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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1415 ORDINANCE NO. 1415 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA AMENDING CHAPTER 6 OF ARTICLE II OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING THERETO PART 7 RELATING TO A UTILITIES TAX. THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Chapter 6 of Article II of the Arcadia Municipal Code hereby is amended by adding thereto Part 7 to read as follows: ARTICLE CHAPTER PART 7. II. r O. ADMINISTRATION TAXES UTILITIES TAX 2670. DEFINITIONS. The definitions given in this section govern the construction of this Part. (a) "Person" shall mean any domestic or foreign corpo- ration, firm, association, syndicate, joint stock company, partner- ship of any kind, joint venture, club, Massachusetts business or common-law trust, society, individual, or municipal corporation. (b) "City" shall mean the City of Arcadia. (c) "Telephone corporation," "electrical corporation," " t." gas corpora lon, "water corporation," and "cable television corporation" shall have the same meanings as defined in Section 234, 218, 222, 241, and 215.5, respectively, of the Public Utilities Code of the State of California, as said sections existed on January 1, 1970, except tha t "water corporation," shall not mean or include the City of Arcadia. (d) "Tax Adminis tra tor" shall mean the Finance Direc tor of the City of Arcadia. -1- 1415 (p) "Service Supplier" shall mean a person required to collect and remit a tax imposed by this Part. (f) "Service User" shall mean a person required to pay a tax imposed by this Part. (g) "Month" shall mean a calendar month. 2671. TELEPHONE TAX. (a) There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the City, using intrastate telephone communication services in the City. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five per cent (5%) of all charges made for such services and shall be paid by the person paying for such services. (b) As used in this Section, the term "charges" shall not include charges for services paid for by inserting coins in coin- operated telephones except that where such coin-operated telephone service is furnished for a guaranteed amount, the amounts paid under such guarantee plus any fixed monthly or other periodic charge shall be included in the base for computing the amount of tax due; nor shall the term "telephone communication services" include land mobile services or maritime mobile services as defined in Section 2.1 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as such section existed on January 1, 1970. (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the tax imposed under this section shall not be imposed upon any person for using intrastate telephone communication services to the extent that the amounts paid for such services are exempt from or not subject to the tax imposed by section 4251 of Title 26 of the United States Code, as such section existed on January 1, 1970, without regard to subsection (b) thereof. -2- 1415 2671.1. ELECTRICITY TAX. (a) There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the City using electrical energy in the City. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five per cent (5%) of the charges made for such energy and shall be paid by the person paying for such energy. "Charges," as used in this section, shall include charges made for (1) metered energy, and (2) minimum charges for service, including customer charges, service charges, demand charges, standby charges, and annual and monthly charges. (b) As used in this section the term "using electrical energy" shall not be construed to mean the storage of such energy by a person in a battery owned or possessed by him for use in an automobile or other machinery or device apart from the premises upon which the energy was received, provided however, that the term shall include the receiving of such energy for the purpose of using it in the charging of batteries. The term shall not include electri- city used in water pumping by water corporations; nor shall the term include the mere receiving of such energy by an electrical corporation at a point within the City for resale. 2671.2. GAS TAX. (a) There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the City using gas in the City which is delivered through mains or pipes. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five per cent (5%) of the charges made for such gas and shall be paid by the person paying for such gas. (b) There shall be excluded from the base on which the tax imposed in this section is computed (1) charges made for gas which is to be resold and delivered through mains or pipes; (2) -3- 1415 charges made for gas to be used in the generation of electrical energy by an electrical corporation; and (3) charges made by a gas public utility for gas used and consumed in the conduct of the business of gas public utilities. 2671.3. WATER TAX. There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the City using water in the City which is delivered through mains or pipes of a water corporation. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five per cent (5%) of the charges made for such water and shall be paid by the person paying for such water. 2671.4. CABLE TELEVISION TAX. There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person in the City using cable television service in the City. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of five per cent (5%) of the charges made for such service and shall be paid by the person paying for such service. 2672. EXEMPTIONS. Nothing in this Part shall be construed as imposing a tax upon any person if imposition of such tax upon that person would be in violation of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of California. 2673. COLLECTION OF TAX. (a) Every person receiving payment of charges from a service user shall collect the amount of tax imposed by this Part from the service user. (b) The tax shall be collected insofar as practicable at the same time as and along with the collection of charges made in accordance with the regular billing practice of the service supplier. If the amount paid by a service user is less than the full amount of the charge and tax which has accrued for the billing -4- 1415 period, a proportionate share of both the charge and the tax shall be deemed to have been paid, unless the full amount of the charge is paid or the service user gives notice that he refuses to pay the tax. (c) vmere the remittance of taxes collected is based upon an estimated percentage collected of the total amount billed, the service supplier may submit a payment plan to the Tax Administra- tor for his approval. (d) The duty to collect tax from a service user shall commence with the beginning of the first regular billing period applicable to that person which starts on or after September 1, 1970. Where a person receives more than one (1) billing, one or more being for different periods than another, the duty to collect shall arise separately for each billing period. 2674. REPORTING AND REMITTING. Each service supplier shall, on or before the 20th of each month, make a return to the Tax Administrator, on forms provided by him, stating the amount of taxes billed by the service supplier during the preceding month. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the Tax Administrator. The Tax Administrator is authorized to require such further information as he deems necessary to properly determine if the tax here imposed is being levied and collected in accordance with this ordinance. Returns and remittances are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason. 2675. PENALTY. (a) Taxes collected from a service user which are not remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the due dates pro- vided in this Part. -5- 1415 (b) Penalties for delinquency in remittance of any tax collected shall attach and be paid by the person required to collect and remit at the rate of fifteen per cent (15%) of the total tax collected. (c) The Tax Administrator shall have power to impose additional penalties upon persons required to collect and remit taxes under the provisions of this ordinance for fraud or negligence in reporting or remitting at the rate of fifteen per cent (15%) of the amount of the tax collected or as recomputed by the Tax Administrator. (d) Every penalty imposed under the provisions of this section shall become a part of the tax required to be remitted. 2r~r 010. ACTIONS TO COLLECT. Any tax required to be paid by a service user under the provisions of this Part shall be deemed a debt owed by the service user to the City. Any such tax collected from a service user which has not been remitted to the Tax Adminis- trator shall be deemed a debt owed to the City by the person required to collect and remit. Any person owing money to the City under the provisions of this Part shall be liable to an action brought in the name of the City for the recovery of such amount. 2677. FAILURE TO PAY TAX - PENALTY. Whenever a service user has failed to pay the amount of the tax for a period of two or more billing periods, or when~ver the Tax Administrator deems it in the best interest of the City, he may relieve the service supplier of the obligation to collect taxes due under this Part from certain named service users for specified billing periods. The Tax Administrator shall notify the service user that he has assumed responsibility to collect the taxes due for the stated r -0- 1415 periods and demand payment of such taxes. The notice shall be served on the service user by handing it to him personally or by deposit of the notice in the United States mail, postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the service user at the address to which billing was made by the service supplier; or should the service user have changed his address, to his last known address. If a service user fails to remit the tax to the Tax Administrator within fifteen (15) days from the date of the service of the notice upon him, which shall be tne date of mailing if service is not accomplished in person, a penalty of twenty-five per cent (25%) of the amount of the tax set forth in the notice shall be imposed, but not less than Five Dollars ($5.00). The penalty shall become part of the tax herein required to be paid. 2678. RECORDS. It shall be the duty of every person required to collect and remit to the City any tax imposed by this Part to keep and preserve, for a period of three (3) years, all records as may be necessary to determine the amount of such tax as he may have been liable for the collection of and remittance to the Tax Administrator, which records the Tax Administrator shall have the right to inspect at all reasonable times. 2679. REFUNDS. (a) Whenever the amount of any tax has been overpaid or paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the Tax Administrator under this Part, it may be refunded as provided in this section. (b) A person required to collect and remit taxes imposed under this Part may claim a refund or take as credit against taxes collected and remitted the amount overpaid, paid more than once or erroneously or illegally collected or received when it is established -7- 1415 in a manner prescribed by the Tax Administrator that the service user from whom the tax has been collected did not owe the tax; pro- vided, however, that neither a refund nor a credit shall be allowed unless the amount of the tax so collected has either been refunded to the service user or credited to charges subsequently payable by the service user to the person required to collect and remit. (c) No refund shall be paid under the provisions of this section unless the claimant establishes his right thereto by written records showing entitlement thereto. SECTION 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance. I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing ordinance was adopted at an adjourned regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Arcadia held on the 30th day of June, 1970, by the affirmative vote of at least three Councilmen, to wit: AYES: Councilmen Hage, Helms, and Butterworth NOES: Councilmen Arth, Considine ABSENT: None ~,~~y ~~ ~ A ~d.CA''- l Y er of e Cl y of rcadia ATTEST: SIGNED AND APPROVED this 30th day of June, 1970. Q C:{?~A:~f fL Mayor of the City .A!.t!u'-u-'-C;-" 'I of Arcadia bl~;(j City Clerk -)/ n ' 407 n~ #.4(_8-7<'/' . . (SEAL) -8- 1415