Palm Desert Municipal Code Ch. 5.06 Categories and Rates

Category A. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. Retail sales and services, amusement and recreational centers, private and public clubs, state licensed professionals and skilled services, agents, brokers and salespersons of any kind, developers, property management, private schools, accommodations such as hospitals, rest homes, day care centers, maintenance services and other trade or occupational callings designed to render services of individual skills and not otherwise specifically licensed by other categories of this chapter;

2. Wholesaling and manufacturing, industrial, research, warehousing, and other businesses of like nature or similar character;

3. Persons engaged in the business activity of renting, leasing, or managing apartments, hotels, motels, bungalows, roominghouses, auto courts, recreational vehicle parks, trailer parks, mobilehome parks, or any business of like nature or similar character of three or more units or spaces;

4. Utilities operating without a city franchise and radio and television studios, auctions, bankrupt sales and temporary sales.

Category B. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. General engineering contractor, general building contractor, swimming pool contractor, plumbing contractor, electrical contractor, all other subcontractors, specialty contractors and owner/builder;

2. Additional taxes. In addition to the basic license tax fee payable, a contractor who operates any store, shop or maintenance service within the city, in connection or conjunction with the contracting business, shall pay a tax fee as prescribed in category A;

3. Proof of a state contractors license is required in any trade or profession where a state contractors license is required by the state. The applicant shall provide satisfactory evidence to the city that the required license is current and valid before a city business license tax certificate shall be issued;

4. Each general engineering contractor, general building contractor, and swimming pool contractor shall furnish the city with a list of each subcontractor under his control or direction, before the final inspection on a building or structure shall be given by the building and safety department;

5. All contractors shall pay a license fee based upon the highest classification shown on their State Contractor's License and in accordance with Section 2 of City Council Resolution 83-73.

Category C. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. Out-of-City Business. A person who does not own, lease, occupy or otherwise maintain within the city a place or premises upon which or from which he engages in business shall nevertheless be deemed to be engaged in business within the city when, through the physical presence of himself, his employees, his agents or his equipment, he carries on activities within the city which are designed to solicit, promote, stimulate or otherwise encourage the sale of goods, wares, merchandise or services.

Category D. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. Coin-operated vending machines or devices and laundry equipment, businesses, limited exclusively to renting, leasing or operating and any person whose business is limited exclusively to renting, leasing or operating coin-operated vending machines or devices dispensing tangible or intangible items, property, music, entertainment, recreation or other services; or laundry equipment, whether or not coin-operated, but this category is not deemed to include coin-operated laundromats;

2. In the event a coin-operated machine, device or laundry equipment remains unlicensed thirty days after first notification, the city may seize such units and hold them as security for the payment of the license tax fee, penalty and cost of seizure. If the true owner cannot be found after reasonable inquiry, or if the owner fails to redeem, then the machine, device or laundry equipment may be confiscated and sold by the city at the end of sixty days after the first notification to satisfy the debt, after notice by certified mail to the last known address; if any, of the owner. The proceeds of such sale shall be credited to the general fund of the city. In the event the machine, or laundry equipment is sold for a sum less than the amount due, then the owner shall nevertheless remain liable for the balance of payment due;

3. Every person required to be licensed under this category shall complete a vending location list provided by the city, showing the location of the placement of his machine, device or laundry equipment and said vending list shall be submitted with the remittance of the license tax fee. In the event the owner refuses to comply, the units may be seized as being unlicensed.

Category E. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. Boxing or wrestling exhibitions, sporting events, carnivals, circus and menageries. The term "circus" includes any collection of animals, acrobats, jugglers, magicians, sleight-of-hand exhibitions, sideshows, and similar attractions. The term "carnival" includes any group of attractions such as ball games, dice games, merry-go-rounds, ships, ferris wheels, or other riding devices, freaks, dancing show minstrels, or other like entertainments or games for which a charge is made for attending or playing or participating therein.

Category F. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. Every person engaged in the business of constructing, erecting, installing, maintaining, or operating or renting any outdoor structures, billboards, sign, signboard, benches or similar devices used for the purpose of exhibiting or displaying advertising matter thereon.

Category G. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. Those utilities operating under a city franchise;

2. Additional Taxes. In addition to the basic license tax fee payable under this category, utility companies who operate retail stores for the selling at retail of parts and equipment, shall pay a tax fee as prescribed in Category A.

Category H. Businesses Included in this Category.

1. It is the intent and purpose of this chapter to license, for revenue, as set forth in this title, all business activities conducted within the city, and if an application for a license tax certificate is made for any business not specifically referred to in this title or not included in any provision of this title fixing license tax fees, the tax administrator shall determine the fee applicable. If an appeal is made, it shall be submitted to the city council for a final determination.

Category J. Business Included in this Category.

1. Every person engaged in the business activity of selling at retail or wholesale, arts, crafts, clothing, goods, wares and other merchandise; providing a service of any kind, in conjunction with outdoor events or outdoor sales.

(Ord. 339 § 4, 1983; Ord. 536 §§ 3, 4, 5, 1988; Ord. 664 § 1, 1992)