Amador City Municipal Code Ch. 5.04 Business Licenses Generally

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 177, adopted May 18, 2017, amended Chapter 5.04 in its entirety to read as herein set out. Former Chapter 5.04, §§ 5.04.010—5.04.210, pertained to similar subject matter, and derived from Ord. No. 54, 1979 and Ord. No. 115, 1993.

As used in this chapter:

"Business" includes professions, trades, and occupations and all and every kind of calling whether or not carried on for profit.

"City" means the City of Amador City, a municipal corporation of the State of California, in its present incorporated form, or in any later reorganized, consolidated, enlarged or re-incorporated form.

"Collector" means the city tax collector, finance director or other city officer charged with the administration of this chapter.

"Person" includes all domestic and foreign corporations, associations, syndicates, joint stock corporations, partnerships of every kind, clubs, associations, business, or common law trusts, societies, and individuals transacting and carrying on any business in the city other than as an employee.

"Sale" includes the transfer, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of title to property for a consideration; the serving, supplying or furnishing for a consideration of any property; and a transaction whereby the possession of property is transferred and the seller retains the title as security for the payment of the price shall likewise be deemed a sale. The foregoing definitions shall not be deemed to exclude any transaction which is or which, in effect, results in a sale within the contemplation of law.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

A business license fee shall [be] charged to defray the cost of issuing of the license, administrative costs of regulating business activity, and the expense of enforcing this chapter.

The city council shall set the amount of the fee by resolution. The amount of the fee shall not exceed the benefit of granting the privilege of doing business or of the reasonable regulatory costs to the city of issuance of the business license, investigations of complaints, administrative enforcement, and adjudication of licensure requirements and penalties imposed under this chapter and any other provision of the municipal code pertaining to the operation of businesses within the city.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Persons required to pay a license fee for the privilege of transacting and carrying on any business under this chapter shall not be relieved from the payment of any additional permit or license fee required under any other ordinance of the city, and shall remain subject to the regulatory provisions of other ordinances.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

It is unlawful for any person to transact and carry on any business, trade, profession, calling or occupation in the city without first having procured a license from the city so to do and paying the fee hereinafter proscribed or without complying with any and all applicable provisions of this chapter.

This section shall not be construed to require any person to obtain a license prior to doing business within the city if such requirement conflicts with applicable statutes of the United States or of the State of California. Persons not so required to obtain a license prior to doing business within the city nevertheless shall be liable for payment of the tax imposed by this chapter.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

A separate license must be obtained for each branch, establishment, or separate place of business in which the business is conducted.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed or construed to apply to any person transacting and carrying on any business exempt by virtue of the Constitution or applicable statutes of the United States or of the State of California from the payment of such taxes as are herein prescribed.

Any person claiming an exemption pursuant to this section shall file a sworn statement with the collector stating the facts upon which exemption is claimed, and in the absence of such statement substantiating the claim, such person shall be liable for the payment of the fees imposed by this chapter.

The collector shall, upon a proper showing contained in the sworn statement, issue a license to such person claiming exemption under this section without payment to the city of the license tax required by this chapter.

The collector, after giving notice and a reasonable opportunity for hearing to a licensee, may revoke any license granted pursuant to the provisions of this section upon information that the licensee is not entitled to the exemption as provided herein.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Every person required to have a license under the provisions of this chapter shall make application as hereinafter prescribed for the same to the collector of the city, and upon the payment of the prescribed license tax the collector shall issue to such person a license which shall contain the following information:

A. The name of the person to whom the license is issued;

B. The business licensed;

C. The place where such, business is to be transacted and carried on;

D. The date of the expiration of such license; and

E. Such other information as may be necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Any person aggrieved by any decision of the collector with respect to the issuance or refusal to issue such license may appeal to the council by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of the council. The council shall thereupon fix a time and place for hearing such appeal. The clerk of the council shall give notice to such person of the time and place of hearing by serving it personally or by depositing it in the United States Post Office at Amador City, California, postage prepaid, addressed to such person at his last known address. The council shall have authority to determine all questions raised on such appeal. No such determination shall conflict with any substantive provision of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

In addition to all other power conferred upon him or her, the collector shall have the power, for good cause shown, to extend the time for filing any required sworn statement or application for a period not exceeding thirty (30) days, and in such case to waive any penalty that would otherwise have accrued.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

No license issued pursuant to this chapter shall be transferable; provided, that where a license is issued authorizing a person to transact and carry on a business at a particular place, such licensee may upon application therefor and paying a fee to be set by resolution have a license amended to authorize the transacting and carrying on of such business under said license at some other location to which the business is or is to be moved; provided further, that transfer whether by sale or otherwise, to another person under such circumstances that the real or ultimate ownership after the transfer is substantially similar to the ownership existing before the transfer, shall not be prohibited by this section. For the purpose of this section stockholders, bondholders, partnerships, or other persons holding an interest in a corporation or other entity herein defined to be a person are regarded as having the real or ultimate ownership of such corporation or other entity.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Any licensee transacting and carrying on business at a fixed place of business in the city shall keep the license posted in a conspicuous place upon the premises where such business is carried on.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

A duplicate license may be issued by the collector to replace any license previously issued hereunder which has been lost or destroyed upon the licensee filing statement of such fact, and at the time of filing such statement paying to the collector a duplicate license fee to be set by resolution.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Every person transacting and carrying on a business within the city shall pay a license fee annually. Business license fee shall be paid prior to engaging in business in Amador City and shall be paid on an annual basis thereafter.

Upon payment of a business license fee, the collector shall issue a license. Business license shall expire automatically one year after the date of issuance and shall be renewed upon payment of the business license fee. The amount of the annual business license fee shall hereinafter be set by the city council and may be adjusted from time to time by resolution.

Business license fees shall be paid to the city clerk.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Every person not having a fixed place of business within the city who engages in business within the city shall pay a license tax at the same rate prescribed herein for persons engaged in the same type of business from and having a fixed place of business within the city.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

The collector may make rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter as may be necessary or desirable to aid in the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

It shall be the duty of the collector, and he or she is directed to enforce each and all of the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

The amount of any license fee and penalty imposed by the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a debt to the city. An action may be commenced in the name of the city in any court of competent jurisdiction, for the amount of any delinquent license tax.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

All remedies prescribed hereunder shall be cumulative and the use of one or more remedies by the city shall not bar the use of any other remedy for the purpose of enforcing the provisions hereof.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Neither the adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter nor its superseding of any portion of any other ordinance of the city shall in any manner be construed to affect prosecution for violation of any other ordinance committed prior to the effective date hereof, nor be construed as a waiver of any license or any penal provision applicable to any such violation nor be construed to affect the validity of any bond or cash deposit required by any ordinance to be posted, filed, or deposited, and all rights and obligations thereunto appertaining shall continue in full force and effect. Where a license has been issued to any person by the city and the fee paid for the business for which the license has been issued under the provisions of any ordinance heretofore enacted and the term of such license has not expired, then the license fee prescribed for the business by this chapter shall not be payable until the expiration of the term of such unexpired license.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)

Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter or knowingly or intentionally misrepresenting to any officer or employee of this city any material fact in procuring the license or permit hereinafter provided for shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. No. 177, 5-18-17)