[Amended 8-11-1997 by L.L. No. 4-1997]
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 May 1953 is hereby
imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of Haverstraw
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
in excess of $500, except motor carriers or brokers subject to such
supervision under § 240 et seq. of the Transportation Law,
and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income from and after
the first day of May 1953 is hereby imposed upon every other utility
doing business in the Village of Haverstraw which has a gross operating
income for the 12 months ending May 31 in excess of $500, which taxes
shall have application only within the territorial limits of the Village
of Haverstraw, 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 Haverstraw, notwithstanding
that some act be 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 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 Haverstraw, 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 Haverstraw 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 Haverstraw 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 Haverstraw,
and in the case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph
service, only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within
the Village of Haverstraw.
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 or telegraph
service in the Village of Haverstraw, 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.
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; provided, however,
that in lieu of the annual return required by the foregoing provisions,
any utility may file quarterly, on or before September 25, December
25, March 25 and June 25, a return for the three calendar months preceding
each such return date, 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
or her for such purpose and shall contain such other data, information
or matter as he or she 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 or she may require any
utility doing business in the Village of Haverstraw 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 be 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 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 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 paid pursuant to a determination of the
Village Treasurer as hereinbefore provided unless the Village Treasurer,
after a hearing as hereinbefore provided, or of his or her 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 Law and Rules
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 his or her determination, the Village
Treasurer shall give notice thereof to the person interested, and
he or she shall be entitled to an order to review such determination
under said Article 78, subject to the provisions 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 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 is 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.
Notwithstanding any provisions of this article
the Village Treasurer may exchange with the chief fiscal officer of
any city or any other village in the State of New York information
contained in returns filed under this article, provided that such
city or other village grants similar privileges to the Village of
Haverstraw, and provided that such information is to be used for tax
purposes only, and the Village Treasurer shall, upon request, furnish
the State Tax Commission with any information contained in such returns.
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 fund
of the village.