[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 981, §§ 1—13, adopted Dec. 14, 1987, was not enacted as a specific amendment or addition to the Code, and hence is incorporated herein as a new Art. VIII, §§ 22-163—22-175, to Ch. 22 at the discretion of the editor.
[Ord. No. 981, § 1, 12-14-1987]
This article shall be known as "The Solid Waste Processing and Disposal Tax Ordinance of 1987."
[Ord. No. 981, § 2, 12-14-1987]
(a) 
The use of land within Plymouth Township for the purpose of solid waste disposal has been and projects in the future to be steadily on the increase, both with respect to the number of such activities and the volume thereof.
(b) 
The increase in the volume and number of such activities within the Township has resulted in substantial increases in heavy truck traffic, the number of accidents involving such vehicles, and congestion on roads and highways within the Township.
(c) 
Solid waste activities, by their nature, are noxious activities requiring frequent monitoring and inspection to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Township.
(d) 
The activities of such facilities have required and will increasingly require in the future demands upon the police and code enforcement departments of the Township which will require the employment of additional personnel herein.
(e) 
The hiring of such additional police and code enforcement personnel will place additional budgetary demands upon the Township and, hence, upon the taxpayers of Plymouth Township.
(f) 
Over the past 10 years Plymouth Township has reduced services to its citizens in order to maintain tax rates and to comply with legislative limitations on its taxing power.
(g) 
The Township requires additional sources of revenue to restore certain previously eliminated services and to increase other necessary services to its citizens.
(h) 
This taxing ordinance is, therefore, adopted to accomplish the objectives and for the purposes above set forth.
[Ord. No. 981, § 3, 12-14-1987]
The following words and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(a) 
COLLECTOR — The Plymouth Township Finance Officer, who is the person appointed by the Township to collect the tax levied hereby.
(b) 
OPERATOR — The individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental body, agency or other entity carrying on a landfill, a trash transfer station, a mass burn facility, or other solid waste processing facility, or leasing or using land for such purposes within the geographical boundaries of Plymouth Township.
(c) 
SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL TRANSACTION — The deposit, storage, accumulation, processing, disposal or placement of material by a user in a landfill, trash transfer station, mass burn facility or other solid waste processing facility, measured in tons of material.
(d) 
SOLID WASTE MATERIAL — Includes garbage, rubbish, trash, waste materials, ash, flyash, refuse, soil, sludge or other recoverable or nonrecoverable material.
(e) 
SOLID WASTE PROCESSING OR DISPOSAL — Includes the means or method by which solid waste material is accumulated, stored, treated, recovered, dumped, buried, sold or otherwise disposed of.
(f) 
TAX — The charge levied hereby upon each and every operator for each and every solid waste disposal or processing transaction for each ton of material processed, dumped or disposed of.
(g) 
TOWNSHIP — Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
(h) 
USER — Every person or individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental body, agency or other entity delivering solid waste material to a landfill, trash transfer station, mass burn facility or other solid waste processing facility within the geographical confines of Plymouth Township for solid waste processing or disposal.
[Ord. No. 981, § 4, 12-14-1987]
(a) 
For the period beginning January 1, 1988, and ending December 31, 1988, and continuing from January 1st to December 31st of each and every year on a calendar-year basis thereafter, without annual re-enactment, a tax for general revenue purposes is hereby levied on the processing of solid waste against each and every operator at the rate of two (2) per cent of the charge made by the operator for the processing of each ton of solid waste within Plymouth Township.
(b) 
The tax imposed hereby shall be collected only once on each ton of solid waste processed in the Township, on the occasion of the first such transaction, despite, the fact that the solid waste may be subject to more than one form of solid waste disposal transaction, as that term is defined herein.
[Ord. No. 981, § 5, 12-14-1987]
(a) 
On or after the effective date of the ordinance from which this article was derived, it shall be unlawful for any operator to conduct, continue to conduct or thereafter to begin to conduct any solid waste processing facility within the Township unless a waste processing registration certificate shall have been issued to the operator, and unless the tax imposed herein is accounted for in accordance with the provisions of this article.
(b) 
Every operator desiring to continue to conduct or to begin to conduct any solid waste processing facility within the Township shall be required to file annually an application for a registration certificate or certificates for each such facility with the collector. Every application for the certificate or certificates shall be made upon a form prescribed and furnished by the collector and authorized by the Township. Such application shall set forth the name under which the applicant conducts the solid waste processing facility, and the location of the place of the facility, the size of the facility, an estimate of the annual number of tons of material which will be processed at the facility, and such other pertinent information as may be required by the collector. If the applicant has or intends to have more than one place of operation within the Township, the application shall state the required information with respect to each and every place of operation. If the applicant is other than an individual, the names and addresses of the principal officers thereof, and any other reasonable information required by the collector, shall be stated in the application. The application shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant, verified by oath or affirmation.
(c) 
Upon a proper application being made, the collector shall charge a registration and certificate fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) annually for each certificate, which shall be paid by the applicant, upon payment of which the collector shall grant and issue to the applicant a solid waste processing facility registration certificate for each place of operation set forth in the application. The registration certificate shall not be assignable, shall be valid only for the person and/or operator in whose name it is issued, and shall be valid only for the conduct of solid waste processing at the place designated therein. The registration certificate shall be conspicuously displayed at all times at the place for which issued.
[Ord. No. 981, § 6, 12-14-1987]
(a) 
Each operator shall maintain, separately with respect to each premises for which a solid waste processing facility registration certificate has been issued, complete and accurate records of all transactions, the amount of consideration received from all transactions, and the total amount of tax collected on the basis of such consideration. These records shall be kept on a uniform daily basis. Each operator shall issue to the person paying the consideration written evidence of the transaction as may be prescribed by regulations adopted by the collector.
(b) 
As to all solid waste processing conducted on a contract basis, each operator shall maintain a record of relevant data adequately describing each transaction for the calculation of the proper tax. Records shall be made at the time of the transaction, shall be kept in chronological order, and shall be maintained for a period of not less than five (5) years.
(c) 
Each operator shall afford the collector and his designated agents and employees access to all such records at all reasonable times and shall provide verification of those records as the collector may require. The collector and his agents are hereby authorized at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner to examine the books, papers and records of any operator in order to verify the accuracy of any return made hereunder.
(d) 
If no return has been made, or if a false return has been made, or if the operator's records are not properly made or kept, or if the operator or anyone under his control in any way obstructs an orderly audit or investigation relating to the determination of the proper tax due, then the collector may make such assessment of the amount reasonably determined to be the proper tax due, may add a liquidated damage assessment of up to one hundred (100) per cent of the proper tax and may assess the tax and liquidated damage assessment against the operator, which assessment shall be in addition to any other remedies hereunder.
[Ord. No. 981, § 7, 12-14-1987]
Each operator shall, on forms prescribed by the collector, file with the collector, by the fifteenth day of each month, returns on all transactions of the operator in the preceding calendar month. With such filing the operator shall pay to the collector all taxes due hereunder for each preceding month.
[Ord. No. 981, § 8, 12-14-1987]
Any information gained by the collector, his agents, or any official or agent of the Township pursuant to the administration of this article shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed except for official purposes or in accordance with the proper judicial order or for the purpose expressly authorized by this article.
[Ord. No. 981, § 9, 12-14-1987]
The collector is hereby authorized to accept payment under protest of any taxes claimed by the Township in any case, whether the taxpayer disputes the validity or the amount of the Township's claim to the tax. If it is thereafter judicially determined that the Township has been overpaid, the amount of the overpayment shall be refunded to the taxpayer.
[Ord. No. 981, § 10, 12-14-1987]
All taxes, assessments, penalties and interest due from an operator under this article shall be paid to the collector. Any operator who fails to file a proper report as due, or who fails to make proper payment as due, shall be subject to a penalty of an additional 10 per cent of the amount of the tax and, in addition thereto, shall pay interest on the unpaid tax at the rate of one per cent per month or fraction thereof from the due date. Such penalties and interest shall be in addition to any other penalties prescribed herein.
[Ord. No. 981, § 11, 12-14-1987; Ord. No. 1076, § 1, 6-10-1991]
Any person who violates any provision of this article, or any regulations adopted pursuant thereto, shall, upon conviction thereof before any district justice, be subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000.00, or, in default thereof, shall be imprisoned for a period not to exceed 30 days. Each violation shall constitute a separate offense. The penalties prescribed herein shall be in addition to all other liabilities imposed under any other provisions hereof.
[Ord. No. 981, § 12, 12-14-1987]
Solid waste processing and disposal facilities owned and operated by Plymouth Township or by Plymouth Township jointly with any other municipality or municipalities shall be exempt from paying the tax prescribed by this article.