[Adopted 9-20-2006]
The title of this article is the "County of Amelia Motor Vehicle License Tax Ordinance."
A. 
Pursuant to § 46.2-752 of the Code of Virginia 1950, as amended, there is hereby imposed a license tax upon the owner of every motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer normally garaged, stored or parked in the County of Amelia and for which a license is required by the Commonwealth of Virginia, except as may be exempt under the provisions of § 272-4 hereof.
B. 
The owner of every vehicle subject to licensing under this article shall pay the motor vehicle license tax to the County of Amelia as required in § 272-6 of this article, within 30 days of:
(1) 
Vehicle transfer date; or
(2) 
Garaging a vehicle in the County.
No license tax shall be imposed upon any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer when:
A. 
The motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer is owned by a nonresident of the County of Amelia and is used exclusively for pleasure or personal transportation and not for hire or for the conduct of any business or occupation other than that set forth in Subsection B of this section;
B. 
The motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer is owned by a nonresident of the County of Amelia and is used for transporting into and within the County of Amelia for sale, in person or by his/her employees, wood, meats, poultry, fruits, flowers, vegetables, milk, butter, cream or eggs produced or grown by him/her, and not purchased by him/her for sale;
C. 
The motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer is owned by an officer or employee of the Commonwealth of Virginia who is a nonresident of the County of Amelia and who uses the vehicle in the performance of his/her duties for the commonwealth under an agreement for such use;
D. 
The motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer is kept by a dealer or manufacturer for sale or for sales demonstration;
E. 
The motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer is operated by a common carrier of persons or property operating between cities and towns in the commonwealth or between cities and towns and points or places outside of such cities or towns, and not intracity transportation;
F. 
A similar tax or license fee is imposed by the County, city or town wherein such motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer is normally garaged, stored, or parked;
G. 
Any one motor vehicle is owned and is used personally by a veteran who holds a current state motor vehicle registration card establishing that he/she has received a disabled veterans exemption from the Department of Motor Vehicles and has been issued a disabled veteran's license plate, or in the absence of holding a disabled veteran's license plate, exemption to this County license tax may be obtained by application to the Commissioner of the Revenue accompanied by a certification from the U.S. Veterans Administration that the veteran has been designated a disabled veteran as defined under § 46.2-100 of the Code of Virginia 1950, as amended, and that his/her disability is service connected;
State law references: §§ 46.2-739 and 46.2-752, Code of Virginia.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
H. 
Any one passenger vehicle, pickup or panel truck owned by and personally used by a person who was a prisoner of the enemy in any war, was honorably discharged, is not currently a member of the armed forces, and was issued by the Commissioner appropriately designated license plates;
I. 
Any one passenger vehicle, pickup, or panel truck owned by and personally used by a person who was awarded the Medal of Honor and was issued by the Commissioner appropriately designated license plates;
J. 
Any one passenger vehicle, pickup or panel truck owned by and personally used by a person who is a member of the County of Amelia Rescue Squad or a member of any branch of the County of Amelia Volunteer Fire Department who has received certification and approval under the standards established by the respective departments and whose exemption from the County licensing has been approved by the County of Amelia Board of Supervisors;
K. 
Motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers owned by the commonwealth or by the County of Amelia used purely for state or County purposes and which have had license plates issued for public use;
L. 
Motor vehicles, trailers or semitrailers exempt from state registration and licensing due to their being used exclusively for agricultural, horticultural, sawmill, or mining purposes as defined therein, within a distance of 10 miles from point to point;
M. 
Firefighting trucks, trailers, semitrailers upon which there is permanently attached firefighting apparatus, ambulances, or other vehicles used exclusively for life-saving, firefighting, or first-aid by the County of Amelia Rescue Squad or Volunteer Fire Department;
N. 
Farm tractors, road rollers, and road machinery used for highway purposes;
O. 
Any serviceman who is on active duty and provides evidence to the Commissioner of the Revenue that he/she is a nonresident or nondomiciliary of the County of Amelia and that the motor vehicle is titled in the name of a serviceman (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq.);
P. 
Any motor vehicles classified by the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles as antique and which are not required by DMV to be submitted for state inspection.
A. 
For 2006, the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer license tax year which commenced on April 15, 2006, shall end on April 14, 2007.
B. 
For 2007, the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer license tax year shall commence on April 15, 2007, and end on December 4, 2007.
C. 
For 2008 and subsequent years: For 2008, the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer license tax year shall commence on December 5, 2007, and end on December 4, 2008, and subsequent years following the same twelve-month cycle.
[Amended 4-20-2022 by Ord. No. 22-007; 6-18-2024]
A. 
There is hereby imposed a license tax on all motor vehicles to which this article is applicable, as defined in §§ 272-3 and 272-4 of this article, in the following amounts:
(1) 
$30 per annum for most motor vehicles.
(2) 
$30 per annum for a motor home or a trailer or semitrailer used as living quarters for human beings.
(3) 
$30 per annum for any bus: school, church, public, or private.
(4) 
$20 per annum for motorcycles, motor scooters, and other motor vehicles of similar designs.
(5) 
$10 per annum for a passenger vehicle, pickup or panel truck of a member of the armed services.
(6) 
$25 per annum for trailers and semitrailers weighing over 1,500 pounds.
(7) 
$15 per annum for trailers and semitrailers weighing 1,500 pounds or less.
(8) 
$15 per annum for a one- or two-wheel trailer of a cradle, flatbed, or open pickup type which has a body width not greater than the width of the motor vehicle to which it is to be attached at any time of operation, and which is pulled or towed by a passenger car, station wagon, pickup or panel truck, having an actual gross vehicle weight not exceeding 5,000 pounds, and which is used for carrying property not exceeding 1,500 pounds at any one time.
(9) 
$15 per annum for all trailers designed exclusively to transport boats.
(10) 
$30 per annum for any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer upon which well-drilling machinery is attached and is permanently used for transporting such machinery.
(11) 
$30 per annum for specialized mobile equipment, which is a self-propelled motor vehicle manufactured for a specific purpose, other than for the transportation of passengers or property, which will be used on job site. Its movement on a highway is incidental to the purpose for which it is designed, and it can sustain highway speed of 40 m.p.h. or more.
(12) 
$30 per annum for a farm motor vehicle required to be licensed to operate on the public roads and highways of the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose gross weight is over 7,500 pounds, whose use is exclusively for farm use and which have specially issued license plates from the DMV of this vehicle.
(13) 
In the event that the rate imposed on any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer by this section is in excess of that imposed on the same motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer by the commonwealth, the tax imposed on that motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer shall be equal to that imposed by the commonwealth.
B. 
All license taxes shall be paid to the Treasurer of the County of Amelia and deposited by the Treasurer into the general fund.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Sec. 6, Treasurer to issue permanent license decal: display required, of the 2006 Motor Vehicle License Tax Ordinance, which immediately followed this section, was repealed 7-21-2021.
No motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer shall be licensed in the County of Amelia unless and until the applicant for such license shall have produced satisfactory evidence:
A. 
That all personal property taxes upon the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer to be licensed have been paid; and
B. 
That all delinquent motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer personal property taxes which have been properly assessed or are assessable against the applicant have been paid.
[Amended 10-17-2007; 7-21-2021]
The full amount of the annual license tax herein prescribed shall be due until paid, regardless of when during the vehicle tax year the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer becomes subject to the license tax. There shall be no proration of the license tax to account for any fraction of the license tax year that a vehicle, trailer or semitrailer was not located in the County.
[Amended 10-17-2007; 7-21-2021]
No refund shall be payable to a person when that person disposes of the motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer for which the vehicle license tax has been paid.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Sec. 10, Permissible transfer of license decal, Sec. 11, Replacement of lost or mutilated license decals, and Sec. 12, Prohibited uses of license decal, of the 2006 Motor Vehicle License Tax Ordinance, which immediately followed this section, were repealed 7-21-2021.
Every person who violates any provision of this article shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor and, upon conviction, each violation shall be punished as a Class 4 misdemeanor. Any violation of this article may not be discharged by payment of the fine except upon presentation of satisfactory evidence that the required license has been obtained.
If any part or parts, section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this article is for any reason declared void or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this article, which shall remain in full force and effect as if this article has been passed with the affected part or parts, section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase hereof eliminated; and this governing body now declares that it would have passed this article if such unconstitutional part or parts, section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase had not been included herein.
Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases as used in this article shall have the meaning herein designated.
ARMED SERVICES
The Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard whose members are on active duty and members of the Reserves who are on active reserve, which means they are subject to being called to active duty to the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, or National Guard Unit and are not covered under the exceptions in § 272-4O.
GROSS WEIGHT
The weight of the vehicle plus the carrying capacity of that vehicle.
VEHICLE
Any mode of transportation that will be placed upon the highways of the commonwealth that the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles requires to have a title issued for that vehicle.
WEIGHT
When the weight of any vehicle is used, that means the gross weight of that vehicle.
The provisions of this article shall become effective on September 20, 2006. All previous County Motor Vehicle License Tax Ordinances are hereby rescinded.