[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor
and Council of the Borough of Wanaque 7-14-2008 by Ord. No. 14-0-08. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The renting, leasing, maintaining, keeping, operating, conducting
or providing of overnight or temporary sleeping or housing accommodations,
for a consideration, to tourists, transients or travelers in any building
or structure or group of buildings or structures devoted exclusively
or primarily to said business, commonly known as "tourist lodges,"
"motels," "tourist cabins," "motor lodges," "motor courts," "tourist
courts," "tourist camps" or "hotels," whether meals are served therein
or not.
Any room, cabin or quarters, whether or not physically attached
to or connected with any other building or structure, used for sleeping
or housing accommodations in the business of conducting a tourist
lodge or motel or hotel.
No person shall engage in the business of conducting
a tourist lodge or motel or hotel without first having applied for
and obtained from the Township a license therefor as hereinafter provided.
A.
Each applicant for such license shall make a written
application on a form supplied by the Borough Clerk, setting forth:
(1)
The full name, residence and post office address of
the applicant.
(2)
The exact location of the proposed licensed premises,
giving the street address, block and lot number as shown on the Tax
Assessment Map of the Borough, and the exact dimensions of the lands
upon which the business is to be conducted.
(3)
A description of the buildings, structures and accommodations
upon said lands, including a statement of the number of housing or
lodging units and the maximum number of persons who can be accommodated
at any given time.
(4)
A description of the character of said buildings or
structures as to size, type of construction and whether or not the
same are fireproof.
(5)
A description of automobile parking spaces and facilities.
(6)
The name and address of the owner of said lands and
buildings.
(7)
The name or names of the person or persons on the
licensed premises upon whom process may be served.
(8)
A detailed description of the register or system used
for the registration of persons to whom accommodations are extended.
(9)
Whether any person constituting the individual or
partnership applicant, or whether the corporate applicant or any stockholder
holding 5% or more of the stock thereof or any director or officer
thereof, has ever been convicted of any crime, and if so, the details
thereof, including, with respect to each conviction, the name of the
person convicted, the date thereof, the nature of the crime, the court
in which the conviction was entered and the punishment imposed.
(10)
In the case of corporate applicants, the names
and residences of all stockholders holding 5% or more of any stock
of the corporation, the names and residences of all officers of the
corporation and the office held by each.
B.
Any change in any of the information set forth in
the application during the term of the license shall forthwith be
communicated by the licensee in writing to the Borough Clerk.
A.
The Borough Clerk shall forthwith forward said application
to the Health Officer and to the Fire Official, who shall inspect
the premises to determine whether or not the premises comply with
applicable health and fire ordinances and regulations. If the premises
do not comply, said officials shall attach to the application a written
list of recommendations and return the same to the Borough Clerk,
who shall in turn forward said application to the applicant. If the
premises do comply, said officials shall attach thereto certificates
of approval.
B.
The Borough Clerk shall present said application,
with said certificates of approval attached, to the Council. The Council
shall thereupon cause to be made such further investigation of the
premises and of the information set forth in said application as it
may deem necessary and shall determine on the basis of said investigation
and application whether or not such license shall be granted.
No such license shall be issued to any person
who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, nor shall
any such license be issued to any corporation in which any stockholder
holding 5% or more of any of the stock thereof or in which any director
or officer shall have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
A.
Each license shall be valid only to the applicant
to whom it is issued and to such applicant to whom the license may
be transferred as hereinafter provided.
B.
The application for a transfer of a license shall
set forth the same matters and things as are required by this article
to be set forth in connection with an original application for a license.
C.
The application for a transfer shall be accompanied
by the consent of the licensee and a transfer fee equal to 10% of
the annual license fee of the license sought to be transferred.
D.
The Council, with the consent of the licensee and
upon payment of the transfer fee, may transfer to such applicant any
license issued under the terms and provisions of this article. Said
transfer fee shall be retained by the Council whether the transfer
is granted or not.
A.
Each licensee shall at all times cause to be maintained
on the licensed premises a register, which shall constitute the register
of the licensed premises. Such register shall be preserved for three
years upon the licensed premises.
B.
No person shall occupy and no licensee shall permit
any person to occupy any housing or lodging unit on the licensed premises
unless each person or the head of the party who is to occupy such
housing unit shall first:
(1)
Display to the licensee or to a duly authorized agent
or employee of the licensee in charge of the register written evidence
of his identity and residence.
(2)
Write in the register immediately following the latest
registration, in ink and in his own handwriting, his full and true
name and address and the name and address of each person to occupy
the unit, and, in the case of the operator of the motor vehicle or
a member of his party, the state license or registration number of
the motor vehicle conveying him to the licensed premises. If the registrant
does not write in the register the information herein required as
to the motor vehicle, it shall be the duty of the licensee or his
duly authorized employee to write in said information.
C.
In addition to the foregoing information, the licensee shall cause to be written in the register the number or name of the housing or lodging unit assigned to each registrant, the date and hour of registration, a brief description or designation of the identification displayed to the licensee by the registrant pursuant to Subsection B(1) of this section, the signature of the person taking or accepting the registration, and the date when the occupant or occupants of each housing or lodging unit quit and surrender the same.
D.
Said register shall be kept and preserved by the licensee
and shall be available on request at any hour of the day or night
to any police officer of the Borough or any other duly authorized
person designated by the Council.
It shall be the duty of the members of the police
force of the Borough to inspect the licensed premises from time to
time, at any hour of the day or night, to determine that the provisions
of this article are being complied with.
No licensee shall employ in, on or about the
licensed premises any person convicted of a crime involving moral
turpitude within a period of five years from the date of such conviction.
A.
Any license issued under this article may be suspended
or revoked by the Council for:
(1)
Violation by the licensee of any of the provisions
of this article or other applicable ordinances of the Township.
(2)
Any disorderly or immoral conduct knowingly permitted
by the licensee upon the licensed premises.
(3)
False statements made in an application for a license
or a transfer thereof.
B.
Due notice of the charges and of the date fixed for
the hearing thereof shall be given to the licensee, to the end that
he shall have the opportunity to be heard at said hearing prior to
revocation or suspension of his license.
Any person, firm or corporation violating any
of the provisions of this article or said rules and regulations, or
contributing in any way to the violation thereof, shall, upon conviction
thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment
in the County Jail not exceeding 90 days, or by both such fine and
imprisonment, at the discretion of the Municipal Judge of the Borough
of Wanaque, in the County of Passaic.
It is the purpose of this article to implement
the provisions of P.L. 2003, c. 114, which authorizes the governing
body of a municipality to adopt an ordinance imposing a tax at a uniform
percentage rate not to exceed 1% on charges of rent for every occupancy
on or after July 1, 2003, but before July 1, 2004, and not to exceed
3% on charges of rent for every occupancy on or after July 1, 2004,
of a room or rooms in a hotel subject to taxation pursuant to Subsection
(d) of Section 3 of P.L. 1966, c. 40 (N.J.S.A. 54:32B-3), which shall
be in addition to any other tax or fee imposed pursuant to statute
or local ordinance or resolution by any governmental entity upon the
occupancy of a hotel room.
There is hereby established a hotel and motel
room occupancy tax in the Borough of Wanaque, which shall be fixed
at a uniform percentage rate of 1% on charges of rent for every occupancy
of a hotel or motel room in the Borough of Wanaque on or after July
1, 2003, but before July 1, 2004, and 3% on charges of rent for every
occupancy of a hotel or motel room in the Borough of Wanaque on or
after July 1, 2004, of a room or rooms in a hotel subject to taxation
pursuant to Subsection (d) of Section 3 of P.L. 1966, c. 40, N.J.S.A.
54:32B-3 (sales tax).
The hotel and motel room occupancy tax shall
be in addition to any other tax or fee imposed pursuant to statute
or local ordinance or resolution by any governmental entity upon the
occupancy of a hotel room.
In accordance with the requirements of P.L.
2003, c. 114:
A.
All taxes imposed in this article shall be paid by
the purchaser.
B.
A vendor shall not assume or absorb any tax imposed
by this article.
C.
A vendor shall not in any manner advertise or hold
out to any person or to the public in general, in any manner, directly
or indirectly, that the tax will be assumed or absorbed by the vendor,
that the tax will not be separately charged and stated to the customer,
or that the tax will be refunded to the customer.
D.
Each assumption or absorption by a vendor of the tax
shall be deemed a separate offense, and each representation or advertisement
by a vendor for each day that the representation or advertisement
continues shall be deemed a separate offense.
E.
The penalty for violation of the foregoing provisions
shall be a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 for each
offense.
The tax imposed by this article shall be collected
on behalf of the Borough by the person collecting the rent from the
hotel or motel customer. Each person required to collect the tax herein
imposed shall be personally liable for the tax imposed, collected
or required to be collected hereunder. Any such person shall have
the same right in respect to collecting the tax from a customer as
if the tax were a part of the rent and payable at the same time, provided
that the Chief Financial Officer of the Borough shall be joined as
a party in any action or proceeding brought to collect the tax.
A copy of this article shall be transmitted
to the State Treasurer and to each hotel or motel located within the
Borough.
