5.__Exceeding county assessment limit; extraordinary circumstances.__The county assessment limit established in subsection 2 may be exceeded for extraordinary circumstances only under the following circumstances.

A.__The extraordinary circumstances must be circumstances outside the control of the county budget authority, including:

(1)__Catastrophic events such as__natural disaster, terrorism, fire, war or riot;

(2)__Unfunded or underfunded state or federal mandates;

(3)__Citizens' initiatives or other referenda;

(4)__Court orders or decrees; or

(5)__Loss of state or federal funding.

Extraordinary circumstances do not include changes in economic conditions, revenue shortfalls, increases in salaries or benefits, new programs or program expansions that go beyond existing program criteria and operation.

B.__The county assessment limit may be exceeded only as provided in subsection 7.

C.__Exceeding the county assessment limit established in subsection 2 permits the county assessment to exceed the county assessment limit only for the year in which the extraordinary circumstance occurs and does not increase the base for purposes of calculating the county assessment limit for future years.

6.__Increase in county assessment limit.__The county assessment limit established in subsection 2 may be increased for other purposes only as provided in subsection 7.