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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #19 - Ordinanceit ORDINANCE: NO. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTIONS 55-1 THROUGH 55-7, INCLUSIVE, OF DIVISION 1 ENTITLED 'ELECTRICITY, METERED GAS, BOTTLED GAS, TELEPHONE SERVICE, TELE- RAPH SERVICE AND WATER SERVICE" OF A TICLE I ENTITLED "EXCISE TAXES" OF C TER 55 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF M , FOR THE PURPOSE OF INCLUDING FUEL • L AS ONE OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY SERVIC TAXED THEREIN; DEFINING FUEL OIL; PRO IDING FOR THE RATE AND AMOUNT OF EXCISE 'TAX ON PURCHASE OF PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICE; COLLECTION OF TAXES; PROVIDING FOREMITTANCE OF TAX TO CITY BY SELLER; PR VIDING FOR RECORDS TO BE KEPT; PROVIDIN&\FOR REPORTS OF DELIVER- IES FOR RESALE; 11:ROVIDING FOR RECOGNI- TION OF EXPENSE IN REGULATION OF RATES; PROVIDING FOR VIOLATIONS OF DIVISION; PROVIDING FOR A PEN1 iI,TY CLAUSE; REPEAL- ING ALL ORDINANCES, CODE SECTIONS OR PARTS THEREOF IN CONFLICT � HEREWITH INSOFAR AS THEY ARE IN C3ONFLICT; PRO- VIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY PROVISION; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE'DATE. WHEREAS, the Commission finds that fuel oil or bunker C oil, number 1 and number 2 fuel oil, and kerosene or any combination thereof for lighting, heating, cooking, power, or any other purpose de- livered to any purchaser thereof within the corporate limits of the City of Miami is a public utility under the terms and provisions of the Florida Statutes; and WHEREAS, the City Manager, predicated on his investigation and findings, recommends that fuel oil be included as a public utility under the provisions UPPORTIVE r N T S "COCU ENT INDEX ITEM NO. i/ ,,. of Chapter 55, Division 1, Article I, of the City Code; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA: Section 1. That Sections 55-1 through 55-7, inclusive, of Division 1 entitled "Electricity, Metered Gas, Bottled Gas, Telephone .Service, Tele- graph Service and Water Service" of Article I entitled "Excise Taxes" of Chapter 55 of the Code of the City of Miami, be amended for. the purpose of including, fuel as one of the public utility services taxed therein, said sections, as amended, to read as follows: "DIVISION 1. ELECTRICITY, METERED GAS, BOTTLED GAS, TELEPHONE SERVICE, TELEGRAPH SERVICE, WATER SERVICE AND FUEL OIL. Sec. 55-1. Definitions. For the purposes of this division the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: Bottled gas. All types and kinds of natural, liquefied petroleum and manu- factured gas for lighting, heating, cooking, power or any other purpose delivered to any purchaser thereof within the city. Electricity. A11 electric current or energy for lighting, heating, cooking power or any other purpose delivered to any pur- chaser thereof within the city. Fuel oil. All bunker C oil, number 1 and number 2 fuel oil, and kerosene or any combination thereof for lighting, heating, cooking, power, or any other purpose de- livered to any purchaser thereof within the corporate limits of the city. -2- � s Metered gas. All types and kinds of natural and manufactured gas for lighting, heating, cooking, power or any other pur- pose delivered to any purchaser thereof within the city. Purchase. Every act or transaction whereby possession of, utilization of, control over or title to electricity, water, metered gas, bottled gas, telephone service, telegraph service and fuel oil, and the duty and obligation to pay therefor, become vested in the purchaser within the city, but such term shall not pertain to nor include any such act or transaction when undertaken or performed by an agency or instrumentality of the United States government, the state, the county, or the city. Purchaser. Every person legally liable for the payment of electricity, metered gas, bottled gas and fuel oil delivered to him, or telephone service, telegraph service and water service rendered to him, by a seller, unless such person is an agency or instru- mentality of the United States government, the state, the county or. the city. Seller. Every person delivering electri- city, metered gas, bottled gas or fuel oil, or rendering telephone service, telegraph service or water service to any purchaser thereof. Telegraph service. All types and kinds of service as are rendered by telegraph com- panies to any purchaser of such service within the city. Telephone service. All types and kinds of service as are rendered by telephone com- panies to any purchaser of such service within the city, including service relating to coin box telephones installed within the city inso- far as such service roquires the payment of a guaranteed amount., but such term shall not pertain to nor include the service rendered at the time of and in consideration of the deposit of money in the telephone coin boxes. -3- es, Y 8 • Water service. The water supply furnished to all consumers of the city by the department of water and sewers, water division, for retail use and not for resale. Sec. 55-2. Rate and amount of excise tax on purchase of public utility ser- vices; collection of tax. There is hereby levied and imposed by the city upon every purchase of electricity, metered gas, bottled gas, fuel oil, telephone service, telegraph service and water service, included in or reflected by any bill rendered by the seller to the purchaser an excise tax which shall be determined as follows: (1) When the seller, in accordance with his rules and regulations, renders a bill to the purchaser to cover purchases made during the period of time to which the bill is applic- able, the amount of excise tax shall be ten per cent, exclusive of governmental charges and taxes, shown on any such bill, due and payable on account of such purchases, of such total amount. (2) In the use and application set out in this section, purchases of electricity, metered gas, bottled gas, fuel oil, telephone service, telegraph service and water service, shall be considered and treated as constituting and being distinct and unrelated classes of pur- chases, and in the event that more than one such class shall be shown upon the same bill, the amount of excise tax payable under this division shall be determined and computed for each such class separately. (3) The seller is required and it shall be his duty to render to each purchaser bills covering all such purchases made, and the amount of such excise tax shall be entered and shown by the seller as a separate item on each such bill and shall become due and payable to the city whenever such bill becomes due and payable under the rules and regulations of the seller. Each such bill shall include purchases applicable to but one location, or to but one -4- • family or business where more than one fattily or business uses separate metered services at one location in the city. (4) The purchaser is required and it shall be his duty to pay such excise tax to the seller, as agent for the city, at the time of the payment of each such bill, and in the event that the purchaser shall fail, neglect or refuse to pay such excise tax to the seller when such bill becomes due and payable, the seller is hereby empowered to discontinue forthwith to make any further sales or to render any further service to the purchaser until the total amount, including such excise tax, shown upon such bill has been paid in full. The seller is hereby authorized and required and it shall be his duty to collect such excise tax from such purchaser at the time of the payment of each such bill and to re- mit the same to the department of finance in accordance with the provisions of section 55-3; provided, that the seller shall have the right and privilege of assuming and paying such excise tax himself in lieu of collecting the same from the purchaser; and that whenever the seller shall fail or neglect to collect such excise tax from the purchaser within one year from the date of the bill on which such tax was or should have been imposed, the seller shall be deemed to have assumed such excise tax himself and shall thereupon become liable for the payment of the amount thereof to the city to the same extent as if such excise tax had been col- lected from the purchaser, without further recourse to the purchaser therefor. (5) This section shall be applicable to all bills for electricity, metered gas, bottled gas, fuel oil, telephone service, telegraph service and water service; except, that any bills for the purchase of sixteen ounces or less of bottled gas in a container shall be exempt from taxation. Sec. 55-3. Remittance of tax to city by seller. Every seller is hereby required to execute and file not later than the twentieth day of -5- each month at the office of the department of finance a sworn statement on a form prescribed by such department, setting forth the amount of such excise tax to which the city became entitled under the provisions of this division on accoun of bills paid by purchasers during the preceding fiscal month, and contempor- aneously with the filing of such statement, shall pay the amount of such excise tax to the department of finance to be deposited to the credit of the general fund of the city for utilization for such legal pur- poses as the city commission may from time to time determine. Sec. 55-4. Records to be kept. Every seller is hereby required to establish and maintain appropriate accounts and records showing in such detail as the director of finance may prescribe the amount of such excise tax payable to the city under the provisions of this division, and such accounts and records shall be open to in- spection by the director of finance or his duly authorized agent at all reasonable times. The director of finance is hereby authorized and empowered to promulgate from time to time such rules and regulations with respect to the establishment and main- tenance of such accounts and records as he may deem necessary to carry into effect the purpose and intent of the provisions of this division. Sec. 55-5. Reports of deliveries for resale. Every manufacturer, distributor, whole- saler or seller who shall deliver electricity, metered gas, bottled gas, fuel oil, telephone service, telegraph service or water service, to any seller or other person having a place of business in the city, or licensed to do business therein, to he sold or resold to ultimate purchasers, shall report to the director of finance semiannually, as of June thirtieth and December thirty-first, the names and addresses of such sellers or other persons, and the quantities received by each of them during the preceding six months, such reports to be filed not later than one month after the close of each semiannual period. Sec. 55-6. Recognition of expense in regulation of rates. All reasonable expense incurred by a seller in making the collections and re- mittances and in fulfilling the duties pre- scribed by this division is hereby declared to be and to constitute an operating expense and shall be accorded full recognition as such in the establishment of rates and charges for rendering electric, metered gas, bottled gas, fuel oil, telephone service, telegraph service or water service in the city. Sec. 55-7. Violations of division. It shall be unlawful and a violation of this division for any purchaser to evade the payment of the excise tax provided for in this division, or any part thereof, or to fail or neglect to pay such excise tax within the thirty days after the same has become due and payable; or for any seller to fail or refuse to pay to the city all amounts of excise tax payable to the city by the seller, or to fail or refuse to file the monthly sworn statement or to set forth any erroneous or false information therein with intent to de- fraud the city, or to refuse to permit the director of finance or his duly authorized agent to examine the accounts and records to be kept as required by section 55-4." Section 2. Any person violating the provisions of Section 1 of this ordinance shall be fined or im- prisoned, or both fined and imprisoned in accordance with Sections 3(aa) and 59(b) of the Charter of the -7- City of Miami and Section 1-6 of the Code of the City of Miami. Section 3. All ordinances, code sections or parts thereof in conflict herewith, insofar as they are in conflict, are hereby repealed. Section 4. If any section, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this ordinance is for any reason held or declared to be unconstitutional, inoperative or void, such holding or invalidity shall not affect the remaining portions of this ordinance, and it shall be construed to have been the intent of the Commission of the City of Miami to pass this ordinance without such unconstitutional, invalid, or inoperative part therein, and the remainder of this ordinance, after the exclusion of such part or parts shall be deemed and held to be valid as if such parts had not been included therein. Section 5. This ordinance shall become effective on PASSED AND ADOPTED ON FIRST READING BY TITLE ONLY THIS day of , 1972. PASSED AND ADOPTED ON SECOND AND FINAL READING BY TITLE ONLY THIS day of 1972. Attest: MAYOR City Clerk 8 PREPARED BY: JACK R. RICE, JR. Assistant to Director of Dept. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CORRECTNESS: ALAN H. ROTHSTEIN City Attorney -9-