[Adopted 2-13-1990 by Ord. No. 90-01-151 (Ch. 17, Art. VI, of the 1977 Code)]
A. 
Pursuant to 55 ILCS 5/5-1030, the County Board hereby imposes upon persons engaged in the business of renting, leasing or letting rooms in a hotel which is not located within any city, village or incorporated town, a tax. Such tax shall not exceed 5% of the gross rental receipts from such renting, leasing or letting; however, excluded from the gross rental receipts tax are the proceeds from renting, leasing, or letting to permanent residents of that hotel.
B. 
Further, the tax imposed under this article shall be effective on the first day of the calendar month following the passage and publication of this article.
C. 
The amounts collected by this County pursuant to this article shall be expended to promote tourism and other ends consistent with 55 ILCS 5/5-1030.
The purpose of this article is to generate revenue to be placed in a fund to generate tourism through the promotion of lodging, restaurants, attractions, conventions, expositions, and theatrical, sport, cultural and other similar activities.
For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively applied to them:
DEPARTMENT
The Illinois Department of Revenue.
HOTEL
Any building or buildings in which the public may, for a consideration, obtain living quarters, sleeping or housekeeping accommodations. The term includes inns, motels, tourist homes or courts, lodging houses, rooming houses, apartment houses and bed-and-breakfast houses.
OCCUPANCY
The use or possession, or the right to the use or possession, of any room or rooms in a hotel for any purposes, or the right to the use or possession of the furnishings or to the services and accommodations accompanying the use and possession of the room or rooms.
PERMANENT RESIDENT
Any man or woman who occupied or has the right to occupy any room or rooms in a hotel for at least 30 consecutive days for his or her own personal use unrelated to the conducting of any business or occupation.
PERSON
Any natural individual, firm, partnership, association, joint stock company, joint venture, public or private corporation, or a receiver, executor, trustee, conservator or other representative appointed by order of any court.
RENTER
Any person who pays for the privilege of using or occupying a hotel room for the period for which payment is made.
RENT or RENTAL
The consideration received for occupancy, valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise, including all receipts, cash, credits and property or services of any kind or nature.
ROOM or ROOMS
Any living quarters, sleeping or housekeeping accommodations.
TREASURER
The Treasurer of the County.
A. 
The tax imposed herein shall be in addition to any and all other taxes and charges applicable to such hotels, but such other taxes and charges shall not be construed to be a part of the charges upon which this tax is levied.
B. 
The ultimate incidents of and liability for payment of the tax levied herein is to be borne by the person engaged in the business of leasing, renting or letting the rooms. Such owners and operators may reimburse themselves for their tax liability for this tax by separately stating such tax as an additional charge to the resident, which charge may be stated in combination, as a single amount, with state tax imposed under the Hotel Operator's Occupation Tax, as provided in 35 ILCS 145/1 et seq., as amended. No tax is imposed based upon any permanent residents of any hotel.
C. 
No person engaged in the business of renting, leasing, or letting rooms in a hotel shall reimburse himself for the imposition of this tax at a rate higher than the tax imposed by this article.
[Amended 8-8-1995 by Ord. No. 95-08-211]
Any person subject to this tax whose annualized tax would be $250 or more shall transmit to the Treasurer, on or before the last day of each calendar month, a sum of money equal to the taxes collected pursuant to this article for the preceding calendar month and, simultaneously therewith, shall transmit a report upon forms supplied by the Treasurer indicating the gross receipts from the renting, leasing or letting of hotel rooms to all renters, including permanent residents as defined in this article, and such other information as the Treasurer may reasonably require for the enforcement of this article. Any person subject to this tax whose annualized tax would be less than $250 shall transmit to the Treasurer on or before January 1 and June 30, on a semiannual basis, a sum of money equal to the taxes collected pursuant to this article for the preceding six months and, simultaneously therewith, shall transmit a report upon forms supplied by the Treasurer indicating the gross receipts from the renting, leasing or letting of hotel rooms to all renters, including permanent residents as defined in this article, and such other information as the Treasurer may reasonably require for the enforcement of this article. Any person subject to this tax shall also file with the Treasurer copies of all sales tax receipt and report forms which the person is required to file with the state. These documents shall be filed with the Treasurer no later than five business days after the documents are transmitted to the state.
A. 
Any person engaged in the business of renting, leasing or letting of hotel rooms shall maintain complete and accurate books and records, including a daily sheet showing the gross receipts for the hotel rentals for the day reported.
B. 
For the purposes of enforcing and administering this article, the Treasurer shall, after providing reasonable notice, have access during normal business hours to the books and records of persons and businesses subject to this article. The Treasurer shall, at least annually, inspect the books and records and shall file a written report of his or her findings with the County Clerk and with the Clerk of the Stephenson County Convention and Visitors Bureau no later than December 1 of each year.
C. 
The Treasurer shall permit the representative of any unit of local government in the County which enacts a similar hotel/motel tax ordinance to inspect the records of his or her office which pertain to the tax imposed by this article. The Treasurer shall also forward to each such other unit of local government copies of all such documents filed with him or her by persons or businesses subject to this tax which are located within the corporate limits of that unit of local government.
Any person who violates any provision of this article, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to penalties as set forth in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II, Penalties, § 1-11. A separate and distinct offense shall be regarded as having been committed each day upon which the person shall continue any such violation.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. IV).
There is hereby created a Tourism Promotion Fund into which the Treasurer shall, by the 20th day of each month, place the proceeds resulting from the previous month's collection of this hotel tax. The monies in this fund shall be utilized solely and exclusively for the purpose of promoting tourism in the County area.
This tax shall not, in any manner, constitute an indebtedness by the County subject to any limitation imposed by statute or otherwise.
Nothing herein adopted shall be construed to affect any suit now pending in any court or any rights accrued or liability incurred or any cause or causes of action accrued or existing under any prior resolution or ordinance; nor shall any right or remedy of any character be lost, impaired or affected by this article.