SR-212-003 (9)
CA:RMM:r ~
City Council Mee~ 10-25-83 San" Monica, Californ~a
2/2~oC3 Y_~
STAFF REPORT 0 ~
ocr 2 5 19B3
TO: Mayor and City Counc~l
FROM: City Attorney
SUBJECT: Ordlnance Amendlng Munlc1pal Code Sect~on 6633
Relating to Utillty Tax Rebate and Exemptlon
At ~ts meeting on September 13, 1983, the C~ty Council
introduced for first reading an ordlnance provlding exemptlon
procedures from payment of the City's utillty tax. Subsequent to
that meeting,
the Flnance Dlrector requested a modiflcation to
the proposed ordinance. Accordingly, the ordlnance 1$ presented
to the City Council once again for f1rst read1ng.
The Flnance Dlrector, after meeting with the principal
utility companles, has concluded that subdivlsion (e) (7) of the
ordinance presents administrative problems for the City and the
ut~llties. The subdivlsion provldes:
(7) Notwithstanding
any
of
the
prOV~Slons of this Section, any serVlce
supplier who determines by any means that a
new or nonexempt service user is recelving
serVlce
through a meter or connection
exempt by virtue of an exempt~on lssued to
a preV10US user or exempt user of the same
meter
or connection, shall immedlately
notlfy the Director of Finance of such a
fact.
The
Director of Finance shall
conduct
an
lnvestigatlon to ascertain
f-A-
OCT 2 5 '983
wheth~ or
Section have
not the
provisions4ltf this
complied with and, if
been
appropriate, order the service supplier to
commence
collect~ng
the tax from the
nonexempt serv~ce user.
The utilities are concerned that they wlll have to
establLsh additional administrative procedures for pollcing all
service users and that the resulting costs would have to be
passed along to the users. Further, the utllLtles are concerned
about potential liability to a service user if that user is
erroneously reported to the City as a violator, and the potential
l~ability to the city for a failure to report all suspected
violators.
Moreover,
the
CLty does not have a current
investigat1ve
capacity
to
respond to referrals from the
utilities. Finally, using existing budgeted resources. Clty staff
will already be ver~fying annually the continued eliglbil~ty of
exempt service users.
For these reasons, the Finance Dirctor
believes that subdivision (e)(7) should be ellminated. Pursurant
to subdivision (e)(4), the utilities would contlnue to have the
responsibility to termninate the exemption when the exempt
service user moves.
RECOMHENDATION
It 15 respectfully recommended that the accompany~ng
ordlnance be lntroduced for first read~ng.
PREPARED BY: Robert M. Myers, C1ty Attorney
e
e
CA: RMt1: r
Clty Council Meetlng 1n-2S-83
Eanta Monica, Ca1lfornia
OPDPTAFCF' t-,;O"Ut-1BER
(C1ty Counc1l Series)
AN ORDItTANCE OF THE CI'!'Y COUnCIL
OF THE CITY OF SAl\:"'TA MONICA
N-1ENDING MUNICIPAL CODE SECTlmI F.633
RELATING TO IITILITY TAX REBATFS
At-Tl EXEMPTIONS
SECTION 1.
Sectlon 6633 of the Fanta Mon1ca Mun1cipal
Code 1S anended to read as follows:
SECTION 6633. Special Rebates and
EXePlpt1on.
(a) In
addltlon to the refund
procedures set forth 1n Section 6632,
the re
18
hereby establishect speclal
rebate
ann
exemptlon procedures for
natural persons meeting the ellgiblllty
crlterla estahl1shed by this Section.
(b) To be el1glble for the special
rehate or exewption prov1ded for In thlS
Sectlon, a person rust be Slxty-two (n?)
years of aqe or older, or such person
Must neet the crlterla of d1sability as
established
by
the
Soclal Secur1ty
Ad~in1strat1on's
supplenental securlty
1
e
e
lncorne prograM for the aqed, blind and
d~sabled (T~tle XVI of the SOClal
Security Act, as a~ended). In additlon,
no person shall be ellglcle for the
special rebate or exemptlon provided for
ln thlS Sectlon lf such person's annual
gross household inco~e,
as hereinafter
deflned, exceeds the Maxlnum dollar
a~ount for the calenoar year for which a
refund 15 clairnec.. The I'laximuI'1 dollar
a!",ount will be establlshed and frOM tlne
to t~I'le amended by resolution of the Clty
Councll. For the purposes of this
Section, "qross household lncone II shall
be and include the lncowe of every meI'lber
of the household recelved during the
year, lnclud~ng, but not llmited to,
wages, salarles, bonuses, tips, qross
anounts
of
pensions
and annuities,
SOClal securlty
retlrerr:ent
paynents,
henefl ts,
~nsurance
d~sabllity pa~ents, llfe
heneflts, lnterest, capltal
qalns and inherltances.
{c)
Notwithstandina
subsectlons
(a) and (b), persons who recelve taxable
utlllty serVlce from naster reters, or
for \oJhon ut~li ty charges are ~ncl uded in
2
e
e
house, apartnent, or other rental charaes
shall not he eliglble for the special
rebate or exenptlon provided for in this
8ectlon. Persons recelvlng funds from
any public aaency speclflcally for the
pa~ent of sueh ut~llty taxes shall,
likewlse, not be eligible for the rebate
provided for hereln.
(d) Speclal Rebates.
(1) A clal~ for a rebate of
the utlllty tax pald pursuant thlS
Chapter shall be fllect with the Dlreetor
of Finance between May 1 and June 30 of
each year for the taxes pald during the
preVlOus calendar year.
Clalms shall be
sub~ltted on forros prcvlded by the Clty
and all stateMents nade therein shall be
under oath and sUbJect to penalty of
perJury. No rebate shall be pald under
the provislons of thls Seetlon unless the
clalmant establlshes his rlqht thereto by
wrltten record showlng entltlement
thereto,
and the Dlrector of Finance ~ay
reqUlre such additlonal evidence as he or
she deems necessary or approprlate in
deternlning such entitlement. Only one
3
-
e
clal~ant from each household each year
shall be entitled to a rebate.
(7) The Dlrector of Flnance
shall review each clal~ and shall cause a
rebate to be nade to the clalmant of the
utll1ty
taxes pald by such clainant
pursuant to thlS Chapter, or that portion
of said taxes paid which is found to be
due and OWlnq to the clal~ant. If the
Director of Flnance deternlues that a
clalM 1S faulty or that the clalMant has
failed to truthfully set forth the
reauired facts, the clal~ for rebate
shall re reJected In wrltlna to the
clal~ant.
(3) If a clain for a rebate
is not filed wlthlU the perlod set forth
in subsectlon (d)(l) all riqhts to such
rebate for the oreV10US calendar year
shall be walved, deemed void and
pernanently extinguished.
(e) Speclal Exenptlon.
(1) Any person ellg1rle
under subsectlons (a) and (b) ~av flle an
applicatlon for an exenptlon with tDe
Dlrector of Finance. The appllcatlon
shall be sub~itted on the forms provlded
4
e
e
by t0e Clty and all state~ents Made
thereln s0all be under oath and subject
to penalty
shall be
establ~shes
wrltten
of perJury.
No appllcatlon
grantee unless the appllcant
his or her right tpereto ry
record sDow1ng entitle~ent
thereto.
~e Dlrector of Flnance May
require such addltlonal evidence as he or
she deeMS necessary or appropriate 1n
deterMlnlnq entltlenent.
(2) The Dlrector of Finance
shall reVlew all such applicatlons and
shall cert1fy as exe~pt those appllcants
deterMined to guallfy therefor. The
r1rector of Flnance shall not1fy all
serVlce suppllers affected that such
exe~ptlons have been approved. For each
exemptlon, the followlng inforMatlon
shall
be tran5nltted to the serVlce
supplier:
( 1 ) !'Jame
of
exeJ'1pt
appllcant.
(11) Account nUMber shown on
utlllty hI-II.
(ill) Address
to
WhlCh
exe~pt service 15 belng supplied.
s
e
e
(~v)
Any other ~nfor~atlon
as May be necessary for the serv~ce
suppller to re~ove the exeMpt serv~ce
user from its tax bl11lng procedure.
(?) Upon receipt of suer..
not~flcatlonr the service supplier shall
not be required to contlnue to b~ll any
further tax l~posed by thlS Chapter fro~
such exempt serVlce user, untll further
notl.ce by the Dl.rectar af Finance is
given. ~e serVl.ce suppll.er shall
ell.~lnate such exempt service user frOM
its tax b2ll2ng procedure no later than
~o days after recelpt of such notl.ce from
the Dlrector of Finance.
( 4 ) All
exemptlons
shall
contlnue and be renewed autoMatlcally by
the Director of Flnance, so long as the
prerequisl.te facts supportlnq the lnltial
quallficat10n
for
exemptl.on
shall
contlnue.
The
exeMptlon shall auto-
Matlcally terninate wlth any c~anqe 1n
the serV1ce address or resldence of the
serVl.ce
user
except that such
apply for a new
exe1l1pt
serVlce user,
l"'ay
eXeI'1ptlon.
6
e
e
(5) The Director of Flnance
shall have the rlght and the power to
demand evidence of continued eliairllity
of a service user for exe~ption.
Failure
to prov1de any eVldence requested by the
Director of Flnance as 1S wlthin the
control of a serVlce user to so provide
shall
be
grounds
for the
the
lrunec11ate
dlscontlnuance of
EV1dence provided
to
the
exerrptlon.
pirector of
F1nance upon request nay not be used
aga1nst such serV1ce user as evic1ence of
vlolatlon of the provislons of thlS
Section~ such eVldence may only be used
as grounds for terminatlon of the
exeMpt1on.
(~) Any lnolvidual exempt
frOM the tax shall notlfy the Director of
Flnance w1tnln 10 days of any change in
fact or circunstance WhlCh might
dlsquallfy the lndlVloual from receivlng
such
exenptlon.
!<'o
person shall
know1ngly receive the heneflts of the
exe~ptlons provlded by thlS Sectlon, when
the basls for such exemptlon elther does
not exist or ceases to eXlst.
7
e
e
(7) If
the
fllrector
of
F1nance deterMlnes that an appllcatlon
for an exemptlon 18 faulty or that the
appllcant has failed to truthfully set
forth the reaUlreo facts, the appllcat10n
for exemption shall be denied in writing
to tne appllcant.
(f) A
r'leternlnatlon
of
the
D1rector of Flnance to reJect a clalM for
rehate or to deny an applicatlon for
exe~ptlon ~ay be appealeo 10 accoroance
with ~un1clpal Code section 6]26 within
10 days after the date of ma1l1nq of the
re]ectlon of tne clalr or deolal of the
appl1cation. If an appeal by an
aggrieved cla1~ant or applicant 18 not
taken Wlthln the 10 day period, no appeal
of the deC1810n of the Dlrector of
Flnance Made thereafter be taken, and the
deter~lnat1on of the Dlrector of F1nance
shall become final.
SECTIOF 2.
Any provlsion of the
Eanta Monlca Munlclpal
w1th the provislons of
Code
or appendlces thereto lnconslstent
thlS ordlnance,
to the extent of such lnconsistenc1es ann no
further, are hereby repealed or Moolfled to that extent necessary
to affect the provls1ons of th1s ordinance.
p
, .
e
e
SECT ION 3.
If any sectlon, subsectlon, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstltutional by a deC1Sl0n of any court of ary competent
Jurl schction,
such declslon shall not affect the vallolty of the
renalnlna portlons of the ordinance.
The Clty COUDCll hereby
declares that it would have passed thlS ordinance an0 each and
every
seetlon,
subsectlon,
sentence,
clause or pprase not
declared lDvallo or unconstltutlonal wlthout regard to whether
any portlon of the orolnance would be subseouentlv declarer
lnvalld or unconstltutlonal.
SECTION 4.
The Mayor shall sign and the Clty Clerk shall
attest to the passage of thls ordinance.
ThlS City Clerk shall
ca use the
sawe to he publishect once
ln the officlal newspaper
wlthln 15 days after its adoptlon.
The ordinance shall becoMe
effectlve after 30 days froM lts aooptlon.
APPPOVFD AS TO FOPM:
rl.,A .L,
. Lr~v :~ ~--~
Robert H. Hyers
Clty Attorney
q