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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd1976-421 rr ATTACHED TO AND MADE A PART OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEWARD CITY THE CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA COUNCIL - VOLUME 17 ~7~ LI ORDINANCE NO. 421 AN ORDINANCE LEVYING A HOTEL/MOTEL ROOM RENTAL TAX WHEREAS, the levy of a five percent (5%) hotel/motel room rental tax was authorized by the electors of the City of Seward voting thereon; and WHEREAS, an emergency exists in accord with charter sections 4.l(b) and 4.3 requiring adoption at the same meeting when introduced in order to be effective in time for the beginning of the next fiscal year. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA, ORDAINS: Section 1. Article II, entitled "Hotel-Motel Room Tax," consisting of Sections 10-20 through 10-31 inclusive, of the Seward Code of Ordinances, is hereby created to read as follows: Article II Hotel-Motel Room Tax. Sec. 10-20. Definitions. As used in this article: (A) "City" means the City of Seward. (B) "Guest" means an individual, corporation, part- nership or association paying or agreeing to pay monetary consideration for the use of a room or rooms in a hotel-motel. (C) "Hotel-motel" means a structure, or a portion of a structure, which is occupied or intended and designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes and includes any hotel, motel, inn or similar structure. (D) "Manager" means the City Manager or his author- ized designee. (E) "Operator" means a person, firm, corporation or other legal entity, who furnishes, offers for rent, or other- wise makes available in the City rooms in a hotel-motel for monetary consideration, whether acting directly or through an agent or employee. (F) "Person" means an individual and entities recognized by law. p-. -~~ I "." (G) "Quarter" as used in this article, shall be computed by use of the calendar year, beginning with January and shall consist of a three-month period. (H) "Rent" means the amount paid as monetary con- sideration for the use of a room or rooms in a hotel-motel or other place of public accomodation by a transient. (I) "Transient" means a person who occupies or has available for occupancy a suite, room or rooms in a hotel- motel for fewer than thirty consecutive days. Sec. 10-21. Tax Levied - Responsibility for Payment - Collection Required. (A) The City hereby levies a tax on transient hotel- motel room rentals within the City equal to five percent (5%) of the room rental. The tax shall be applicable to all trans- ient room rentals unless the rental is specifically exempted from taxation by constitution or other valid law. (B) Each transient guest is responsible for the room rental tax imposed by this article and the tax shall be due and payable at the time the rent is paid. If the rent is paid in installments, a proportionate share of the tax shall be paid with each installment. The unpaid tax shall be due when the transient guest ceases to occupy or use space in the hotel. (C) Every hotel-motel operator renting rooms subject to taxation under this article shall collect the taxes imposed by this article from the transient guest at the time of collection of the charge for the room and shall transmit the same quarterly as directed by the City. The tax imposed shall be shown on the billing to the guest as a separate and distinct item. Sec. 10-22. Authorization to Collect - Certificate of Registration - Display - Nontransferable - Alteration (A) Operators shall apply to the City Manager for a certificate of registration on a form prescribed by him not later than ten days from the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article, the date of commencement of business or opening additional places of business. Upon receipt of a properly executed application, the City Manager will issue, without charge, a certificate of registration to the operator, authorizing the operator to collect the tax at the business address stated. (B) The certificate must be prominently displayed at the registered place of business. (C) The certificate of registration is nonassignable and nontransferable and must be surrendered to the City Manager by the operator to whom it was issued upon his ceasing to do business at the location stated in the certificate. If the business is continued at the same location, but the form of organization is changed, the operator making the change shall surrender his old certificate to the City Manager for cancel- lation. The successor-operator shall file a new application for a certificate of registration and, upon receipt of the properly executed application, a new certificate bearing a new r number will be issued to a successor-operator. When there is a change of address for the operator's place of business, a new certificate of registration is required bearing the same registration number but showing a new location or address. Sec. 10-23. Receipts - Segregation. Title to the rental taxes shall vest in the City of Seward upon collection and they shall be segregated by the operator from the funds of the operator or the hote-motel and safeguarded until transmitted to the City as hereinafter provided. A separate account shall be maintained for all taxes collected. Sec. 10-24. Receipts and Records - Transmittal. (A) On or before thirty days after the end of each quarter, each operator shall prepare and submit to the City a return for the preceding quarter upon forms furnished by the City Manager, setting forth the amount received for: (1) Rentals made within the City; (2) The amount received from nontaxable rents; (3) The amount received from all taxable rentals; and (4) The taxes collected. In addition, the operator shall submit other information and supporting papers required by the City Manager. (B) The operator shall sign the return and trans- mit it, together with the taxes collected, to the City on or before the due date. A return shall be filed even if none of the reported rentals were taxable. (C) A registered operator may retain for his own use and benefit three percent (3%) of the total taxes collected if all taxes, including taxes previously levied or collected, are accounted for and promptly and timely transmitted to the City as provided in this section. Sec. 10-25. Confidentiality. (A) All returns filed with the City pursuant to the provisions of this article and all data obtained from the returns are confidential and may not be released for inspection by any person except the City Manager, the City Attorney, the City Councilor when relevant to a pending legal action. (B) No person may divulge to another any information obtained from a return filed with the City or from data obtained from a return, unless the person receiving the information is a person authorized to review the returns under the terms of this article. r' _ n......~._.._~ (C) This section does not prohibit the City from compiling and publishing statistical evidence concerning the data submitted, provided no identification of particular returns of reports is made. Sec. 10-26. Records - Maintenance and Inspection. Every operator of a hotel-motel engaged in business in the City shall keep and preserve suitable records of all rentals made by him and such other books or accounts as may be necessary to determine the amount of tax he is required to collect. All books, invoices, and other necessary records shall be maintained by the operator for three years from the date of the most recent entry and shall be available for examination at reasonable times by the City Manager for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of a return, or for the purpose of determining the amount of tax collected or levied. Sec. 12-27. Investigation by City Manager. The City Manager may conduct investigations and hearings concerning any matters covered by this article and may examine relevant books, papers, records or memoranda of any operator and may require the attendance of the operator, his officers or employees. The City Manager shall have the power to administer oaths to persons testifying. The City Manager with the approval of the City Council, shall issue all formal subpoenas to compel attendance or to require pro- duction of relevant books, papers, records or memoranda. All subpoenas issued under the terms of this article may be served on any person of legal age. The fees of witnesses for attendance and trial shall be the same as the fees of witnesses before the superior court, such fees to be paid when the witness is excused from further attendance. When a witness is subpoened at the insistence of any party to the proceeding, the cost of service of the subpoena and the fee of the witness shall be borne by the party at whose insistence the witness is summoned. A subpoena issued as aforesaid shall be served in the same manner as a subpoena issued out of a court of record. The City Manager or any party in an investigation or hearing before the City Manager, may cause the deposition of witnesses residing within or without the state to be taken in the manner prescribed by law for like depositions in civil actions in the courts of this state, and to that end compel the attendance of wit- nesses and production of relevant books, papers, records or memoranda. Sec. 10-28. Suits for Collection. Taxes due but not paid or taxes collected but not transmitted may be recovered in an action at law against the transient guest or the hotel-motel operator, and also constitute a lien on the hotel-motel premises. Tax returns shall be prima facie proof of taxes collected but not transmitted. r Sec. 10-29. Prohibited Acts. (A) No person may fail or refuse to pay the tax imposed by this article when it is due and payable to an operator authorized to collect the tax. (B) An operator may not advertise or state to the public or to any guest or renter, directly or indirectly, that the tax or any part of it will be assumed or absorbed by the operator or the hotel-motel, or that tax will not be added to the rental, or that it will be refunded, nor may an operator absorb or fail to add the tax or any part of it or refund any tax, or fail to separately state the tax to the renter or guest. Sec. 10-30. Penalties for Violations. An operator who rents accommodations in the City and who thereafter fails to file a tax return as required by this article shall incur a civil penalty of five percent (5%) of the collected taxes per month or fraction thereof for the time between the date the taxes should have been transmitted and the date they were transmitted. An operator who, in the course of his business, rents accommodations upon which a tax is levied hereunder and who fails to collect the taxes shall incur a civil penalty of double the tax which should have been collected. A person who violates any of the provisions of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor. Either civil damages or criminal charges or both may be sought, and their imposition shall be considered and shall not relieve the hotel-motel operator or transient guest of the duties imposed under this article. Sec. 10-31. City Manager Regulations. The City Manager may adopt regulations providing for the application and interpretation of this article and providing methods and forms for reporting and collecting the taxes imposed by this article. Section 2. This ordinance takes effect for the quarter beginning July 1, 1976. PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA, this 24th day of May , 1976. CITY OF SEWARD, ALASKA By: fUJ /f.~~ , Mayor r FIRST READING: May 24, 1976 SECOND READING: N/ A ADOPTION: May 24, 1976 AYES: DAGUE, DIECKGRAEFF, GILLESPIE, HULM, MOTT, NEVE', and OLDOW NOES: NONE ABSENT: NONE APP~~>~ as to ~~" HUGHE~~~~SN~~~ GANTZ, POWELL & BRUNDIN, Attorneys for the City of Seward I ~,~~ ...~