(a) Funds in the municipal street aid fund shall be distributed to eligible municipalities within the state monthly by the commissioner of finance and administration, or other official now or hereafter charged with the duty of allocating or distributing state funds, in proportion as the population of each municipality bears to the aggregate population of all municipalities according to the 1950 federal census or any subsequent federal census; provided, that, in the case of any area annexed to a municipality subsequent to the latest federal decennial census, the municipality may have a special census within the annexed area taken by the federal bureau of the census or in a manner directed by and satisfactory to the department of economic and community development, in which case the population of the municipality shall be revised and increased in accordance with the special census for purposes of distributing the funds, effective on the next July 1 following the certification of the census results to the commissioner of finance and administration; and provided, further, that the aggregate population of all municipalities used as a base for calculating the distribution shall be adjusted in accordance with the special census, effective on the next July 1 following the certification of the census results to the commissioner. Any eligible municipality incorporated after the last federal decennial census may likewise have a special census taken, and shall share in the distribution of the municipal street aid fund beginning on the next July 1, following certification of the census results to the commissioner. The aggregate population shall likewise be adjusted in accordance with the special census, effective on the next July 1 following the certification of the census results to the commissioner.

(b) Any municipality shall have the right to take not more than four (4) special censuses at its own expense at any time during the interim between the regular decennial federal census. The right shall include the current decennium. The census shall be taken by the federal bureau of the census, or in a manner directed by and satisfactory to the department of economic and community development. The population of the municipality shall be revised in accordance with the special census for purposes of distribution of funds, effective on the next July 1, following the certification of the census results by the federal bureau of the census or the department of economic and community development to the commissioner of finance and administration. The aggregate population shall likewise be adjusted in accordance with the special census, effective on the next July 1, following the certification of the census results by the federal bureau of the census or the department of economic and community development to the commissioner of finance and administration; provided, that any other special census of the entire municipality taken in the same manner provided in this section, under any other law, shall be used for the distribution of the funds, and in that case, no additional special census shall be taken under this section.

(c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), a premiere tourist resort city, defined as a municipality having a population of one thousand one hundred (1,100) or more persons, according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, and in which at least forty percent (40%) of the assessed valuation, as shown by the tax assessment rolls or books of the municipality, of the real estate in the municipality consists of hotels, motels, tourist court accommodations or tourist shops and restaurants, shall be considered a city with a population of ten thousand nine hundred forty-five (10,945) for purposes of distribution of funds under this section.