Palm Desert Municipal Code Ch. 16.01 Fire Protection and Prevention Tax

Pursuant to the authority contained in Chapter 397 of the Statutes of 1979 (Government Code Section 53978), a special tax for upgrading fire protection and prevention is levied within the city.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

The special tax shall be levied on a class of improvement to property or use of property basis in accordance with equivalent dwelling unit charges.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

The maximum tax that may be levied pursuant to this chapter shall not exceed five dollars per month for each dwelling unit and two and one-half dollars per month for each vacant lot.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

The amount of the special tax established shall be imposed upon each subject property in accordance with Exhibit "A" attached to the ordinance codified in this chapter and codified as Section 16.01.110.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

The special taxes levied pursuant to this chapter shall be collected by the county of Riverside on behalf of the city of Palm Desert in the same manner and subject to the same penalties for delinquencies as other taxes which are fixed and collected by the county of Riverside. The county of Riverside may deduct from the special taxes collected, its reasonable costs incurred for such service before remittal of the balance to the city of Palm Desert.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

All of the revenues derived from the special tax levied by this chapter shall be paid into a special fund in the city of Palm Desert, to be expended for the sole purpose of obtaining, furnishing, operating, and maintaining fire suppression equipment or apparatus, paying salaries and benefits to firefighting personnel, and for such other necessary fire protection and prevention expenses of the city for such services. Said revenues shall be used for no other purpose than the service for which the special tax was imposed.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

All federal, state, city, county and district owned property shall be exempt from the special tax levied by this chapter.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

Except as specifically defined in this section, words and phrases used in this chapter shall be interpreted to give the meaning they have in common usage:

"Equivalent dwelling unit"

includes a single-family residence, each unit in a duplex or triplex, a dwelling unit in a planned unit development, a mobile home located within a mobile home subdivision. For purposes of this special tax, fire flow requirements of all such dwelling units is hereby established at 1,250 gpm.

Each mobile home located within a mobile home park and each rental apartment unit within a complex of four units or more will be considered to be a .75 (seventy-five hundredths) equivalent dwelling units.

"Fire-resistive construction"

means any structure that is considered fire-resistive by National Fire Protection Association Standard Number 251.

"Sprinkler adjustment"

means the adjustment allowed if a structure charged under this chapter meets or exceeds the requirements of the National Fire Protection Association Standard Number 14 for fully sprinklered buildings.

"Wood frame construction"

means any structure in which the structural members are wholly or partly of wood or other combustible material.

"Vacant lot"

includes a vacant parcel less than one acre in area. Vacant property larger than one acre will be taxed according to rates set forth in Table 2 of Exhibit "A" codified in Section 16.01.120.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

The special tax for structures other than equivalent dwelling units shall be based on a ratio of structural fire flow requirements in direct relationship to the fire flow requirements of an equivalent dwelling unit and shall be computed in accordance with Section 16.01.100.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

The type of structure shall be classified as either wood frame or fire resistive. An equivalent tax shall be computed by determining the total floor area of the structure. The square foot area shall be used in accordance with the fire flow requirements by area table in Exhibit "A" codified in Section 16.01.110 to determine the appropriate structure fire flow. For all fully sprinklered structures, a downward adjustment up to twenty-five percent of the required fire flow shall be allowed.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)

Table 2 VACANT PROPERTY ASSESSMENT TABLE

For single, unsubdivided parcels over nine acres, the yearly charge shall be limited to forty-eight dollars.

(Ord. 223 § 2, 1980)