Berkeley Municipal Code Ch. 7.88 Emergency Services for Severely Physically Disabled Persons Tax

The people of the City of Berkeley find as follows:

A. Severely physically disabled persons, as defined in this chapter, frequently require specialized emergency services, such as urgent response by an attendant, and transportation services and equipment repair.

B. There is currently a serious shortage of both such services and of funding for such services.

C. The lack of timely emergency services can threaten the life and safety of persons with severe physical disabilities. (Ord. 6468-NS § 1, 1998)

A. The tax imposed under this chapter is solely for the purpose of raising of revenue to provide emergency services and incidental case management for severely physically disabled persons as defined herein.

B. Section 4 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution (Proposition 13) allows two-thirds of the qualified electors of the City to impose a special tax within the City, provided the special tax is not an ad valorem tax on real property or a transaction tax or a sales tax on the sale of real property within the City. The tax imposed by this chapter is a special tax which is authorized for elector approval by Section 4 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution. (Ord. 6468-NS § 2, 1998)

A. There is imposed a special tax of up to eight-tenths of one cent per square foot of improvements per fiscal year in the City for the purpose of funding the provision of emergency services and incidental case management services to severely physically disabled persons in the City.

B. The tax imposed by this chapter shall be operative on January 1, 1999.

C. The City Council of Berkeley is authorized and directed to increase the tax rate authorized by this chapter by the greater of the cost of living in the immediate San Francisco Bay Area, or personal income growth in the state, as verified by official United States Bureau of Labor statistics. If either index is discontinued, the City shall use any successor index specified by the applicable agency, or if there is none, the most similar existing index then in existence.

D. Revenue generated by this tax may not be used to pay for administration by the City of the Emergency Services Program funded by this tax.

E. Revenue raised and received from other governmental agencies for program services otherwise funded by this tax shall directly offset this tax on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Amounts offset shall be returned to the voters the following year through reductions in the tax rate. (Ord. 6468-NS § 3, 1998)

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall be defined as set forth below:

"Building" means any structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls and designed for the shelter or housing of any person, chattel or property of any kind. The word "building" includes the word "structure."

"Emergency services" means emergency attendant care, transportation services and adaptive/assistive medical equipment repair, as well as coordination with governmental agencies to provide such services where and when appropriate. "Emergency services" does not mean services which the City is not independently required to provide by nondiscrimination or other laws.

"Improvements" means all buildings or structures erected or affixed to the land.

"Incidental case management" means individualized case management for severely physically disabled individuals who use the services funded by this chapter and which is designed to minimize such individuals’ use of and dependence on such services.

"Parcel" means a unit of real estate in one ownership as shown on the most current official assessment role of the Alameda County Assessor.

"Severely physically disabled" means subject to a physical impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual such that the individual must rely on personal assistance services or equipment to perform a major life activity or to avoid being institutionalized. "Severely physically disabled" may include environmental illness/multiple chemical sensitivities if it substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual such that the individual must rely on personal assistance services or equipment to perform a major life activity or to avoid being institutionalized.

"Square footage" means the total gross horizontal areas of all floors, including usable basement and cellars, below the roof and within the outer surface of the main walls of buildings (or the center lines of party walls separating such buildings or portions thereof) or within lines drawn parallel to and two feet within the roof line of any building or portion thereof without walls (which includes, notwithstanding subsection 3 of this definition, the square footage of all porches), and including pedestrian access walkways or corridors, but excluding the following:

1. Areas used for off-street parking spaces or loading berths and driveways and maneuvering aisles relating thereto.

2. Areas which are outdoor or semi-outdoor areas included as part of the building to provide a pleasant and healthful environment for the occupants thereof and the neighborhood in which the building is located. This exempted area is limited to stoops, balconies and to natural ground areas, terraces, pools and patios which are landscaped and developed for active or passive recreational use, and which are accessible for use by occupants of the building.

3. Arcades, porticoes, and similar open areas which are located at or near street level, which are accessible to the general public, and which are not designed or used as sales, display, storage, service or production areas.

"Structure" means anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires location on the ground or attachment to something having location on the ground. (Ord. 6468-NS § 4, 1998)

It shall be the duty of the City Manager’s staff to collect and receive all taxes imposed by this chapter, and to keep an accurate record thereof. The City Manager is charged with the enforcement of this chapter, except as otherwise provided herein, and may prescribe, adopt and enforce rules and regulations relating to the administration and enforcement of this chapter, including provisions for the re-examination and correction of returns and payments. The City Manager may prescribe the extent to which any ruling or regulation shall be applied without retroactive effect. (Ord. 6468-NS § 5, 1998)

A. The City Council is authorized to have the taxes imposed by this chapter collected by the county of Alameda in conjunction with the county’s collection of property tax revenues for the City. In the event that the county of Alameda collects the taxes imposed by this chapter, the imposition of penalties, additional fees and interest upon persons who fail to remit any tax imposed by this chapter, or who fail to remit any delinquent remittance under this chapter, shall be subject to and governed by the rules, regulations and procedures utilized by the county in its collection of property taxes for the City, and in its collection of this additional tax for the City.

B. Every penalty imposed and such interest as accrues under the provisions of this chapter shall become a part of the tax herein required to be paid. (Ord. 6468-NS § 6, 1998)

Whenever the amount of any tax, penalty or interest has been paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City under this chapter, it may be refunded as provided in Chapter 7.20 of the Berkeley Municipal Code. (Ord. 6468-NS § 7, 1998)

The amount of any tax, penalty, and interest imposed under the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a debt to the City. Any person owing money under the provisions of this chapter shall be liable to an action brought in the name of the City for the recovery of such amount. (Ord. 6468-NS § 8, 1998)

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any person, association, corporation or to any property as to whom or which it is beyond the power of the City Council to impose the tax herein provided. If any sentence, clause, section or part of this chapter, or any tax against any individual or any of the several groups specified herein is found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such unconstitutionality, illegality, or invalidity shall affect only such clause, sentence, section or part of this chapter and shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections or other parts of this chapter. It is declared to be the intention of the City Council of the City of Berkeley that this chapter would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence, clause, section or part thereof not been included herein. (Ord. 6468-NS § 9, 1998)

Any person who fails to perform any duty or obligation imposed by this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction as set forth in Chapter 1.20 of the Berkeley Municipal Code. The penalties provided in this section are in addition to the several remedies provided in this chapter. (Ord. 6468-NS § 10, 1998)

Pursuant to California Constitution Article XIIIB, the appropriation limit for the City is increased by the aggregate sum authorized to be levied by this special tax for each of the four fiscal years from 1998-1999 through 2001-02. (Ord. 6468-NS § 11, 1998)