When used in this article, the following terms
shall mean:
CITY COMPTROLLER
The City Comptroller of the City of Rye or such other person
as may be designated by the City Manager to administer and collect
the tax provided for herein.
EFFECTIVE DATE
The date on which the Secretary of State files this article.
EXEMPT OCCUPANT
Any occupant of any room or rooms in a hotel whose rent is
paid from public assistance from the County of Westchester shall be
deemed an "exempt occupant" with respect to the period of such occupancy,
regardless of the length thereof.
HOTEL
A building or portion thereof, which is regularly used and
kept open as such for the lodging of guests. For the purposes of this
article, the term "hotel" includes hotels, motels, tourist homes,
motel courts, clubs or similar facilities with at least four rentable
rooms for lodging, whether or not meals are served to guests or residents
thereof.
OCCUPANCY
The use or possession or the right to the use or possession
of any room in a hotel.
OCCUPANT
A person who, for a consideration, uses, possesses or has
the right to use or possess any room in a hotel under any lease, concession,
permit, right of access, license to use or other agreement or otherwise.
OPERATOR
Any person operating a hotel in the City of Rye, including,
but not limited to, an owner or proprietor of such premises, lessee,
sublessee, mortgagee in possession, licensee or any other person otherwise
operating such hotel.
PERMANENT RESIDENT
Any occupant of any room or rooms in a hotel at least 90
consecutive days shall be considered a "permanent resident" with regard
to the period of such occupancy.
PERSON
An individual, partnership, society, association, joint-stock
company, corporation, estate, receiver, trustee, assignee, referee
and any other person acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity;
whether appointed by a court or otherwise, and any combination of
the foregoing.
RENT
The consideration received for occupancy valued in money,
whether received in money or otherwise, for the occupancy of a room
in a hotel for any period of time.
RETURN
Any return filed or required to be filed as herein provided.
ROOM
Any room or rooms or suite of rooms with sleeping accommodations,
whether or not such accommodations are used, of any kind in any part
or portion of a hotel which is available for or let out for any purpose.
On and after the fourth day of October 2006,
there is hereby imposed and there shall be paid a tax of 3% upon the
rent for every occupancy of a room or rooms in a hotel in this City,
except that the tax shall not be imposed upon a permanent resident
or an exempt occupant.
The tax imposed by this article shall be paid
upon any occupancy on and after the fourth day of October 2006, although
such occupancy is pursuant to a prior contract, lease or other arrangement.
Where rent is paid on a weekly, monthly or other term basis, the rent
shall be subject to the tax imposed by this article to the extent
that it covers any period on and after the fourth day of October 2006.
Except as otherwise provided in this section,
any use or occupancy by any of the following shall not be subject
to the tax imposed by this article:
A. The State of New York, or any of its agencies or instrumentalities,
public corporations (including a public corporation created pursuant
to agreement or compact with another state or Canada), improvement
districts or political subdivisions of the state;
B. The United States of America, or any of its agencies
and instrumentalities, insofar as it is immune from taxation;
C. Any corporation, association, trust or community chest,
fund or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious,
charitable or education purposes or for the prevention of cruelty
to children or animals, and no part of the net earnings of which inures
to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and no substantial
part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda or otherwise
attempting to influence legislation; provided, however, that nothing
in this subsection shall include an organization operated for the
primary purpose of carrying on a trade or business for profit, whether
or not all of its profits are payable to one or more organizations
described in this subsection. Where any organization described in
this subsection carries on its activities in furtherance of the purposes
for which it was organized in premises in which, as part of said activities,
it operates a hotel, occupancy of rooms in the premises and rents
therefrom received by such corporation or association shall not be
subject to tax hereunder;
D. A hotel, as defined in this article, having fewer
than four rentable rooms.
The tax imposed by this article shall apply
only within the territorial limits of the City of Rye.
Every operator shall keep records of every occupancy
and of all rent paid, charged or due thereon and of the tax payable
thereon, in such form as the City Comptroller may by regulation require.
Such records shall be available for inspection and examination at
any time upon demand by the City Comptroller or his/her duly authorized
agent or employee and shall be preserved for a period of three years,
except that the City Comptroller may consent to their destruction
within that period or may require that they be kept longer.
At the time of filing a return of occupancy
and of rents, each operator shall pay to the City Comptroller the
taxes imposed by this article upon the rents required to be included
in such return, as well as all other moneys collected by the operator
acting or purporting to act under the provisions of this article;
even though it be judicially determined that the tax collected is
invalidly required to be filed, it shall be due from the operator
and payable to the City Comptroller on the date prescribed herein
for the filing of the return for such period, without regard to whether
a return is filed or whether the return which is filed correctly shows
the amount of rents and taxes due thereon. Where the City Comptroller
in his/her discretion deems it necessary to protect revenues to be
obtained under this article, he/she may require any operator required
to collect the tax imposed by this article to file with him/her a
bond, issued by a surety company authorized to transact business in
this state and approved by the Superintendent of Insurance of this
state as to solvency and responsibility, in such amount as the City
Comptroller may find to secure the payment of any tax and/or penalties
and interest due or which may become due from such operator. In the
event that the City Comptroller determines that an operator is to
file such bonds, he/she shall give notice to such operator to that
effect, specifying the amount of the bond required. The operator shall
file such bond within five days after the giving of such notice unless,
within such five days, the operator shall request in writing a hearing
before the City Comptroller at which the necessity, propriety and
amount of the bond shall be determined by the City Comptroller. Such
determination shall be final and shall be complied with within 15
days after the giving of notices thereof. In lieu of such bond, securities
approved by the City Comptroller or cash in such amount as he/she
may prescribe may be deposited with him/her, which shall be kept in
the custody of the City Comptroller, who may at any time, without
notice of the depositor, apply them to any tax and/or interest or
penalties due, and for that purpose the securities may be sold by
him/her at public or private sale without notice to the depositor
thereof.
If a return required by local law is not filed
or if a return, when filed, is incorrect or insufficient, the amount
of tax due shall be determined by the City Comptroller from such information
as may be obtainable, and, if necessary, the tax may be estimated
on the basis of external indices, such as number of rooms, locations,
scale of rents, comparable rents, type of accommodations and service,
number of employees and/or other factors. Notice of such determination
shall be given to the person liable for the collection and/or payment
of the tax. Such determination shall finally and irrevocably fix the
tax unless the person against whom it is assessed, within 30 days
after giving notice of such determination, shall apply to the City
Comptroller for a hearing or unless the City Comptroller on his/her
own motion shall redetermine the same. After such hearing, the City
Comptroller shall give notice of his/her determination to the person
against whom the tax is assessed. The determination of the City Comptroller
shall be reviewable for error, illegality, unconstitutionality or
any other recognizable basis whatsoever by proceeding under Article
78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules if application therefor is
made to the Supreme Court within 30 days after the giving of the notice
of such determination. A proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules shall not be instituted unless the amount of
any tax sought to be reviewed, with penalties and interest thereon,
if any, shall be first deposited with the City Comptroller and there
shall be filed with the City Comptroller an undertaking, issued by
a surety company authorized to transact business in this state and
approved by the Superintendent of Insurance of this state as to solvency
and responsibility, in such amount as a Justice of the Supreme Court
shall approve to the effect that, if such proceedings be dismissed
or the tax confirmed, the petitioner will pay all costs and charges
which may accrue, including reasonable counsel fees, in the prosecution
of the proceeding, or, at the option of the applicant, such undertaking
filed with the City Comptroller may be in a sum sufficient to cover
the taxes, penalties and interest thereon stated in such determination
plus the costs and charges, including reasonable counsel fees, which
may accrue against it in the prosecution of the proceedings, in which
event the applicant shall not be required to deposit such taxes, penalties
and interest as a condition precedent to the application.
All revenue resulting from the imposition of
the tax under this article shall be paid into the treasury of the
City and shall be credited to and deposited in the general fund of
the City.
In cases where the occupant or operator has
applied for a refund and has instituted a proceeding under Article
78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules to review a determination adverse
to him/her on his/her application for refund, the City Comptroller
shall have the option of crediting future tax payments to meet the
cost of any settlements or judgments or, at his/her option, may, in
the first instance, set up appropriate reserves to meet any decision
adverse to the City.
The remedies provided by §§
177-52 and
177-54 of this article shall be the exclusive remedies available to any person for the review of tax liability imposed by this article, and no determination or proposed determination of tax or determination on any application for refund shall be enjoined or reviewed by an action for declaratory judgment, an action for money had and received or by any action or proceeding other than a proceeding in a nature of a certiorari proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules; provided, however, that a taxpayer may proceed by declaratory judgment if he/she institutes suit within 30 days after a deficiency assessment is made and pays the amount of the deficiency assessment to the City Comptroller prior to the institution of such suit and posts a bond for costs as provided in §
177-52 of this article.
In addition to the powers granted to the City
Comptroller by the General City Law and this article, he/she is hereby
authorized and empowered:
A. To make, adopt and amend rules and regulations appropriate
to the carrying out of this article and the purposes thereof;
B. To extend, for cause shown, the time of filing any
return for a period not exceeding 30 days; and, for cause shown, to
remit penalties but not interest computed at the rate of 1% per annum
per month or fraction thereof during which a tax is unpaid although
due; and to compromise disputed claims in connection with the taxes
hereby imposed;
C. To request information from the Tax Commission of
the State of New York or the Treasury Department of the United States
relative to any person; and to afford information to such Tax Commission
or such Treasury Department relative to any person, any other provision
of this article to the contrary notwithstanding;
D. To delegate his/her functions hereunder to any employee
or employees of the City of Rye as the City Manager may approve;
E. To prescribe methods for determining the rents for
occupancy and to determine the taxable and nontaxable rents;
F. To require any operator within the City to keep detailed
records of the nature and type of hotel maintained, nature and type
of service rendered, the rooms available and rooms occupied daily,
leases or occupancy contracts or arrangements, rents received, charged
and accrued, the names and addresses of the occupants, whether or
not any occupancy is claimed to be subject to the tax imposed by this
article, and to furnish such information upon request to the City
Comptroller;
G. To assess, determine, revise and readjust the taxes
imposed under this article;
H. To require any operator to submit with the return
required hereunder a copy of any tax return for sales, occupancy or
use taxes submitted to the Tax Commission or other instrumentality
of the State of New York.
Wherever reference is made in placards or advertisements
or in any other publications to this tax, such reference shall be
substantially in the following form: "Tax on occupancy of hotel rooms,"
except that in any bill, receipt, statement or other evidence or memorandum
of occupancy or rent charge issued or employed by the operator, the
term "City tax" will suffice.
If any provision of this article, or the application
thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder
of this article, and the application of such provision to other persons
or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.