[Adopted 11-20-1978 by L.L. No. 2-1978]
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 January, nineteen hundred seventy-nine, is hereby imposed
upon every utility doing business in the Village of Kiryas Joel which is subject
to the supervision of the State Department of Public Service, which has a
gross income for the 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 first day of January nineteen hundred seventy-nine, is
hereby imposed upon every other utility doing business in the Village of Kiryas
Joel which has a gross operating income for the 12 months ending December
31 in excess of $500; which taxes shall have application only within the territorial
limits of the Village of Kiryas Joel 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 Kiryas Joel, New York, 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 Kiryas Joel, 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 Kiryas Joel 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 Kiryas Joel 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 Kiryas Joel, and in the case of a utility engaged in
selling telegraphy or telegraph service, only receipts from transactions wholly
consummated within the Village of Kiryas Joel.
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 Kiryas Joel, 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 furnished 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 Treasurer of the Village of Kiryas
Joel may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period of three
years, except that the Treasurer of said village 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 March 25th, June
25th, September 25th and December 25th, a return for the three calendar months
preceding each such return date, and in 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 Treasurer of the Village
of Kiryas Joel 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 Treasurer of said village, 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 Kiryas Joel 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 Treasurer of the Village of Kiryas Joel 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 persons 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 chapter by the filing of notice, shall commence to run from the date
of mailing of such notice.
Any person failing to file a return or a 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 on such tax became due; but the
Treasurer of the Village of Kiryas Joel, 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 Treasurer of the
Village of Kiryas Joel or the court shall determine that such tax or penalty
or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally collected, the Treasurer
of said village 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 Treasurer
of said village. However, no refund shall be made of a tax or penalty paid
pursuant to a determination of the Treasurer of said village as hereinbefore
provided, unless the Treasurer of said village, 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 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 Treasurer of said village may receive additional evidence with
respect thereto. After making his determination, the Treasurer of said village
shall give notice thereof to the person interested, and he shall be entitled
to an order to review such determination under said Article 78 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules, subject to the provision hereinbefore contained relating
to the granting of such an order.
Whenever any person shall fail to pay any tax or penalty imposed by
this Article, the attorney for the village shall, upon the request of the
Treasurer of the Village of Kiryas Joel, bring an action to enforce payment
of the same. The proceeds of any judgment obtained in any such action shall
be paid to the Treasurer of said village. 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.
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.
In the administration of this Article, the Treasurer of the Village
of Kiryas Joel shall have 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 Treasurer of the Village of
Kiryas Joel 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.
Any cooperative, condominium, homesteading or rental project which receives
payments, grants or loans pursuant to Article XVIII of the Private Housing
Finance Law or any new construction project which receives payments, grants
or loans pursuant to Article XIX of the Private Housing Finance Law shall
be exempt from taxation pursuant to Real Property Tax Law § 421-e
as provided in this article.
Eligible projects, as set forth in §
129-15, shall be exempt from all of the taxes imposed by a municipality, whether a county, town or village, including those imposed by a school district, other than assessments for local improvements, for the period set forth in §
129-17. For purposes of this article, assessments for local improvements shall include, without limitation, taxes and assessments for improvements which are eligible for assessment pursuant to Village Law Article 22, entitled "Local Improvements."
The period of such exemption shall not exceed 20 years in the aggregate
after the initial taxable status date following completion of the project
wherein such exemption is effective. Such exemption shall not exceed:
A. Followed by 12 years of full exemption;
B. Followed by two years of 80% exemption;
C. Followed by two years of 60% exemption;
D. Followed by two years of 40% exemption;
E. Followed by two years of 20% exemption.
The tax exemption authorized by this article shall be in addition to
any other tax exemption or abatement authorized by law.