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 1969 is hereby
imposed upon every utility doing business in the Village of Manlius
which is subject to the supervision of the State Department of Public
Service and 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 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 June 1969 is hereby imposed upon every
other utility doing business in the Village of Manlius 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 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, 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, 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 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 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, and in the
case of a utility engaged in selling telegraphy or telegraph service,
only receipts from transactions wholly consummated within the Village.
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, 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, joint ventures, estates, assignees 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 omnibus corporations subject to such supervision under
Article 3-A of the Public Service Law, 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 persons engaged in the business of operating cable television
services), 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 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 such annual return, 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. Each return shall
state the gross income or the gross operating income, as applicable,
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 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. Each
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 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, except 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 person having paid such tax 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 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 determination, the
Village Treasurer shall give notice thereof to the person interested.
A determination denying such refund shall be reviewable by a proceeding
under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules; provided, however,
that such proceeding is commenced within 90 days after the giving
of the notice of such denial, that a final determination of tax was
not previously made and that an undertaking is filed with the Village
Treasurer in such amount and with such sureties as a Justice of the
Supreme Court shall approve, to the effect that if such proceeding
is dismissed or the tax confirmed, the petitioner will pay all costs
and charges which may accrue in the prosecution of such proceeding.
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 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 fund
of the Village.