This chapter shall be known as the "Utility Users'
Tax Ordinance" of the city.
(Ord. 506 § 2, 1994)
The following words and phrases whenever used in this chapter
shall be construed as defined in this section.
"City"
means the city of Loma Linda.
"Cogenerator"
means any person employing cogeneration technology (as defined
in Section 218.5 of the California
Public Utilities Code) for producing
power from other than a conventional power source for the generation
of electricity for self-use or sale to others.
"Gas"
means natural or manufactured gas or any alternate hydrocarbon
fuel which may be substituted therefor.
"Nonutility supplier"
means: (a) an electricity supplier, other than an electrical
corporation franchised to serve the city, which generates electrical
energy in capacities of at least fifty kilowatts for its own use or
for sale to others, including those using cogeneration or fuel cell
technologies; or (b) a gas supplier, other than a gas corporation
franchised to serve the city, that sells or supplies gas to other
users within the city.
"Person"
means any domestic or foreign corporation, firm, association,
syndicate, joint stock company, partnership of any kind, joint venture,
club, Massachusetts business or common law trust, society or individuals.
"Service supplier"
means any entity required to collect or self-impose and remit
a tax as imposed by this chapter.
"Service user"
means a person required to pay a tax imposed by this chapter.
"Telephone corporation," "electrical corporation,"
"gas corporation," "cable television corporation"
shall have the same meanings as defined in Sections 234,
218, 222, 241 and 215-5, respectively, of the California Public Utilities
Code except, "electrical corporation," "gas corporation,"
shall also be construed to include any municipality or public agency
engaged in the selling or supplying of electrical power or gas to
a service user.
(Ord. 506 § 3, 1994)
A. There
is imposed a tax on the amounts paid for any intrastate telephone
services by every person in the city using such services. The tax
imposed by this section shall be at the rate of three percent of the
charges made for such services and shall be paid by the person paying
for such services.
B. As used
in this section, the term "charges" shall not include
charges for services paid for by inserting coins in coin-operated
telephones except that where such coin-operated service is furnished
for a guaranteed amount, the amounts paid under such guarantee plus
any fixed monthly or other periodic charge shall be included in the
base for computing the amount of tax due; nor shall the term "charges"
include charges for any type of service or equipment furnished by
a service supplied subject to public utility regulations during any
period in which the same or similar services or equipment are also
available for sale or lease from persons other than a service supplier
subject to public utility regulation; nor shall the words "telephone
communication services" include land mobile service or maritime
mobile services as defined in Section 2.1 of Title 47 of the Code
of Federal Regulations, as said section existed on January 1, 1970.
The term "telephone communication services" refers to
that service which provides access to a telephone system and the privilege
of telephone quality communication with substantially all persons
having telephone stations which are part of such telephone system.
The telephone users' tax is intended to, and does, apply to
all charges billed to a telephone account having a situs in the city,
irrespective of whether a particular communication service originates
and/or terminates within the city.
C. The
tax imposed by this section shall be collected from the service user
by the person providing the intrastate telephone communication services,
or the person receiving payment for such services. The amount of the
tax collected in one month shall be remitted to the tax administrator
on or before the last day of the following month; or at the option
of the person required to collect and remit the tax, an estimated
amount of tax collected, measured by the tax bill in the previous
month, shall be remitted to the tax administrator on or before the
last day of each month.
D. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection
(A) of this section, the tax imposed under this section shall not be imposed upon any person for using intrastate telephone communication services to the extent that the amounts paid for such services are exempt from or not subject to the tax imposed under Division 2, Part 20 of the California
Revenue and Taxation Code, or the tax imposed under Section 4251 of the Internal Revenue Code.
(Ord. 506 § 5, 1994; Ord. 518 § 1, 1995)
A. There
is imposed a tax upon every person using electrical energy in the
city. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of three
percent of the charges made for such energy by an electrical corporation
franchised to serve the city and shall be paid by the person using
the energy. The applicable tax for electrical energy provided by a
nonutility supplier shall be determined by applying the tax rate to
the equivalent charges the service user would have incurred if the
energy used had been provided by the electrical corporation franchised
by the city. Rate schedules for this purpose shall be available from
the city. Nonutility suppliers shall install and maintain an appropriate
utility-type metering system which will enable compliance with this
section, or may arrange another methodology for applying the tax acceptable
to the tax administrator. "Charges," as used in this section,
includes all charges made for: (1) metered energy and (2) minimum
charges for service, including customer charges, service charges,
demand charges, fuel or other cost adjustments.
B. As used
in this section, the term "using electrical energy" shall
not be construed to mean the receiving of such energy by a person
for the purpose of using it in the charging a battery owned or possessed
by him for use in an automobile or other machinery device apart from
the premises upon which the energy was received.
C. The tax imposed in this section shall be collected from the service user by any energy service supplier or a nonutility supplier. An energy supplier providing wheeling services for delivery of electricity through its distribution system shall collect the tax from the service user based upon the cost of wheeling the electricity. The tax on energy provided by self-production or by a nonutility supplier shall be collected and remitted in the manner set forth in Section
3.18.080. The amount of tax collected in one month shall be remitted by U.S. mail, to the tax administrator, postmarked on or before the last day of the following month; or, at the option of the person required to collect or remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax measured by the tax billed in the previous month or upon the payment pattern of the customers of the service supplier, shall be remitted.
(Ord. 506 § 6, 1994; Ord. 518 § 2, 1995)
A. There
is imposed a tax upon every person using gas in the city, gas which
is transported through a pipeline distribution system or by mobile
transport. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of
three percent of the charges made for such gas and shall be paid by
the person using the gas. The tax applicable to gas provided by nonutility
suppliers shall be determined by applying the tax rate to the equivalent
charges the service user would have incurred if the gas or gas transportation
had been provided by the gas corporation franchised by the city. "Charges"
as used in this section shall include: (1) the charge for gas which
is delivered through a gas pipeline distribution system or by mobile
transport; (2) gas transportation charges; and (3) demand charges,
service charges, customer charges, minimum charges, annual and monthly
charges and any other charges authorized by the California Public
Utilities Commission or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
B. There
shall be excluded from the tax imposed in this section: (1) charges
for gas which is to be resold and delivered through a gas pipeline
distribution system or mobile transport; (2) charges made for gas
used to generate electricity by a cogenerator or as the primary fuel
in a fuel cell; and (3) charges made for natural gas used in the propulsion
of a motor vehicle, as that phrase is defined in the
Vehicle Code
of the state of California, utilizing natural gas.
C. Tax imposed in this section shall be collected from the service user by the energy service supplier. An energy supplier providing transportation services for delivery of gas through a pipeline distribution system shall collect the tax from the service user based upon the cost of transporting the gas. The tax on energy provided by self-production or by a nonutility supplier shall be collected and remitted in the manner set forth in Section
3.18.080. The amount of tax collected in one month shall be remitted by U.S. mail, to the tax administrator, postmarked on or before the last day of the following month; or, at the option of the person required to collect or remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax measured by the tax billed in the previous month or upon the payment pattern of the customers of the service supplier, shall be remitted.
(Ord. 506 § 8, 1994; Ord. 518 § 3, 1995)
A. There
is imposed a tax upon every person in the city using cable television
service. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of three
percent of the charges made for such service and shall be paid by
the person paying for such service.
B. The
tax imposed in this section shall be collected from the service user
by the person furnishing the cable television service. The amount
collected in one month shall be remitted to the tax administrator
on or before the last day of the following month.
(Ord. 506 § 10, 1994; Ord. 518 § 4, 1995)
A. There
is imposed a tax upon every person in the city using water which is
delivered through mains or pipes. The tax imposed by this section
shall be at the rate of three percent of the charges made for such
water and shall be paid by the person paying for such water.
B. There
shall be excluded from the base on which the tax imposed in this section
is computed, charges made for water which is to be resold and delivered
through mains or pipes.
C. The
tax imposed in this section shall be collected from the service user
by the person supplying the water. The amount collected in one month
shall be remitted to the tax administrator on or before the last day
of the following month.
(Ord. 506 § 11, 1994; Ord. 518 § 5, 1995)
Taxes collected from a service user which are not remitted to
the tax administrator on or before the due dates provided in this
chapter are delinquent. Should the due date occur on a weekend or
legal holiday, the return may be postmarked on the first regular working
day following a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
(Ord. 506 § 12, 1994)
Any tax required to be paid by a service user under the provisions
of this chapter shall be deemed a debt owed by the service user to
the city. Any such tax collected from a service user which has wilfully
been withheld from the tax administrator shall be deemed a debt owed
to the city by the person required to collect and remit. Any person
owing money to the city under the provisions of this chapter shall
be liable to an action brought in the name of the city for the recovery
of such amount.
(Ord. 506 § 13, 1994)
The duty to collect and remit the taxes imposed by this chapter
shall be performed as follows:
A. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section
3.18.080, the tax shall be collected insofar as practicable at the same time as and along with the charges made in accordance with the regular billing practices of the service supplier. Where the amount paid by a service user to a service supplier is less than the full amount of the energy charge and tax which has accrued for the billing period, such amount and any subsequent payments by a service user shall be applied to the utility charge first until such charge has been fully satisfied. Any remaining balance shall be applied to taxes due. In those cases where a service user has notified the service supplier of refusal to pay the tax imposed on said energy charges, Section
3.18.140(C) will apply.
B. The
duty to collect tax from a service user shall commence with the beginning
of the first full regular billing period applicable to the service
user where all charges normally included in such regular billing are
subject to the provisions of this chapter. Where a person receives
more than one billing, one or more being for different periods than
another, the duty to collect shall arise separately for each billing.
(Ord. 506 § 14, 1994)
The service supplier shall, upon notification, terminate or
suspend any utility users' tax effective July 31, 1996.
(Ord. 506 § 19, 1994; Ord. 518 § 6, 1995)