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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 92-O34 ORDINANCE NO. 9 2-03 4 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AZUSA ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 3.45 TO TITLE 3 OF THE AZUSA MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING AN ADMISSIONS TAX FOR SWAP MEETS NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AZUSA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The City Council of the City of Azusa does hereby find, determine and declare as follows: A. Swap meets, operated within the City, create an additional burden on the City's infrastructure including but not limited to roads, traffic control, police, fire and public parking. Swap meets tend to generate, on the days when they are open, large crowds and a large number of vendors in relatively small areas. The intensity of this type of use often requires more extensive law enforcement and traffic control services than ordinary retail; and B Because the vendors at swap meets are typically transient, deal in cash, and do not use cash registers or a regular system of receipts, it can be very difficult to enforce the retail sales tax on transactions occurring at swap meets; and C Because of the need to provide special services and infrastructure to swap meets and because swap meets do not generate the retail sales tax revenues that ordinary retail operations generate, and in order to ensure that such operations pay their fair share of the cost of City infrastructure it is appropriate to impose upon such a business classification a tax, payable to the City's general fund, to compensate for the provision of infrastructure and services and loss of revenues incurred by the operation of such businesses. SECTION 2. The City Council of the City of Azusa hereby adds a new Chapter 3.45 to Title 3 of the Azusa Municipal Code to read as follows: "CHAPTER 3.45 ADMISSIONS TAX 3.45.010 Admissions Tax Imposed 3.45.020 Definitions 3.45.030 Administration and Enforcement 3.45.040 Due Dates 3.45.050 Delinquency and Penalties 3.45.060 Audit 3.45.070 Appeal 3.45.080 Indexing 3.45.090 Failure to Pay Tax 3.45.100 Attorney's Fees 3.45.010 ADMISSIONS TAX IMPOSED. There is hereby imposed upon each person admitted to a swap meet operating in the City of Azusa, an admissions tax of$0.25 per admission. The operator of the swap meet shall be responsible for collection of said tax and payment to the City. 3.45.020 DEFINITIONS. As used herein the following terms shall have the following meanings: (a) "Admissions" shall mean any individual allowed access to one or more vendors at a swap meet for the purpose of perusing or buying the wares of said vendors. (b) "Swap Meet" shall be as defined in Section 19.80.020A of this code. 3.45.030 ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT. The Finance Director shall be responsible for administration and enforcement of the admissions tax. The Finance Director may require that a swap meet install turnstile or such other acceptable entry accounting devices as he or she may deem acceptable. In addition, the Finance Director may require a swap meet to take reasonable security measures to ensure that admissions do not occur for which no accounting is made. The Finance Director shall approve each swap meet's methodology for documenting collection of the admissions tax. 3.45.040 DUE DATES. The admissions tax is payable by the operator of a swap meet quarterly on the 30th day following the close of each calendar quarter. 3.45.050 DELINQUENCY AND PENALTIES. A payment of the admissions tax is delinquent if it is not paid within ten days of the due date specified in Section 3.45.040. A penalty of 10% per month or part thereof of the unpaid tax shall be imposed on any delinquent tax. 3.45.060 AUDIT. The Finance Director shall have the right to request of any swap meet operator all documentation necessary to verify the accuracy of the tax due. All documents requested by the Finance Director shall be delivered to City Hall no later than ten days after a written request is made for them in writing. A penalty of $250 per day shall be imposed for each day, past the day the documents are due (or any extension thereof granted by the Finance Director), for which the swap meet operator is not in full compliance with the Finance Director's request. 3.45.070 APPEAL. Any party responsible for collecting the admissions tax imposed by this chapter may appeal any ruling, decision, interpretation, or calculation of the City provided that any amount of tax which is due, regardless of whether or not it is in dispute, must be paid before an appeal may be filed. The appeal shall be on a form provided by the Finance Director and must be filed with the City Finance Department within thirty days from the date the opinion, audit or calculation was made. The City Administrator or his or her designee shall serve as the hearing officer. The decision of the hearing officer shall be final. 3.45.080 INDEXING. The tax provided herein shall be adjusted annually on July 1 of each year to reflect the increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index during the previous twelve months. The tax shall be increased by adding to the base tax an amount obtained by multiplying the base tax by the percent change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area as reported for the year ending on the 31st day of May just prior to the July in which the increase occurs. If the Consumer Price Index has declined no adjustment shall be made to the tax. The Finance Director shall have the discretion to round the adjusted tax figure up or down if the tax amount, following application of the adjustment required by this section, results in a figure which is not a whole number, or to postpone or waive implementation of the increase if it would be more cost-effective not to implement it. 3.45.090 FAILURE TO PAY TAX. The amount of tax imposed by this chapter shall be deemed a debt to the City and any person or entity failing to pay, collect, or turn over to the City said amount shall be liable to a legal action by the City. In addition to any civil remedies which the City may undertake to enforce this chapter any violation of the requirements of this chapter shall be punishable as a misdemeanor. 3.45.100 ATTORNEY'S FEES. The City shall be entitled to recovery of its attorney's fees in any action to enforce the provisions of this chapter." SECTION 3. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance; shall cause the same to be entered in the book of original ordinances of said City; and shall cause the same to be published or posted in the manner required by law. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately. PASSED AND APPROVED this 2nd day of November 1992. 6, - MAYOR - I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Ordinance No. 92-034 was regularly introduced and placed upon its first reading at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Azusa on the 19th day of October 1992. That thereafter, said Ordinance was duly adopted and passed at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 2nd day of November, 1992, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: DANGLEIS, MADRID, NARANJO, ALEXANDER, MOSES NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE / j / ` ter " O c� ITY CLERIC