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 first day of June 1972 is hereby
imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of Chittenango
which is subject to the supervision of the State Department of Public
Service, which has a gross income for the 12 months ending May 31,
1972, in excess of $500, except motor carriers or brokers subject
to such supervision under Article 3-b of the Public Service Law, which taxes shall have application only within the territorial
limits of the Village of Chittenango 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
consumated outside of the territorial limits of the Village of Chittenango,
notwithstanding that some act be necessarily performed with respect
to such transaction within such limits.
As used in this article and in compliance with
§ 186-a, Subdivision 2, of the Tax Law, 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 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 Chittenango, 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
profits 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 Chittenango 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 Chittenango 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 Chittenango,
and in the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph
service, only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within
the Village of Chittenango.
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, refrigerator, telephone, telegraph service
in the Village of Chittenango, 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
services 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.
UTILITY
Includes every person subject to the supervision of the State
Department of Public Service, except 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 of the Village of Chittenango.
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, and such records shall be preserved for a period
of three years, except that the Village Treasurer may consent to their
destruction within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
Every utility subject to tax hereunder shall
file annually, on or before the 25th day of March, a return for the
12 calendar months preceding such return date or any portion thereof
for which the tax imposed hereby is effective, and, in the case of
the first such return, for all preceding calendar months during which
the tax imposed hereby was effective. Every return shall state the
gross income or gross operating income for the period covered thereby.
Returns shall be filed with the Village Treasurer on a form to be
furnished by him for such purpose and shall contain such other data,
information or matter as he may require to be included therein. The
Village Treasurer, in order to ensure payment of the tax imposed,
may require at any time a further or supplemental return, which shall
contain any data that may be specified by him, and he may require
any utility doing business in the Village of Chittenango to file an
annual return, which shall contain any data specified by him, regardless
of whether the utility is subject to tax under this article. Every
return shall have annexed thereto an affidavit of the head of the
utility making the same, or of the owner or of a copartner thereof,
or of a principal officer of the corporation if such business is conducted
by a corporation, to the effect that the statements contained therein
are true.
At the time of filing a return, as required
by this article, each utility shall pay to the Village Treasurer 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 in the last return filed
by him 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 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, after such return was required
to be filed or such tax became due; 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.
If, within one year from the payment of any
tax or penalty, the payer thereof shall make application for a refund
thereof and the Village Treasurer or the court shall determine that
such tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally
collected, the Village Treasurer shall refund the amount so determined.
For like cause and within the same period, a refund may be so made
on the initiative of the Village Treasurer. However, no refund shall
be made of a tax or penalty pursuant to a determination of the Village
Treasurer, as hereinbefore provided, unless the Village Treasurer,
after a hearing as hereinbefore provided or of his own motion, shall
have reduced the tax or penalty or it shall have been established
in a proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Act of the
State of New York that such determination was erroneous or illegal.
All refunds shall be made out of moneys collected under this article.
An application for a refund, made as hereinbefore provided, shall
be deemed an application for the revision of any tax or penalty complained
of and the Village Treasurer may receive additional evidence with
respect thereto. After making this determination, the Village Treasurer
shall give notice thereof to the person interested, and he shall be
entitled to an order to review such determination under said Article
78, subject to the provision hereinbefore contained relating to the
granting of such an order.
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 tax. 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 of the Tax Law is made a lien.
In the administration of this article, the Village
Treasurer shall have the power to make such reasonable rules and regulations,
not inconsistent with law, as may be necessary for the exercise of
his powers and the performance of his 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 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 and shall be credited to and deposited in the general funds
of the Village.