2672.1. - EXEMPTION.

The tax imposed by this Part 7 shall not apply during any calendar year to any of the following:

(a)

Any service user who has an income adjusted for family size, at or below fifty percent (50%) of the area median income as determined under the Section 8 Income Limits for Los Angeles County as published by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and applicable to the Community Development Block Grant Programs; and

(b)

Any service user who meets the criterion of disability as established by the Social Security Administration's Supplemental Income program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled. (Title XVI of the Social Security Act as

amended.) (Added by Ord. 1506 adopted 7-16-74, amended by Ord. 1695 adopted 3-18-80)

(Ord. No. 2259, § 6, 6-9-2009)

(a)

An exempt person may apply for and receive an exemption from such taxes from the office of the Finance Director of the City of Arcadia upon presentation of proof of adjusted gross income or proof of qualification under Social Security Supplemental Income to the satisfaction of the office of the Finance Director.

(b)

Any application for an exemption as above allowed shall be upon forms supplied by the Finance Director and statements made therein shall be under oath and subject to the penalties of perjury.

(c)

The Finance Director shall review each application and if he determines that an exemption is allowable in accordance herewith, he shall process the application for exemption and shall effectuate the exemption by transmitting the necessary determination and information to the applicable utility companies. Upon receipt thereof, the utility companies shall refrain from billing such exempt user in accordance with this Section. If the Finance Director determines that the application is faulty or that the applicant has failed to truthfully set forth such facts, he may deny such application by giving written notice to the applicant. The applicant shall thereafter have the right to appeal the Finance Director's decision to the City Council within a ten (10) day period after the date of mailing of the rejection by the Finance Director; or in the alternate, the applicant may file an amended application for exemption for reprocessing.

(Added by Ord. 1506 adopted 7-16-74)

(a)

An application for an exemption for the first full calendar year of 1975 shall be submitted to the Finance Director during the month of October, 1974, but not later than October 31, 1974. Exemptions so allowed shall commence from the first billing period following December 31, 1974, and shall continue until the close of the billing period following December 31, 1975.

(b)

An application for any subsequent calendar year shall be submitted during the month of October preceding said calendar year, but not later than October 31, and shall be effective for the subsequent calendar year in the same manner as set forth in subsection (a) of this section.

(c)

Applications for exemptions may be filed for the remaining portion of a calendar year, but such application shall be filed not later than the sixtieth day prior to the commencement date of the billing period for the

affected utility companies for which the exemption is to commence and shall be valid through the remainder of that calendar year, as set forth in subsection (a) of this section.

(Added by Ord. 1506 adopted 7-16-74)

In the event no exemption is applied for all right to claim such exemption or refund for the period prior to the time an exemption is allowed and is to commence shall be considered to be void and extinguished permanently.

(Added by Ord 1506 adopted 7-16-74, amended by Ord. 1695 adopted 3-18-80)

The Director of Finance shall furnish the affected utility companies from time to time with a list of persons who are qualified for exemption from the imposition of utility users' tax under this Section.

The list will indicate:

(a)

Service users continuing to qualify for exemption.

(b)

Persons no longer qualified for exemption who had been previously exempt. This list will be the official determination by which the service supplier will provide exemption from the utility users' tax.

The list provided to the service supplier shall include the name, service address, billing address, and utility service.

Exemptions during the calendar year shall be forwarded to the affected utility companies forty-five (45) days and shall not be effective until the next complete billing period following said forty-five day period.

(Added by Ord. 1506 adopted 7-16-74, amended by Ord. 1695 adopted 3-18-80)

2673. • COLLECTION OF TAX.

(a)

Every person receiving payment of charges from a service user shall collect the amount of tax imposed by this Part from the service user.

(b)

The tax shall be collected insofar as practicable at the same time as and along with the collection of charges made in accordance with the regular billing practice of the service supplier. If the amount paid by a service user is less than the full amount of the charge and tax which has accrued for the billing period, a proportionate share of both the charge and the tax shall be deemed to have been paid, unless the full amount of the charge is paid or the service user gives notice that he refuses to pay the tax.

(c)

Where the remittance of taxes collected is based upon an estimated percentage collected of the total amount billed, the service supplier may submit a payment plan to the Tax Administrator for his approval.

(d)

The duty to collect tax from a service user shall commence with the beginning of the first regular billing period applicable to that person which starts on or after September 1, 1970. Where a person receives more than one (1) billing, one or more being for different periods than another, the duty to collect shall arise separately for each billing period.

2674. • REPORTING AND REMITTING.

Each service supplier shall, on or before the twentieth of each month, make a return to the Tax Administrator on forms provided by him stating the amount of taxes billed by the service supplier during the preceding month. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the Tax Administrator. The Tax Administrator is authorized to require such further information as he deems necessary to properly determine if the tax here imposed is being levied and collected in accordance with this ordinance. Returns and remittances are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason.

2675. • PENALTY.

(a)

Taxes collected from a service user which are not remitted to the Tax Administrator on or before the due dates provided in this Part are delinquent.

(b)

Penalties for delinquency in remittance of any tax collected shall attach and be paid by the person required to collect and remit at the rate of fifteen percent (15%) of the total tax collected.

(c)

The Tax Administrator shall have power to impose additional penalties upon persons required to collect and remit taxes under the provisions of this ordinance for fraud or negligence in reporting or remitting at the rate of fifteen percent (15%) of the amount of the tax collected or as recomputed by the Tax Administrator.

(d)

Every penalty imposed under the provisions of this Section shall become a part of the tax required to be remitted.

2676. • ACTIONS TO COLLECT.

Any tax required to be paid by a service user under the provisions of this Part shall be deemed a debt owed by the service user to the City. Any such tax collected from a service user which has not been remitted to 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 Part shall be liable to an action brought in the name of the City for the recovery of such amount.

2677. • FAILURE TO PAY TAX. PENALTY.

Whenever a service user has failed to pay the amount of the tax for a period of two (2) or more billing periods, or whenever the Tax Administrator deems it in the best interest of the City, he may relieve the service supplier of the obligation to collect taxes due under this Part from certain named service users for specified billing periods. The Tax Administrator shall notify the service user that he has assumed responsibility to collect the taxes due for the stated periods and demand payment of such taxes. The notice shall be served on the service user by handing it to him personally or by deposit of the notice in the United States mail, postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the service user at the address to which billing was made by the service supplier or, should the service user have changed his address, to his last known address. If a service user fails to remit the tax to the Tax Administrator within fifteen (15) days from the date of the service of the notice upon him, which shall be the date of mailing if service is not accomplished in person, a penalty of twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount of the tax set forth in the notice shall be imposed, but not less than Five Dollars ($5.00). The penalty shall become part of the tax herein required to be paid.

2678. • RECORDS.

It shall be the duty of every person required to collect and remit to the City any tax imposed by this Part to keep and preserve for a period of three (3) years all records as may be necessary to determine the amount of such tax as he may have been liable for the collection of and remittance to the Tax Administrator, which records the Tax Administrator shall have the right to inspect at all reasonable times.

2679. • REFUNDS.

(a)

Whenever the amount of any tax has been overpaid or paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the Tax Administrator under this Part, it may be refunded as provided in this Section.

(b)

A person required to collect and remit taxes imposed under this Part may claim a refund or take as credit against taxes collected and remitted the amount overpaid, paid more than once or erroneously or illegally collected or received when it is established in a manner prescribed by the Tax Administrator that the service user from whom the tax has been collected did not owe the tax; provided, however, that neither a refund nor a credit shall be allowed unless the amount of the tax so collected has either been refunded to the service user or credited to charges subsequently payable by the service user to the person required to collect and remit.

(c)

No refund shall be paid under the provisions of this Section unless the claimant establishes his right thereto by written records showing entitlement thereto.

(d)

Notwithstanding other provisions of this Section, whenever a service supplier, pursuant to an order of the California Public Utilities Commission or a court of competent jurisdiction, makes a refund to service users of charges for past utility services, the taxes paid pursuant to this Code on the amount of such refunded charges shall also be refunded to service users, and the service supplier shall be entitled to claim a credit for such refunded taxes against the amount of tax which is due upon the next monthly returns. In the event this Code is repealed, the amounts of any refundable taxes will be borne by the City.

(Amended by Ord. 1826 adopted 1-21-86)