HomeMy Public PortalAboutOrdinance 629ORDINANCE NO. 629
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
BEAUMONT, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A UTILITY TAX OF THREE
PERCENT (3%) UPON TELEPHONE, ELECTRIC, GAS AND CABLE T.V.
UTILITY USERS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BEAUMONT DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1: There is hereby established a Three percent
(3%) utility user tax for the purpose of providing general fund
operating funds for use by the City of Beaumont.
SECTION 2: DEFINITIONS. The following words and
phrases, whenever used in this Ordinance, shall be construed as
defined in this section.
(a) "Person" shall mean any domestic or foreign
corporation, firm, association, syndicate, joint stock company,
partnership or any kind, joint venture, club, Massachusetts
business or common law trust, society or individuals.
(b) "City" shall mean the City of Beaumont.
(c) "Telephone corporation", "Electrical
corporation", "Gas corporation" and "Cable Television
corporation", shall have the same meanings as defined in Section
234, 218, 222 and 215-5, respectively, of the Public Utilities
Code of the State of California as said sections existed on
January 1, 1986. "Electrical corpordtion" shall be construed to
include any municipality or franchised agency engaged in the
selling or supplying of electrical power to a service user.
(d) "Tax Administrator" shall mean the Finance
Director of the City of Beaumont.
(e) "Service supplier" shall mean a utility company
which receives taxes paid and remits same as imposed by this
Ordinance.
(f) "Service user" shall mean a person required to
pay a tax imposed by this Ordinance.
(g) "Month" shall mean a calendar month.
SECTION 3: CONSTITUTIONAL AND OTHER EXEMPTIONS.
Nothing in this Ordinance shall be construed as i posing a tax
upon any person when imposition of such tax upon that person
would be in violation of the Constitution of the United States or
that of the State of California.
(a) A household with a combined annual gross income
of $7,500.00 or less is eligible for exemption or refund when
application is made pursuant to Section 11(d) and Section 14(f).
(b) The Tax Administrator shall prepare a list of the
persons exempt from the provisions of this Chapter by virtue of
this Section and furnish a copy thereof to each service supplier.
SECTION 4: TELEPHONE USERS TAX.
(a) There is hereby imposed a tax on the amounts paid
for any intrastate telephone services by every person in the City
using such services. The tax imposed by this section shall be
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Ordinance 629
at the rate of Three percent (3%) of the 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
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 "charges" include charges for any
type of service or equipment during any period in which the same
or similar services or equipment are also available for sale or
lease from persons other than a service supplier subject to
Public Utility regulations, nor shall the words "telephone
communication service" include land mobile services or maritime
mobile services as defined in Section 2.1 of Title 47 of the Code
of Federal Regulations, as said Section existed on January 1,
1970. The term "telephone communication services" refers to that
service which provides access to a telephone system and the
privilege of telephone quality communication with substantially
all persons having telephone stations which are part of such
telephone system. The Telephone Users Tax is intended to, and
does, apply to all charges billed to a telephone account having a
situs in the City, irrespective of whether a particular
communication service originates and/or terminates within the
City.
(c) The tax imposed by this Section shall be
collected from the service user by the person providing the
intrastate telephone communication services, or the person
receiving payment for such services. The amount of the tax
collected in one (1) month shall be remitted to the Tax
Administrator on or before the last day of the following month;
or the amount of tax collected in one (1) month shall be remitted
to the Tax Administrator on or before the last day of the
following months; or at the option of the person required to
collect and remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax collected,
measured by the tax bill in the previous month, shall be remitted
to the Tax Administrator on or before the last day of each month.
(d) 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 under Division 2, Part 20
of the California Revenue and Taxation Code, or the tax imposed
under Section 4251 of the Internal Revenue Code.
(e) The maximum telephone users tax payable by any
service user for an individual service shall be Two Thousand
Dollars ($2,000.00) per month. Any telephone service user paying
Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) per month may contract with the
City for direct payment of the tax.
SECTION 5: ELECTRICITY USERS 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 Three percent (3%) of
the charges made for such energy and shall be paid by the person
paying for such energy. "Charges", as used in this Section,
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Ordinance 629
shall include charges made for: (1) metered energy, and (2)
minimum charges for service including customer charges, service
charges, demand charges, stand-by charges and annual and monthly
charges, fuel cost adjustments, etc.
(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; nor
shall the term include electricity used and consumed by an
electric utility supplier in the conduct of its business as an
electric public utility; nor shall the term include mere
receiving of such energy by an electric public utility or
governmental agency at a point within the City of Beaumont for
resale; or the use of such energy in the production
or distribution of water by a public utility or a governmental
agency.
(c) The tax imposed in this Section shall be
collected from the service user by the person supplying such
energy. The amount of tax collected in one (1) month shall be
remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the last day of
the following month; or at the option of the person required to
collect and remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax, measured
by the tax billed in the previous month, shall be remitted to the
Tax Administrator on or before the last day of each month.
Remittance of tax may be predicated on a formula
based upon the payment pattern of the supplier's customers.
(d) The maximum electricity users tax payable by any
service user for an individual service shall be Three Thousand
Dollars ($3,000.00) per month. Any electricity service user
paying Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) per month may contract
with the City for direct payment of the tax.
SECTION 6: GAS USERS TAX.
(a) There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person
in the City, other than a gas corporation or electrical
corporation, using in the City gas which is delivered through
mains or pipes. The tax imposed by this Section shall be at the
rate of Three percent (3%) of the charges made for such gas and
shall be paid by the person paying for such gas. "Charges" as
used in this Section shall include: (1) gas which is delivered
through mains or pipes; (2) minimum charges for such services,
including customer charges, service charges and annual and
monthly charges.
(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) charges made for gas sold for use in the generation of
electrical energy or for the production or distribution of water
by a public utility or governmental agency; (3) charges made by a
gas public utility for gas used and consumed in the conduct of
the business of gas public utilities; (4) charges made for gas
used in the propulsion of a motor vehicle, as that phrase is
defined in the Vehicle Code of the State of California, utilizing
natural gas, and (5) charges related to late payments and
returned checks.
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Ordinance 629
(c) The tax imposed in this Section shall be
collected from the service user by the person selling the gas.
The person selling the gas shall, on or before the 20th of each
calendar month commencing on the 20th day of the calendar month
after the effective date of this part, make a return to the Tax
Administrator stating the amount of taxes billed during the
preceding calendar month. At the time such returns are filed,
the person selling the gas shall remit tax payments to the Tax
Administrator in accordance with schedules established or
approved by the Tax Administrator.
(d) The maximum gas users tax payable by any
service user for an individual service shall be Three Thousand
Dollars ($3,000.00) per month. Any gas service user paying Three
Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) per month may contract with the City
for direct payment of the tax.
SECTION 7: CABLE TELEVISION USERS TAX.
(a) There is hereby imposed a tax upon every person
in the City using cable television service. The tax imposed by
this Section shall be at the rate of Three percent (3%) of the
charges made for such service and shall be paid by the person
paying for such service.
(b) The tax imposed in this Section shall be
collected from the service user by the person furnishing the
cable television service. The amount collected in one (1) month
shall be remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the last
day of the following month.
(c) The maximum cable television users tax payable by
any service user for an individual service shall be One
Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per month. Any cable television
service user paying One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per month
may contract with the City for direct payment of the tax.
SECTION 8: INTEREST AND PENALTY.
(a) Taxes collected from a service user which are not
remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the due dates
provided in this Ordinance are delinquent.
(b) The interest penalty shall be the same as
specified in Section 12, Paragraph d - Administrative Remedy
Penalty.
SECTION 9: ACTIONS TO COLLECT. Any such tax received
from a service user which has willfully been withheld from the
Tax Administrator shall be deemed a debt owed to the City by the
person required to collect and remit. Any person holding such
money contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance shall be
liable to an action brought in the name of the City for the
recovery of such amount.
SECTION 10: DUTY TO COLLECT - PROCEDURES. The duty
to collect and remit the taxes imposed by this Ordinance shall be
performed as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 6(c)
the tax shall be collected insofar as practicable at the same
time as and along with the charges made in accordance with the
regular billing practices of the service supplier. Where the
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Ordinance 629
amount paid by a service user to a service supplier is less than
the full amount of the energy charge and tax which has accrued
for the billing period, such amount and any subsequent payments
by a service user shall be applied to the utility charges first
until such charge has been fully satisfied. Any remaining
balance shall be applied to taxes due. In those cases where a
service user has notified the service supplier of his refusal to
pay the tax imposed on said energy charge Section 12(c) will
apply.
(b) The duty to collect tax from a service user shall
commence with the beginning of the first full regular billing
period applicable to the service user where all charges normally
included in such regular billing are subject to the provisions of
this Ordinance. Where a person receives more than one billing,
one or more being for different periods than another, the duty to
collect shall arise separately for each billing.
SECTION 11: ADDITIONAL POWER AND DUTIES OF TAX
ADMINISTRATOR.
(a) The Tax Administrator shall have the power and
duty, and is hereby directed to enforce each and all of the
provisions of this Ordinance.
(b) The Tax Administrator shall have power to adopt
rules and regulations not inconsistent with provisions of this
Ordinance for the purpose of carrying out and enforcing the
payment, collection and remittance of taxes herein imposed. A
copy of such rules and regulations shall be on file in the Tax
Administrator's office.
(c) The Tax Administrator may make administrative
agreements to vary the strict requirements of this Ordinance so
that collection of any tax imposed here may be made in
conformance with the billing procedures of a particular service
supplier so long as said agreements result in collection of the
tax in conformance with the general purpose and scope of this
Ordinance. A copy of such agreement shall be on file in the Tax
Administrator's office.
(d) The Tax Administrator shall determine the
eligibility of any person who asserts a right to exemption from
the tax imposed by this Ordinance. The Tax Administrator shall
provide the service supplier with the name of any person who the
Tax Administrator determines is exempt from the tax imposed
hereby, together with the address and account number to which
services is supplied to any such exempt person. The Tax
Administrator shall notify the service supplier of the
termination of any person's right to exemption hereunder, or the
change of any address to which service is supplied to any exempt
person.
SECTION 12: ASSESSMENT - ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDY.
(a) The Tax Administrator may make an assessment for
taxes not remitted by a person required to remit.
(b) Whenever the Tax Administrator determines that a
service user has deliberately withheld the amount of the tax
owed by him from the amounts remitted to a person required to
collect the tax, or that a service user has refused to pay the
amount of tax to such person, or whenever the Tax Administrator
deems it in the best interest of the City, he may relieve such
person of the obligation to collect taxes due under this
Ordinance from certain named service users for specified billing
periods.
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Ordinance 629
(c) The service supplier shall provide the City with
amounts refused along with the names and addresses of the service
users refusing or neglecting to pay the tax imposed under
provisions of this Ordinance. Whenever the service user has
failed to pay the amount of tax for a period of two or more
billing periods, the service supplier shall be relieved of the
obligation to collect back taxes due.
(d) The Tax Administrator shall notify the
service user that he has assumed responsibility to collect the
taxes due for the stated 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 person
required to collect the tax; 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 the date of mailing if service is not
accomplished in person, a penalty of twenty-five (25%) percent of
the amount of the tax set forth in the notice shall be imposed,
but not less than $5.00. The penalty shall become part of the
tax herein required to be paid.
SECTION 13: RECORDS. It shall be the duty of every
person required to collect and remit to the City any tax imposed
by this Ordinance 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 resonable
times.
SECTION 14. 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
Ordinance, it may be refunded as provided in this Section.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (a)
of this Section, a service supplier 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 that the service user from whom
the tax has been collected did not owe the tax; provided,
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. A service supplier that has collected any amount of tax
in excess of the amount of tax imposed by this Ordinance, and
actually due from a service user, may refund such amount to the
service user and claim credit for such overpayment against the
amount of tax which is due upon any other monthly returns,
provided such credit is claimed in a return dated no later than
three (3) years from the date of overpayment.
(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.
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Ordinance 629
(d) Notwithstanding other provisions of this Section,
whenever a service supplier, pursuant to an order of the
California Public Utilities Commission or a Court of competent
jurisdiction, makes a refund to service users of charges for past
utility service, the taxes paid pursuant to this Ordinance on the
amount of such refunded charges shall also be refunded to service
users, and the service supplier shall be entitled to claim a
credit for such refunded taxes against the amount of tax which is
due upon the next monthly returns. In the event this Ordinance
is repealed, the amounts of any refundable taxes will be borne
by the City.
(e)
maximum amount
Administrator
user within
If the amount of any tax paid is in excess of the
payable as provided in any Section hereof, the Tax
shall refund the amount overpaid to the service
sixty (60) days after the service user has
established his entitlement to such refund, provided that no
refunds under this Subsection need be made more frequently than
quarter -annually.
(f) A refund of all taxes due and paid under the
provision of this Ordinance for utility services rendered on and
after July 1, 1986 and through June 30, 1987, or for any
succeeding twelve month period, shall be made whenever all of the
following occur:
(1) The annual gross income of the household in
which claimant lives is less than $7,500 for the claimant's
preceding federal or state personal income tax reporting period.
(2) An amount greater than the maximum amount
specified in Section 5(d) is paid.
(3) Claimant makes application and files a
verified claim in writing at the Department of Finance at City
Hall for such refund upon a claim form provided by the Tax
Administrator.
(4) The claim is approved by the Tax
Administrator as being in conformance with this Subsection.
Only one member of each household may file
a claim, and only one claim may be filed for each individual
household.
(g) The claimant shall be the person in whose name
the bills for utility services were rendered. Income of the
household means all income of the claimant's household while
members of such household and related to the claimant as a spouse
or as defined in Section 17056 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
of California.
(h) "Gross income" shall mean the sum of adjusted
gross income as used for purposes of the California Personal
Income Tax Law, together with the net income from all sources of
all kinds, including but not limited to alimony, support money,
cash public assistance and relief, pensions, annuities, social
security, interest on securities (including tax free interest on
governmental securities), realized capital gains, workers'
compensation (not including medical benefits), unemployment
insurance income, insurance benefits of all kinds (other than
medical), and gifts, except that income shall not include
Medicare benefits, Medicaid benefits, gifts of food and gifts
between members of the household, the receipt of surplus food or
other relief in kind supplied by a governmental agency.
month
month
(i) The claim for such refund for the preceding twelve
period ending on June 30, shall be made only during the
of September or October of each year, and must be
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Ordinance 629
accompanied by a copy of the utility bills, together with proof
that the utility taxes have been paid by the claimant or some
member of the household. No such refund shall be made on any
claim filed or postmarked later than the 31st day of October.
(j) No refund shall be made to any person for taxes
levied on a utility account for which any utility tax is due and
outstanding for the period for which refund is claimed or for any
prior period. No refund shall be made of any tax which was paid
with public assistance or relief funds which included an
allowance to pay the tax.
(k) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to
require that any utility company has any obligation to make or
furnish, for the purpose of the refund provisions hereof, proof
of utility taxes due or utility taxes paid.
SECTION 15: CIVIL DEBT. The taxes imposed by this
Ordinance shall be debts owing to the City from the service
user. A service supplier is not liable to the City until the tax
is collected from a service user. Any person owing money to the
City under the provisions of this Ordinance shall be liable to an
action brought in the name of the City for the recovery of such
amount.
SECTION 16: SEVERABILITY. If any Section.
Subsection, Subdivision, Paragraph, Sentence, Clause or Phrase of
this Ordinance or any part thereof is for any reason held to be
unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of
the remaining portions of this Ordinance or any part thereof.
The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed such
Section, Subsection, Subdivision, Paragraph, Sentence, Clause or
Phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more
Sections, Subsections, Subdivisions, Paragraphs, Sentences,
Clauses or Phrases be declared unconstitutional.
SECTION 17: OPERATIVE DATE. This Ordinance is
passed, accepted and enacted, pursuant to Section 36934 of the
California Government Code as an urgency measure pursuant to the
police power of the City of Beaumont. The intent and necessity
of this Ordinance is to protect the public health, safety and
public welfare of the citizens of the City of Beaumont by
creating the necessary funds to preserve the services that are
presently provided and need to be provided.
It shall become effective immediately and shall be
of no further force and effect on or after July 1, 1991.
SECTION 18: The tax imposed under this Ordinance
shall apply to services furnished from the beginning of the first
regular billing period commencing on or after July 1, 1986 or as
soon thereafter as the respective utilities are physically and
mechanically able to get "on line" for the imposition of charges
(approximately 60 days).
MOVED, PASSED AND ADOPTED on the
June , 1986.
Page 8
9th
day of
MAY
R OF THE CITY OF BEAUMONT
APPROV D AS TO FOR
1
!0t!/, it
CITY ARTO'ir
CERTIFICATION
Ordinance 629
I, Irene Joyce Sweeney , City Clerk of the City of
Beaumont DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Ordinance was
INTRODUCED AND PASSED UPON FIRST READING this 9th day of
June , 1986, upon the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Shaw, Waller, Russo and Mayor Partain.
NOES: None.
ABSTAIN: None.
ABSENT: None.
Page 9
ORDINANCE NO. 630
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF BEAUMONT, CALIFORNIA, REZONING CERTAIN PRO-
PERTY FROM CRO, COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL -OFFICE
TO CG, GENERAL COMMERCIAL.
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BEAUMONT DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION I: The Beaumont Official Zoning Map is hereby
amended to read as follows:
The property located at 655 Highland Springs Road
consisting of 36,330 sq. ft. of land area and
identified as Riverside County Assessors Parcel Number
419-150-028 is hereby re -zoned from CRO, Commercial
Residential -Office to CG, General Commercial.
SECTION II: This Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30)
days after its final passage and within fifteen (15) days after
its passage, the City Clerk shall cause it to be published in the
Record Gazette, a newspaper of general circulation, printed and
published in the City of Beaumont, in the manner prescribed by law
for publishing of Ordinances of said City.
MOVED, PASSED AND
September , 19 86
APPROV D AS TO F• M -
CITY ATTO.J`E
ADOPTED this
8th
day of
MAY
CERTIFICATION
OF BEAUMONT
I, Irene Joyce Sweeney , City Clerk of the City of
Beaumont DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Ordinance was
introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council of said City
held on the 25thday of August , 19 86 , and was
duly adopted upon the second reading on the 8th day of
September , 19 86 , upon the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Shaw, Waller, Russo and Mayor Partain.
NOES: None.
ABSTAIN: None.
ABSENT: None.