[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Bradford: Art.
I, 6-11-1974 as Ord. No. 2948. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-11-1974 as Ord.
No. 2948]
As used in this Article, the word "person" shall mean and include any
natural person, partnership, association, firm or corporation. In this Article,
the singular shall include the plural, the plural shall include the singular,
and the masculine shall include the feminine and the neuter.
There is hereby levied upon every person engaged in any trade, business,
calling, occupation, matter or thing hereinafter mentioned, within the City
of Bradford, a license tax, upon the following basis:
A.
Every person holding or conducting an auction sale, except
any sale at auction conducted by or under the direction of any public authority
or pursuant to any judicial order or decree or in the settlement of any decedent's
estate or any sale required by law to be at auction or any sale conducted
by or on behalf of any charitable corporation or association if the person
conducting the sale receives no compensation therefor, at the rate of two
dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) for every such sale.
B.
Every bond, stock- or pawn broker, one hundred dollars
($100.) for each calendar year.
C.
Every owner of buses used for transporting passengers
for pay within the city or from points within the city to its suburbs which
are within a range of ten (10) miles, ten dollars ($10.) for each calendar
year for each bus or the total of one hundred dollars ($100.) for each calendar
year, at the option of such owner.
D.
Each bowling alley, billiard or pool table or other gaming
table, eight dollars ($8.) annually for the first alley or table and five
dollars ($5.) annually for each additional alley or table.
E.
Each person engaging in the business of bill posting,
twenty dollars ($20.) for each calendar year.
F.
Each person engaging in the business of bottling soft
drinks or other beverages, thirty-five dollars ($35.) for each calendar year.
G.
Contractors.
(1)
Every contractor, whether resident or nonresident of
the City of Bradford, shall pay the following annual license fee, on the basis
of the amount of his contracts in the city. Every contractor whose contracts:
(a)
Exceed the sum of three hundred fifty thousand dollars
($350,000.) shall pay one hundred dollars ($100.) annually.
(b)
Exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000.)
and do not exceed the sum of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000.)
shall pay ninety dollars ($90.) annually.
(c)
Exceed the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars
($250,000.) and do not exceed the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000.)
shall pay eighty dollars ($80.) annually.
(d)
Exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000.)
and do not exceed the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.)
shall pay seventy dollars ($70.) annually.
(e)
Exceed the sum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars
($150,000.) and do not exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000.)
shall pay sixty dollars ($60.) annually.
(f)
Exceed the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.)
and do not exceed the sum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.)
shall pay fifty dollars ($50.) annually.
(g)
Exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.) and
do not exceed the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.) shall pay
the sum of forty dollars ($40.) annually.
(h)
Exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.)
and do not exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.) shall pay the
sum of thirty dollars ($30.) annually.
(i)
Exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.) and
do not exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.) shall pay
the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25.) annually.
(j)
Do not exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.)
shall pay the sum of twelve dollars and fifty cents ($12.50) annually.
(2)
The word "contractor," as used in this Subsection G, shall be construed to include any person engaged in the business of furnishing labor and/or materials and building, repairing, erecting or constructing, for a fixed sum or upon a cost-plus or commission basis, any house, building or structure of any kind or part thereof; any private work or improvement of any kind, and including, by way of illustration and not limitation, grading, paving and macadamizing; the building of sewers, drains, culverts, bridges and approaches; and the laying of water or other pipes and conduits, provided further that every resident contractor, and every nonresident contractor prior to beginning any contract work in the City of Bradford, shall procure the license hereby required. The person applying for the license shall, under oath, state the amount of his annual contracts in the city and of the contract price for the specific work to be commenced. If the work is to be performed on a cost-plus or commission basis, the estimated cost plus compensation shall constitute the contract price. Upon completion of the work, the accurate cost plus compensation shall be given to the License Tax Officer and the license tax shall then be adjusted, provided further that in computing the amount of annual contracts, all work and labor done and material furnished on a cost-plus or commission basis shall be included.
H.
Every person conducting any concert, dance, entertainment
or amusement of any character, not conflicting with the law, held within any
building, five dollars ($5.) for each day, provided that where any such entertainment
or amusement is conducted for education and not for profit or where any such
entertainment or amusement is held in a regular licensed theater or motion
picture house or where such entertainment or amusement returns at least seventy-five
per centum (75%) of the net proceeds to a religious or charitable purpose
or to the schools of the city, such license fee shall not apply.
I.
Every commission merchant, one hundred dollars ($100.)
for each calendar year.
J.
Every person operating a collection agency, twenty-five
dollars ($25.) for each calendar year.
K.
Every person, not a regular licensed merchant in the
city, who is the owner of a carload lot of produce or merchandise and who
sells the same from railroad yards, twenty-five dollars ($25.) for each carload
or partial carload.
M.
Every person operating a public dance hall or ballroom,
fifteen dollars ($15.), for each calendar year.
N.
Every ice company, twenty-five dollars ($25.) for each
calendar year.
O.
Every installment house, one hundred dollars ($100.)
for each calendar year.
P.
Every person leasing, owning, maintaining or occupying
land within the city for the purpose of dismantling or wrecking motor vehicles,
selling parts thereof or storing dismantled motor vehicle bodies, chassis
or parts thereof, one hundred dollars ($100.) per calendar year.
Q.
Every junk dealer not included in the description in Subsection P above, thirty-five dollars ($35.) for each calendar year.
R.
Every peddler, solicitor or other traveling vendor operating
from house to house or from store to store, five dollars ($5.) for each day,
fifteen dollars ($15.) for each week, thirty dollars ($30.) for each month
and fifty dollars ($50.) for each year.
S.
Each merry-go-round or other mechanical amusement ride,
five dollars ($5.) for each day, twenty dollars ($20.) for each week, forty
dollars ($40.) for each month or seventy-five dollars ($75.) for each year,
except when at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the net revenues go to
charitable organizations.
T.
Each owner or lessee of any private parking lot for which
a fee for parking is charged: for a lot less than one-half (1/2) acre in area,
ten dollars ($10.) for each calendar year and for a lot one-half (1/2) acre
or more in area, twenty dollars ($20.) for each calendar year.
U.
Every person operating a skating rink, twenty-five dollars
($25.) for each calendar year.
V.
Every person operating a shooting gallery, ten dollars
($10.) for each calendar year.
W.
Every person conducting or operating a circus or tent
show, fifty dollars ($50.) for each day, except when seventy-five percent
(75%) of the net proceeds go to charitable organizations.
X.
Every person conducting a carnival, two dollars ($2.)
per day for each concession or entertainment device, except when seventy-five
percent (75%) of the net proceeds go to charitable organizations.
Y.
Every person operating a public storage house, twenty-five
dollars ($25.) for each calendar year.
Z.
Each person operating a theater or motion picture theater,
as follows:
(1)
Seating capacity of five hundred (500) persons or fewer,
fifty dollars ($50.) for each calendar year.
(2)
Seating capacity of more than five hundred (500) but
fewer than one thousand (1,000) persons, eighty dollars ($80.) for each calendar
year.
(3)
Seating capacity of one thousand (1,000) or more persons,
one hundred dollars ($100.) for each calendar year.
AA.
Persons engaging in taxicab or limousine business:
(1)
For each vehicle having a capacity of three (3) paying
passengers or fewer, eight dollars ($8.) for each calendar year.
(2)
For each vehicle having a capacity of from four (4) to
nine (9) paying passengers, fifteen dollars ($15.) for each calendar year.
(3)
For each vehicle having a capacity of ten (10) or more
paying passengers, twenty-five dollars ($25.) for each calendar year.
BB.
Every person collecting rags, old papers and other junk
(but not garbage or refuse on a regular schedule), for each vehicle used,
fifteen dollars ($15.) for each calendar year.
CC.
Every transient retail or wholesale merchant, twenty-five
dollars ($25.) for each calendar month or fraction thereof.
DD.
Every person operating a towel and/or linen service,
fifteen dollars ($15.) for each calendar year.
EE.
Each person conducting the business of photography from
a fixed and permanent place of business in the city, ten dollars ($10.) for
each calendar year, and each person engaging in the business of a transient
photographer, twenty-five dollars ($25.) for each month or fraction thereof
in which he shall engage in such business within the city, provided that whenever
any person shall claim that he intends to become a permanent photographer
in the city who would otherwise be classified as a transient photographer,
he shall give bond to the City Solicitor in the penal sum of one thousand
dollars ($1,000.), said bond to be conditioned for the payment of the license
fee for a transient photographer in the event that such person fails to become
a permanent photographer.
[Amended 2-22-1994 by Ord.
No. 2948.1]
All annual license taxes shall date from the first day of January each
year and shall be due and payable on the first day of March each year, with
the requirement that all persons engaging in any business for which a license
tax is imposed under the provisions of this Article after the first day of
January in any one (1) year shall pay a pro rata part of the license tax from
the commencement of the business for the balance of the year, but no license
tax shall be issued for less than one-fourth (1/4) of the annual license tax
assessable annually on the trade, business, calling, occupation, matter or
thing for which a license is sought, except that where a daily, weekly or
monthly schedule is provided, such schedule shall be used. All license taxes
not paid on or before the first day of April in each year shall be certified
to the City Solicitor for collection, and upon such certification a penalty
of ten per centum (10%) shall be added.
A.
It shall be the duty of the License Tax Officer to make
out annually, before the first day of December, a list of all persons engaged
in any business liable to a license tax or fee under the provisions of this
Article, with their location and the business in which they are engaged, such
list to be delivered to the City Treasurer, who shall cause a notice to be
issued to persons so assessed showing under what classification they appear
in the assessment and providing for a return sworn statement from those who
are assessed under a schedule license to return their gross annual income
from such business under which they are classified, allowing thirty (30) days
for the return of such statement. After the elapse of thirty (30) days, the
City Treasurer, with the License Tax Officer, shall fix the amount of the
license tax to be paid, as shown by such return and the provisions of this
Article; if after the elapse of thirty (30) days no return shall be received,
the City Treasurer, with the License Tax Officer, may fix the rate of license
based upon the knowledge of business and compared to other merchants in like
business. After the list of licenses shall have been fixed by the City Treasurer
and License Tax Officer, the City Treasurer shall cause a notice to be sent
to every person taxable under this Article of the amount of the license fixed
and stating a time and place where any person so assessed may be heard by
the Board of Appeals, which Board shall be composed of the City Council and
shall constitute a Board of seven (7) members. Said Board of Appeals shall
convene at a time and place so fixed and hear all complaints that may be presented
and take action thereon. After such action, corrections may be made and noted
on the assessment returned, after which the list so corrected shall be certified
to the City Treasurer for collection, a duplicate deposited with the Controller
and a triplicate deposited with the City Council or its authorized representative.[1]
B.
Any person notified in accordance herewith and not making
a return or not appearing at the time and place of appeals shall be deemed
to have accepted the license returned by the License Tax Officer.
C.
Any person not returned on the regular list as before
mentioned may be added to the list by the License Tax Officer in the same
manner as the original list. Such person may file with the City Treasurer
a request for appeal either to that official or the Board of Appeals if not
satisfied with the classification.
A.
Wherever in this Article the license tax is based upon
the gross annual volume of business or the total amount of annual contracts,
the gross volume of business or total of annual contracts during the preceding
calendar year shall be the basis upon which the tax shall be assessed if the
person to be taxed was in business during such calendar year; otherwise the
gross annual volume of business or the total annual contracts shall be estimated
from the amount of merchandise carried, location of the place of business
and other relevant circumstances.
B.
If any person shall willfully make any false statement
or false returns or representations of any kind to the License Tax Officer,
Board of Appeals or City Treasurer for the purpose of having the applicant
or license placed in a class lower than that to which he belongs or for the
purpose of having the applicant or license rated lower or rated differently
from that which should have been made, the person so offending shall be guilty
of a violation of this Article.
Any person who shall violate or fail to comply with any provision of this Article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than three hundred dollars ($300.) or to imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days, or both, provided that the fact that any such violator has been convicted and penalized pursuant to this section shall not preclude the city from taking proper legal action to recover any unpaid license tax or fee due under this Article, together with the additional penalty authorized by § 136-3 of this Article.
[Added 2-8-1983 by Ord. No.
3050]
All eating or drinking establishments shall be inspected at least annually
by the City Health Department. Any establishment commencing business after
the effective date of this section shall apply to the City Health Department
within thirty (30) days of commencement of business. Approved operators shall
be granted a license for a period of one (1) year from the date of issue.
All nonprofit organizations shall pay an annual license fee of ten dollars
($10.), due and payable on the date of license issuance or renewal. All eating
or drinking establishments shall pay an annual fee of fifteen dollars ($15.),
payable on the date of license issuance or renewal.
