[Adopted as Ch. 113 of the 1970 Code]
[Amended 4-4-1994 by L.L. No. 1-1994]
Pursuant to the authority granted by § 20-b of the General City Law of the State of New York, a tax equal to 1% of its gross income from and after July 1, 1937, is hereby imposed upon every utility doing business in the City of Saratoga Springs which is subject to the supervision of the State Department of Public Service, which has a gross income for the 12 months ending May 31 in excess of $500, except omnibus corporations subject to such supervision under Article 6 of the Transportation Law, and a tax equal to 1% of its gross operating income is hereby imposed after July 1, 1937, upon every other utility doing business in the City of Saratoga Springs which has a gross operating income for the 12 months ending May 31 in excess of $500, which taxes shall have application only within the territorial limits of the City of Saratoga Springs and shall be in addition to any and all other taxes and fees imposed by any other provision of law for the same period. Such taxes shall not be imposed on any transaction originating or consummated outside of the territorial limits of the City of Saratoga Springs, notwithstanding that some act be necessarily performed with respect to such transaction within such limits.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
GROSS INCOME
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale, except sales hereinafter referred to with respect to which it is provided that profits from the sale shall be included in "gross income," made or service rendered to persons for ultimate consumption or use by them in the City of Saratoga Springs, including cash, credits and property of any kind or nature, whether or not such sale is made or such service is rendered for profit, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of the materials used, labor or services or other costs, interest or discount paid or any other expense whatsoever; also profits from the sale of securities; also profits from the sale of real property growing out of the ownership or use of or interest in such property; also profit from the sale of personal property, other than property of a kind which would properly be included in the inventory of the taxpayer if on hand at the close of the period for which a return is made; also receipts from interest, dividends and royalties derived from sources within the City of Saratoga Springs other than such as are received from a corporation, a majority of whose voting stock is owned by the taxpaying utility, without any deduction therefrom for any expenses whatsoever incurred in connection with the receipt thereof; and also profits from any transaction within the City of Saratoga Springs whatsoever.
GROSS OPERATING INCOME
Includes receipts received in or by reason of any sale made to persons for ultimate consumption or use by them of gas, electricity, steam, water, refrigeration, telephony or telegraphy or in or by reason of the furnishing to persons for such consumption or use of gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator, telephone or telegraph service in the City of Saratoga Springs, including cash, credits and property of any kind or nature, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of materials used, labor or services or other costs, interest or discount paid or any other expenses whatsoever.
PERSON
Includes persons, corporations, companies, associations, joint-stock associations, copartnerships, estates, assignees of rents, any person acting in a fiduciary capacity or any other entity and persons, their assignees, lessees, trustees or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever or by any other means, except the state, municipalities, political and civil subdivisions of the state or municipality and public districts.
UTILITY
Includes every person subject to the supervision of either division of the State Department of Public Service, except persons engaged in the business of operating or leasing sleeping and parlor railroad cars or of operating railroads other than street-surface, rapid-transit, subway and elevated railroads, and also includes every person, whether or not such person is subject to such supervision, who shall engage in the business of selling gas, electricity, steam, water, refrigeration, telephony or telegraphy delivered through mains, pipes or wires or of furnishing gas, electric, steam, water, refrigerator, telephone or telegraph service by means of mains, pipes or wires.
Every utility subject to tax under this article shall keep such records of its business and in such form as the Commissioner of Finance may require, and such records shall be preserved for a period of three years, except that the Commissioner of Finance may consent to their destruction within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
On or before the 25th day of August 1937, and on or before the 25th day of every month thereafter until the 25th day of July 1938, every utility subject to tax hereunder shall file a return with the Commissioner of Finance on a form to be furnished by her for such purpose. Such return shall state the gross income or gross operating income in the City of Saratoga Springs, as the case may be, of such utility for the preceding calendar month and shall contain any other data, information or matter which the Commissioner of Finance may require to be included therein. The Commissioner of Finance may require at any time a further or supplemental return which shall contain any data that may be specified by the Commissioner of Finance. Every return shall have annexed thereto an affidavit of the head of the utility making the same or of the owner or of a copartner thereof or of a principal officer of the corporation, if such business is conducted by a corporation, to the effect that the statements contained therein are true.
At the time of filing a return as required by this article, each utility shall pay to the Commissioner of Finance the tax imposed by this article for the period covered by such return. Such tax shall be due and payable at the time of filing the return or, if a return is not filed when due, on the last day on which the return is required to be filed.
In case any return filed pursuant to this article shall be insufficient or unsatisfactory to the Commissioner of Finance and if a corrected or sufficient return is not filed within 20 days after the same is required by notice from the Commissioner of Finance or if no return is made for any period, the Commissioner of Finance shall determine the amount of tax due from such information as she is able to obtain and, if necessary, may estimate the tax on the basis of external indexes or otherwise. The Commissioner of Finance shall give notice of such determination to the person liable for such tax. Such determination shall finally and irrevocably fix such tax, unless the person against whom it is assessed shall, within 30 days after the giving of notice of such determination, apply to the Commissioner of Finance for a hearing or unless the Commissioner of Finance, of her own motion, shall reduce the same. After such hearing, the Commissioner of Finance shall give notice of her decision to the person liable for the tax. The decision of the Commissioner of Finance may be reviewed by certiorari if application therefor is made within 30 days after the giving of notice of such decision. An order of certiorari shall not be granted unless the amount of any tax sought to be reviewed, with the penalties thereon, if any, shall be first deposited with the Commissioner of Finance and an undertaking filed with her, in such amount and with such sureties as a Justice of the Supreme Court shall approve, to the effect that, if such order is dismissed or the tax confirmed, the applicant for the order will pay all costs and charges which may accrue in the prosecution of the certiorari proceeding or, at the option of the applicant, such undertaking may be in a sum sufficient to cover the tax, penalties, costs and charges aforesaid, in which event the applicant shall not be required to pay such tax and penalties as a condition precedent to the granting of such order.
Any notice authorized or required under the provisions of this article may be given by mailing the same to the person for whom it is intended, in a postpaid envelope, addressed to such person at the address given by him in the last return filed by him under this article or, if no return has been filed, then to such address as may be obtainable. The mailing of such notice shall be presumptive evidence of the receipt of the same by the person to whom addressed. Any period of time which is determined according to the provisions of this article by the giving of notice shall commence to run from the date of mailing of such notice.
Any person failing to file a return or corrected return or to pay any tax or any portion thereof within the time required by this article shall be subject to a penalty of 5% of the amount of tax due, plus 1% of such tax for each month of delay or fraction thereof, excepting the first month, after such return was required to be filed or such tax became due; but the Commissioner of Finance, if satisfied that the delay was excusable, may remit all or any portion of such penalty.
If, within one year from the payment of any tax or penalty, the payer thereof shall make application for a refund thereof and the Commissioner of Finance or the Court shall determine that such tax or penalty or any portion thereof was erroneously or illegally collected, the Commissioner of Finance shall refund the amount so determined. For like cause and within the same period, a refund may be so made on the initiative of the Commissioner of Finance. However, no refund shall be made of a tax or penalty paid pursuant to a determination of the Commissioner of Finance as hereinbefore provided unless the Commissioner of Finance, after a hearing as hereinbefore provided or of her own motion, shall have reduced the tax or penalty or it shall have been established as a certiorari proceeding that such determination was erroneous or illegal. All refunds shall be made out of moneys collected under this article. An application for a refund, made as hereinbefore provided, shall be deemed an application for the revision of any tax or penalty complained of, and the Commissioner of Finance may receive additional evidence with respect thereto. After making her determination, the Commissioner of Finance shall give notice thereof to the person interested, and he shall be entitled to a certiorari order to review such determination, subject to the provisions hereinbefore contained relating to the granting of such an order.
The tax imposed by this article shall be charged against and be paid by the utility and shall not be added as a separate item to bills rendered by the utility to customers or others but shall constitute a part of the operating costs of such utility.
Whenever any person shall fail to pay any tax or penalty imposed by this article, the City Attorney shall, upon the request of the Commissioner of Finance, bring an action to enforce payment of the same. The proceeds of any judgment obtained in any such action shall be paid to the Commissioner of Finance. Each such tax and penalty shall be a lien upon the property of the person liable to pay the same, in the same manner and to the same extent that the tax and penalty imposed by § 186-a of the Tax Law is made a lien.
In the administration of this article, the Commissioner of Finance shall have power to make such reasonable rules and regulations not inconsistent with law as may be necessary for the exercise of her powers and the performance of her duties and to prescribe the form of blanks, reports and other records relating to the administration and enforcement of the tax, to take testimony and proofs, under oath, with reference to any matter within the line of her official duty under this article and to subpoena and require the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers and documents.
A. 
Except in accordance with the proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the Commissioner of Finance or any agent, Clerk or employee of the City of Saratoga Springs to divulge or make known in any manner the amount of gross income or gross operating income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any return under this article. The officer charged with the custody of such returns shall not be required to produce any of them or evidence of anything contained in them in any action or proceeding in any court except on behalf of the City of Saratoga Springs in an action or proceeding under the provisions of this article or on behalf of the State Tax Commission in an action or proceeding under the provisions of the Tax Law of the State of New York or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of this article when the returns or facts shown thereby are directly involved in such action or proceeding, in either of which events the court may require the production of and may admit in evidence so much of said returns or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a person or his duly authorized representative of a copy of any return filed by him nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns and the items thereof or the publication of delinquent lists showing the names of persons who have failed to pay their taxes at the time and in the manner provided for by this article, together with any relevant information which, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Finance, may assist in the collection of such delinquent taxes or in the inspection by the City Attorney or other legal representatives of the City of Saratoga Springs of the return of any person who shall bring action to set aside or review the tax based thereon or against whom an action has been instituted in accordance with the provisions of this article.
B. 
Any offense against the foregoing secrecy provisions shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both; and if the offender is an officer, agent, Clerk or employee of the City of Saratoga Springs, he shall be dismissed from office and shall be incapable of holding any office or employment in the City of Saratoga Springs for a period of five years thereafter.
C. 
Notwithstanding any provisions of this article, the Commissioner of Finance may exchange with the chief fiscal officer of any other City in the State of New York information contained in returns filed under this article, provided that such other City grants similar privileges to the City of Saratoga Springs, and provided that such information is to be used for tax purposes only, and the Commissioner of Finance shall, upon request, furnish the State Tax Commission with any information contained in such returns.
[Amended 7-20-1981]
All taxes and penalties received by the Commissioner of Finance under this article shall be used solely for general fund purposes.