[Adopted 3-5-1979 by Ord.
No. 3-1979 (Ch. XXIV, Part 4, of the 1970 Code of
Ordinances)]
Unless otherwise specifically stated herein, the following terms
shall have, for the purposes of this article, the meaning hereinafter
set forth:
A partnership, limited partnership, registered partnership,
business operated under a fictitious name or any other form of unincorporated
enterprise owned or conducted by two or more persons.
Any corporation or joint stock association organized under
the laws of the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or
any other state, territory or foreign country or dependency, including
banking institutions.
Any deed, instrument or writing by which any real estate,
lands, tenements or hereditaments or any part thereof or interest
therein, within the limits of Vandergrift Borough, Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania, shall be sold, transferred, granted, bargained or conveyed
to a purchaser or grantee, but shall not include wills or other testamentary
writings, mortgages, sales or transfers between husband and wife,
or parent and child, or transfers to the United States, the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, or to any agency or political subdivision by any
document, or to any other transfers exempt from tax under the Realty
Transfer Tax Act of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania[1] or under the Local Tax Enabling Act, 1965, December 31,
P.L. 1257, as amended.[2]
Includes natural persons, copartnership, association, corporation,
firm or fiduciary. Whenever used in any clause prescribing or imposing
a penalty, fine or imprisonment, or both, the term "person," as applied
to associations or copartnerships, shall mean the members or partners
thereof and, as applied to corporations, the officers thereof. The
singular shall include the plural.
The Recorder of Deeds of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
In the case of any document resulting from or being evidence
of the sale or transfer of real estate within Vandergrift Borough,
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, transferring, granting or otherwise
conveying any land, tenement or hereditament or part thereof or interest
therein, the amount of the actual consideration paid therefor, including
liens or other encumbrances thereon; where such document specifically
sets forth a small nominal or sentimental consideration, the value
shall be the total actual consideration or sale price of said real
estate; provided further, however, that if such transfer is in the
nature of a gift without actual valuable consideration, the value
of the real estate or interest therein being transferred shall be
considered as the highest valuation for tax purposes established by
the Board of Assessment and Revision of Taxes in and for Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania, from which said Board derives the assessed valuation
for the purposes of taxes, which means the highest valuation established
by said Board and not the tax assessment valuation.
A tax to provide revenue for general Borough purposes is hereby
levied, assessed and imposed on every person who makes, executes,
delivers, accepts or presents for recording any document, or in whose
behalf any document is made, executed, delivered, accepted or presented
for recording, at the rate of 1/2% of the value of the real property
represented by such document, transaction or transfer. Said tax shall
be payable at the time the transfer is completed or concluded, provided
that, in the case of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any
interest therein, located partly within and partly without the boundaries
of Vandergrift Borough, such tax is imposed, assessed and levied upon
the value of that portion of such lands, tenements or hereditaments
or any interest therein lying within the boundaries of Vandergrift
Borough.
The payment of the tax imposed by this article shall be evidenced
by a stamp of metal or rubber, which shall clearly show that the tax
assessed under this article has been paid. The Special Tax Collector
shall affix or impress said stamp, mark and collect the tax imposed
herein.
The tax imposed by this article shall be paid to the Special
Tax Collector, who is hereby charged with the collection thereof.
The Special Tax Collector shall account for and pay over to Vandergrift
Borough, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the collections made,
less any commissions provided by law, in accordance with Act No. 113
of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, approved
November 1, 1971.
No document which represents a sale or transfer involving the
transfer of title to real estate situate in Vandergrift Borough, Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania, upon which the tax is hereby levied and assessed,
shall be recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania, or any county of the commonwealth, nor shall
such document be made the basis of any action or other legal proceedings,
nor shall proof thereof be offered in evidence in any court of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, unless and until the said stamp as provided
herein shall have been affixed thereto.
Every such document, when presented to the Recorder of Deeds
of Westmoreland County or any other county of this commonwealth for
recording therein, shall set forth in said document and as part thereof
the true, full and complete consideration or value of said transfer
or, in lieu thereof, shall be accompanied by an affidavit to be executed
by the grantor, grantee or the responsible agent of either, which
said affidavit shall set forth the true, full and complete consideration
or value for the said transfer or the specific reason why the said
document and the transfer represented thereby is not subject to the
tax imposed by this article, if the document, upon its face, does
not disclose said reason.
[Amended 1-10-1989 by Ord. No. 2-1989]
It shall be unlawful for any person to make, execute, issue,
deliver or accept, or cause to be made, executed, issued, delivered
or accepted, any document transferring title to any real estate situated
in Vandergrift Borough, in accordance with the provisions of this
article, unless and until the full amount of the tax imposed by this
article shall have been paid. Any person violating any provision of
this section shall be guilty of an offense and, upon conviction, shall
be sentenced to pay a fine, the minimum amount thereof and the maximum
amount thereof to be the same as for a violation of the Borough's
realty transfer tax levied under Act 77 of 1986[1] and, in default of payment of fine and costs, to undergo
imprisonment for not more than 30 days.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 72 P.S. § 8101-D, the Local Real Estate
Transfer Tax.
In addition to all other fines and other penalties imposed by
this article, all taxes imposed in accordance with the provisions
hereof, if not paid when due, shall bear interest at the rate of 1 1/2%
per month until paid.
A penalty of 5%, in addition to other penalties imposed hereunder,
is imposed upon the amount of any tax imposed under the provisions
of this article which shall remain unpaid for a period of longer than
one month from the date of said transfer.
All taxes imposed by this article, together with the interest
and penalties provided herein, shall be recoverable as other taxes
or debts of like character due and owing to the Borough are now recoverable
by law.
The tax levied as assessed by this article, together with the
interest and penalties imposed herein, shall become a lien upon the
lands, tenements, hereditaments or any part thereof or interest therein
within the limits of Vandergrift Borough, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
transferred or conveyed in accordance with the provisions hereof,
which such liens shall be effective at the time when the taxes are
due and payable in accordance with the provisions of this article,
and shall continue until discharged by payment to Vandergrift Borough,
and the said Borough of Vandergrift may file a municipal or tax claim
in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
against the transferor or transferee, or both, on the said lands,
tenements or hereditaments concerned, in accordance with the provisions
of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania covering the filing
of tax claim or municipal claim.
