B. Removing the requirement that county residents vote to initiate a charter commission and allowing a charter commission to be initiated either by the county commissioners or a citizens' petition. Citizens would still be required to vote on the final adoption of the charter.

4. It would increase the real estate transfer tax from $2.20 per $1,000 of property value per party to $3.00 per $1,000 of property value per party. All additional funds raised through the real estate transfer tax as a result of this increase would be deposited into a dedicated fund to provide grants to promote regional efforts. This fund would be administered by the Intergovernmental Advisory Group, as established in this bill. Groups of municipalities, councils of government and regional planning commissions may apply for grants. A county may also apply for a grant if it adopts a charter and if it submits a plan for regional cooperation.

5. It would create tax districts for multiple towns to join together for the purpose of assessing and collecting taxes as a single entity. A county may also serve as a tax district for this purpose. Residents of the towns or the county must vote to decide on whether to create a taxing district. The Intergovernmental Advisory Group may provide grants to assist in the development of a proposed taxing district.

6. It would transfer a portion of the Highway Fund that funds State Police patrol to towns that do not have local police. Those towns would then contract with the county for sheriff patrol services. The portion of the Highway Fund to be transferred for this purpose would be based on the following funding formula for each county sheriff's patrol budget: Fifty percent of the budget must be collected from the residents that receive the benefit and 50% must be collected through the Highway Fund.

7. It would encourage counties to work together on regional projects, such as communications centers and regional jails, by amending or clarifying statute to give all political subdivisions of the State broad authority to work together.

8. It would tie the award of transportation funds to municipalities to the development of coherent regional land use policies.

9. It would remove statutory references to: