[Adopted 3-7-1983 by L.L.
No. 1-1983 as Ch. 25 of the 1983 Code]
Pursuant to the authority granted by § 5-530 of the Village
Law of the State of New York, a tax equal to 1% of its gross income from and
after the third day of August 1970 is hereby imposed upon every utility doing
business in the Village of Central Square, New York, which is subject to the
supervision of the State Department of Public Service and which has a gross
income for 12 months ending December 31 in excess of $500, except motor carriers
or brokers subject to such supervision under Article 3-B of the Public Service
Law, and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income from and after
the third day of August 1970 is hereby imposed upon every other utility doing
business in the Village of Central Square, New York, which has a gross operating
income for 12 months ending December 31 in excess of $500, which taxes shall
have application only within the territorial limits of the Village of Central
Square and shall be in addition to any and all other taxes and fees imposed
by any other provision of law. Such taxes shall not be imposed on any transaction
originating or consummated outside of the territorial limits of the Village
of Central Square, notwithstanding that some acts are necessarily performed
with respect to such transaction within such limits.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
GROSS INCOME
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale, conditional
or otherwise (except sales hereinafter referred to with respect to which it
is provided that the profits from the sale shall be included in gross income),
made or service rendered for ultimate consumption or use by the purchaser
in the Village of Central Square, New York, including cash, credits and property
of any kind or nature (whether or not such sale is made or such service is
rendered for profit), without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost
of the property sold, the cost of the materials used, labor or services or
other costs, interest or discount paid, or any other expense whatsoever; also
profits from the sale of securities; also profits from the sale of real property
growing out of the ownership or use of or interest in such property; also
profit from the sale of personal property (other than property of a kind which
would properly be included in the inventory of the taxpayer if on hand at
the close of the period for which a return is made); also receipts from interest,
dividends, and royalties derived from sources within the Village of Central
Square, New York, other than such as are received from a corporation a majority
of whose voting stock is owned by the taxpaying utility, without any deduction
therefrom for any expenses whatsoever incurred in connection with the receipt
thereof; and also profits from any transaction (except sales for resale and
rentals) within the Village of Central Square, New York, whatsoever; provided,
however, that the words "gross income" shall include, in the case of a utility
engaged in selling telephony or telephone service, only receipts from local
exchange service wholly consummated within the Village of Central Square,
New York, and in the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph
service, only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within the Village
of Central Square, New York.
GROSS OPERATING INCOME
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale, conditional
or otherwise, made for ultimate consumption or use by the purchaser of gas,
electricity, steam, water, refrigeration, telephony or telegraphy or in or
by reason of the furnishing for such consumption or use of gas, electric,
steam, water, refrigeration, telephone or telegraph service in the Village
of Central Square, New York, including cash, credits and property of any kind
or nature, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the property
sold, the cost of materials used, labor, or service or other costs, interest,
or discount paid, or any other expenses whatsoever.
PERSON
Persons, corporations, companies, associations, joint-stock associations,
copartnerships, estates, assignee of rents, any person acting in a fiduciary
capacity, or any other entity, and persons, their assignees, lessees, trustees
or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever, or by any other means, except
the state, municipalities, political and civil subdivisions of the state or
municipality and public districts and corporations and associations organized
and operated exclusively for religious, charitable or educational purposes,
no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private
shareholder or individual and excepting a corporation organized and operated
exclusively for the purpose of leasing from the Village in this state a waterworks
system designed to supply water at cost to users thereof for discharge, either
before or after industrial use, into a river within such Village in order
to improve the flow and condition of such river and thereby to provide a means
to relieve such river from pollution.
UTILITY
Includes every person subject to the supervision of the State Department
of Public Service, except persons engaged in the business of operating on
the public highways of this state one or more omnibuses, having a seating
capacity of more than seven persons, and persons engaged in the business of
operating or leasing sleeping and parlor railroad cars or of operating railroads
other than street surface, rapid transit, subway and elevated railroads, and
also includes every person (whether or not such person is subject to such
supervision) who sells gas, electricity, steam, water, refrigeration, telephony
or telegraphy, delivered through mains, pipes or wires, or furnishes gas,
electric, steam, water, refrigerator, telephone or telegraph service, by means
of mains, pipes, or wires, regardless of whether such activities are the main
business of such person or are only incidental thereto or of whether use is
made of the public streets.
Every utility subject to tax under this article shall keep such records
of its business and in such form as the Village Treasurer may require, or
as the Village Board may require, and such records shall be preserved for
a period of three years, except that the Village Treasurer or the Village
Board may consent to their destruction within that period or may require that
they be kept longer.
At the time of the filing of a return as required by this article, each
utility shall pay to the Village of Central Square the tax imposed by this
article for the period covered by such return. Such tax shall be due and payable
at the time of filing the return or, if a return is not filed when due, on
the last day on which the return is required to be filed.
Any notice authorized or required under the provisions of this article
may be given by mailing the same to the person for whom it is intended, in
a postpaid envelope, addressed to such person at the address given by him
or her in the last return filed by him or her under this article or, if no
return has been filed, then to such address as may be obtainable. The mailing
of such notice shall be presumptive evidence of the receipt of the same by
the person to whom addressed. Any period of time which is determined according
to the provisions of this article by the giving of notice shall commence to
run from the date of mailing of such notice.
Any person failing to file a return or corrected return or to pay any
tax or any portion thereof within the time required by this article shall
be subject to a penalty of 5% of the amount of tax due, plus 1% of such tax
for each month of delay or fraction thereof, excepting the first month, but
the Village Treasurer, for cause shown, may extend the time for filing any
return and, if satisfied that the delay was excusable, may remit all or any
portion of the penalty fixed by the foregoing provisions of this section.
The tax imposed by this article shall be charged against and be paid
by the utility and shall not be added as a separate item to bills rendered
by the utility to customers or others but shall constitute a part of the operating
costs of such utility.
Whenever any person shall fail to pay any tax or penalty imposed by
this article, the Village Attorney shall, upon the request of the Village
Treasurer, bring an action to enforce payment of the same. The proceeds of
any judgment obtained in any such action shall be paid to the Village Treasurer.
Each such tax and penalty shall be a lien upon the property of the person
liable to pay the same, in the same manner and to the same extent that the
tax and penalty imposed by § 186-a of the Tax Law are made a lien.
In the administration of this article, the Village Treasurer shall have
power to make such reasonable rules and regulations, not inconsistent with
law, as may be necessary for the exercise of his or her powers and the performance
of his or her duties and to prescribe the form of blanks, reports and other
records relating to the administration and enforcement of the tax, to take
testimony and proofs, under oath, with reference to any matter within the
line of his or her official duty under this article, and to subpoena and require
the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers and documents.
All taxes and penalties received by the Village Treasurer under this
article shall be paid into the treasury of the Village of Central Square,
New York, and shall be credited to and deposited in the general fund of the
Village.