector of the county where the annexed territory was located a list of the owners of property on which fire protection district taxes were levied in the territory being annexed, and the city shall, no later than 90 days after the effective date of the annexation, pay the amount of the prorated fire protection district payment to the owners of that property. Such payments shall come from any funds not otherwise restricted by law.

(d) Whenever a city is required to make fire protection district tax payments by subsection (c) of this section, and the city has paid or has contracted to pay to a rural fire department funds under G.S. 160A-58.57, the county shall pay to the city from funds of the rural fire protection district an amount equal to the amount paid by the city (or to be paid by the city) to a rural fire department under G.S. 160A-58.57 on account of annexation of territory in the rural fire protection district for the number of months in that fiscal year used in calculating the numerator under subsection (c) of this section; provided that the required payments by the county to the city shall not exceed the total of fire protection district payments made to taxpayers in the district on account of that annexation.