SR-212-003 (10)
e
t7\)t;[ "Tevp--
~& gSQ
ro-/!:J
CA : RMl'1 : r
City Cauncll Meetlng 9-27-83
;2/2 ~C03
SEP 2 7 1983
Santa Monica, Californla
STAFF REPORT
TO:
Mayor and City council
FROM:
Clty Attorney
SUBJECT:
Ordlnance Anendinq Munlcipal Code BectlOD 6633
Relating to Utl1lty ~ax Rebate and Exenption
At its Meeting on Septenber 13, 1983, the Clty Council
introduced for flrst reading an or0inance providing exemption
procedures from payment of the Clty'S utlllty tax. The ordinance
is now presented to the Clty Council for adoptlon.
RECOMMENDATIOF
It 15 respectfully reco~ended that the accoMpanying
ordlnance be adopted.
PREPARED BY:
Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
ro-8
"1 \~1
s.'t.~ ...
e
e
CA: Rr-1r-i: r
City Council Meet1ng o-27-R3
Santa Mon1ca, California
ORDI~ANCE ~~MBER
(C1ty Council Series)
A~ ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
A}fEKDIrG MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 6633
RELATIKG TO UTILITY TAX REBATES
AND EXE~1PTlm~S
SECT ION 1.
Sect10n 6633 of the Santa Honica Hun~cipal
Code ~s anended to read as follows:
SEC~ION 6633. Speclal Rebates and
Exemptlon.
(a) In
addltion to the refund
procedures set forth 1n Section 6h32,
there
is
hereby established special
rebate
and
exemption procedures for
natural persons neeting the el1gib1lity
crlter~a establ~shed by this Section.
(b) To be eligible for the speclal
rebate or exernpt10n prov1ded for 1n this
Sectlon, a person must be slxty-two (62)
years of age or older, or such person
wust neet the crlteria of disab1lity as
establlshed
by
the
Social Secur1ty
Adnlnistration's
supplemental security
1
e
e
lucorne prograM for the
disabled (Title XVI
aged, blind and
of the Soc1al
Secur2ty Act, as amended). In addition,
no person shall be ellgible for the
spec1al rebate or exeMption provided for
1n this Sect10n if such person's annual
gross household income, as here1nafter
defined, exceeds the max1mum dollar
amount for the calendar year for which a
refund 18 clalned. The naxlnun dollar
anount will be establlshed and from time
to t1me amended by resolut1on of the City
Council. For the purposes of thlS
Sectlon, "gross household incor.1e" shaLl
be and include the income of every Menber
of the household recelved dur1ng the
year, 2ncluding, but not lirrited to,
wages,
anounts
salarles, bonuses,
tips, gross
retlrePlent
payments,
lnsurance
of pensions and annuities,
benefits, social securlty
dlsability paynents, life
benefits, interest, capltal
galns and lnheritances.
(c) Notwlthstanding subsections
(a) and (b), persons who receive taxable
utillty service frOM Master meters, or
for whon utility charges are included in
2
e
e
house, apartment, or other rental charges
shall not be eliglhle for the special
rebate
Sect~on.
or exe~pt1on provided for 1n th1S
Persons receiving funds fro~
agency specif1cally for the
any public
pa~ent of
likewise,
such ut1lity taxes shall,
not be el1gihle for the rebate
prov1ded for hereln.
(d) Spec1al Rebates.
(1) A claim for a rebate of
the utility tax pald pursuant this
Chapter shall be flIed wlth the Dlrector
of Flnance between May 1 and June 30 of
each year for the taxes paid durlng the
previous calendar year. Claims shall be
submitted on for~s provlded by the Clty
and all stateMents made therein shall be
under oath and subJect to penalty of
perJury. No rehate shall be paid under
the provlsions of thlS Bectlon unless the
claimant establishes his right thereto by
written record showlng entitlement
thereto, and the D~rector of Finance may
requlre such addltional evidence as he or
she deeMs necessary or appropriate in
determlning such entltlement. Only one
3
e
e
claimant fro~ each household each year
shall be entitled to a rebate.
(2) ~he Dlrector of Flnance
shall review each claim and shall cause a
rebate to be made to the clalnant of the
utlllty taxes pald by such claimant
pursuant to this Chapter, or that portion
of sald taxes palct WhlCh lS found to be
due and owing to the claimant. If the
Dlrector of Finance determines that a
claim 18 faulty or that the clainant has
failed to truthfully set forth the
requlred facts, the claiM for rebate
shall be reJected in wrltlng to the
clalMant.
(3) If a clalm for a rebate
~s not filed withln the perlod set forth
In subsectlon (d)(l) all rights to such
rebate for the previous calendar year
shall be waived, dee~ed void and
pernanently extinqulshed.
(e) Speclal P.xemption.
(1) Any person eliqible
under subsections (a) and (b) May flle an
appllcatlon for an exemption with the
Director of Flnance. The application
shall be submitted on the forms provided
4
e
e
by the City and all state~ents made
there1.n shall be under oath and subJect
to penalty of perjury. No applicatlon
shall be granted unless the applicant
estahl1.shes his or her riaht thereto by
written
thereto.
record showlng ent1.tleMent
The Director of Pinance may
require such additional evidence as he or
she deems necessary or appropriate ln
determinln~ entitlement.
(2) The Director of Finance
shall review all such applicatlons and
shall certify as exenpt those applicants
deter~ined to quallfy therefor. The
Director of Finance shall notlfy all
serV1.ce suppliers affected that such
exemptions have been approved. For each
exemption,
shall be
supp 11.er:
the follow1.ng infor~ation
transnitted to the service
( 1. ) ~Jame
of
exempt
applicant.
(1.i) Account number shown on
util1.ty blll.
(lii) Address
to
WhlCh
exempt service is belng suppl1.ed.
5
e
e
(iv) Any other ~nfor~ation
as nay be necessary for the service
supplier to rep-ove the exenpt service
user frow ~ts tax b~ll~ng procedure.
(3) Upon receipt of such
notif~cation, the service suppl~er shall
not be required to continue to bill any
further tax i~posed by this Chapter froM
such exempt serv~ce user, until further
notlce by the Director of Finance 18
glven. The serVlce suppl~er shall
elimlnate such exempt service user iron
its tax blllinq procedure no later than
60 days after recelpt of such notice fron
the Dlrector of Finance.
(4) All
exemptlons
shall
continue and be renewed automatically by
the Dlrector of Flnance, so long as the
prerequlslte facts supporting the lhltial
qualif1cat1on for exemptlon shall
cont1nue. The exemptlon shall auto-
matlcally term1nate with any change In
the service address or resldence of the
exenpt SerV1ce user, except that such
service user may apply for a new
exemption.
~
e
e
(5) ~he D~rector of Finance
shall have the r~ght and the power to
demand evidence of cont~nued el~9ibil~ty
of a serV~ce user for exemption. Fa~lure
to prov~cte any evidence requested by the
Director of Finance as is w~thin the
control of a serv~ce user to so provide
shall be grounds for the immed~ate
discont~nuance of the
Ev~dence prov~ded to the
exemption.
Director of
Flnance upon request may not be used
aga~nst such serV1ce user as evidence of
v~olat~on
of the provisions of this
Sectlon~ such evidence may only be used
as grounds for term~nat~on of the
exemption.
(6) Any ~ndlvidual exempt
froI'1 the tax shall notlfy the Director of
Finance withln 10 days of any chanoe in
fact or ClrCUITlstance which wight
disqualify the lndividual from receivinq
such
exeIT1pt~on.
No
person shall
knowinaly receive the benefits of the
exemptions provided by this section, when
the basis for such exemption either does
not eXlst or ceases to eXlst.
7
e
e
(7) Notwlthstanding any of
the provlsions of this Section, any
serVlce suppller who deter0ines by any
neans that a new or nonexempt service
user 1S recelvlng service through a neter
or connect1on exempt by virtue of an
exemptlon issued to a prevl0us user or
exe~pt
user
of
the sane neter or
connectlon, shall lmmedlately notify the
Director of Finance of such fact. The
Director of F1nance shall conduct an
lnvestlgation to ascertaln whether or not
the provisions of this Section have been
conpl1ed wlth and, If appropr1ate, order
the serVlce
collectlng the
service user.
supplier
tax from
to co~ence
the nonexeMpt
(8)
If
me
Director
of
Flnance determlnes that an applicatlon
for an exeMption 1S faulty or that the
applicant has failed to truthfully set
forth the requ1red facts, the appllcation
for exenpt10n shall be denled in writing
to the appllcant.
(f) A determinatlon of the
Dlrector of Flnance to reject a claiM for
rebate or to deny an appllcatlon for
8
e
e
exempt~on may be appealed in accordance
w~th r1un~cipal Code Sect~on 6126 within
10 days after the date of ma~l~ng of the
reJection of the clai~ or denial of the
application. If an appeal by an
aggr~eved cla~mant or applicant ~s not
taken within the 10 day period, no appeal
of the decision of the D~rector of
Finance nade thereafter be taken, and the
determination of the D~rector of Flnance
shall beco~e final.
SECTION 2. Any prov~sion of the
Code or appendices thereto inconslstent
Santa Monlca Mun~c~pal
wlth the provislons of
this ordlnance,
to the extent of such lnconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modlfied to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this ordlnance.
SECTIor 3.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this ordlnance is for any reason held to be lnvalid
or unconstltutional by a dec~sion of any court of any competent
Jurlsdlction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remalnlng
declares
portions of the ordlnance. The City Councll hereby
that it would have passed this ordlnance and each and
every sectlon, subsectlon, sentence, clause or phrase not
declared invalld or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the ordlnance would be subsequently declared
lnvalld or unconstitutional.
q
e
It
SECTION 4. The Payor shall sign and the Clty Clerk shall
attest to the passage of thlS ordinance. This City Clerk shall
cause the sane to be publlshed once in tre offlcial newspaper
within 15 days after lts adoptlon.
The ordlnance shall become
effective after 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
'~~\-'T'
Robert H. Nyers -,~
Clty Attorney
10