Shafter Municipal Code Ch. 5.04 Business Licenses Generally

This chapter is enacted primarily to raise revenue for municipal purposes.

(Prior code § 5-2-2)

Whenever the following words or terms are used in this chapter, they shall have the meanings herein ascribed to them:

A. "Business" means and includes any business, commercial enterprise, profession, trade, occupation, craft, and every kind of calling carried on for profit or livelihood.

B. "Clerk" means the clerk of the city.

C. "Council" means the council of the city.

D. "Engaged in business" means the conducting, managing or carrying on of a business, whether done as owner, or by means of an officer, agent, manager, employee, servant or lessee.

E. "Fixed place of business" means a place or premises in the city, occupied for the particular purpose of conducting the business thereat, and regularly kept open for the purposes of the business with a competent person in attendance for the purpose of attending to such business.

F. "Person" means and includes both the singular and the plural and means and includes any partnership, firm, club, society, association, or corporation, and any individual engaged in any business, as defined herein, other than as an employee.

G. "Quarter" means a period of three calendar months. The quarters begin on the first day of July, October, January and April of each year. The quarter shall include fractions thereof.

H. "Year" means a period beginning on July 1st and ending on June 30th.

(Prior code § 5-2-1)

A. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed or construed to apply to any person exempt by virtue of the constitution or applicable statutes of the United States or the state of California from the payment of taxes herein prescribed.

B. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed or construed to require any person to obtain a license prior to engaging in business in the city, if such requirement conflicts with applicable statutes of the United States or state of California.

C. No license tax shall be payable hereunder by any public utility holding a franchise granted by the city and making payments under the franchise to the city.

(Prior code § 5-2-3 (part))

There are imposed upon the businesses specified in this chapter license taxes in the amounts hereinafter prescribed, and it is unlawful for any person to transact and carry on any business in the city without first having procured a license so to do or without complying with any and all applicable provisions of this chapter and each day such business is carried on without a license shall constitute a separate violation of this chapter.

(Prior code § 5-2-3 (part))

A separate license must be obtained for each branch establishment or location of the business transacted and carried on, and each license shall authorize the licensee to transact and carry on only the business licensed thereby at the location and in the manner designated in such license; provided, that warehouses and distribution plants used in connection with and incidental to a business licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed to be separate places of business or branch establishments.

(Prior code § 5-2-4)

A. Every person required to have a license under the provisions of this chapter shall make written application for the same to the clerk, and upon the payment of the prescribed license tax the clerk shall issue to such person a license, unless the license falls within one of the classifications specified below in SECTION 5.04.070, in which event the license shall not be issued by the clerk unless and until approved by the council.

B. The application shall furnish all information required to enable the clerk to properly classify the business of the applicant and determine the proper license to be paid by the applicant. Each applicant for a license must properly complete the application, sign the same and certify under penalty of perjury, that the contents thereof are true and correct; or sign and swear to the same before the clerk, deputy clerk, or some other person authorized to administer oaths. The clerk and his deputies and assistants are authorized to administer oaths in all matters pertaining to the duties of their respective offices. The completed application must be submitted to the clerk, who shall compute the proper amount of the license tax.

(Prior code § 5-2-11)

A. Unless and until the council shall have approved the issuance thereof, a license shall not be issued for any of the following businesses:

1. Amusement machines, distributor or operator;

2. Amusement machines, owner;

3. Amusement parlor;

4. Auctioneer;

5. Automobile dismantling dealer;

6. Bail bond broker;

7. Billiard or poolhall;

8. Cardroom;

9. Carnival;

10. Circus;

11. Fortuneteller, clairvoyant, palmist, phrenologist or like business;

12. Junkyard, junk dealer or junk collector;

13. Merry-go-round, ferris wheels or other riding devices;

14. Pawnbroker;

15. Public Dances;

16. Skating rink;

17. Theatrical entertainment (except motion picture theaters at a fixed place of business);

18. Wrestling or boxing contests.

B. An application for a license to engage in a business specified in this section shall be presented by the clerk to the council at the next regular meeting of the council following the date of the filing of such application with the clerk. The council may, but shall not be required to, act in the matter of approving or rejecting such application at the meeting at which such application is first presented to it.

(Prior code § 5-2-12)

It shall be the clerk's duty to collect for the city the license taxes payable hereunder and to prepare and issue a license for each person required to pay a license tax hereunder, and to state in each license the amount of the tax, the period of time covered by the license, the name and address of the person to whom issued, the business or businesses licensed, and the location or place where the business is to be carried on.

(Prior code § 5-2-6)

A. All license taxes payable hereunder shall be due and payable in advance; provided, however, that in the case of annual licenses only, the initial license tax shall be prorated as follows:

A. If the business, for which application for annual license is made, is to commence during the quarter beginning July 1st, one hundred percent of the license tax shall be paid.

B. If the business, for which application for annual license is made, is to commence during the quarter beginning October 1st, seventy-five percent of the license tax shall be paid.

C. If the business, for which application for annual license is made, is to commence during the quarter beginning January 1st, fifty percent of the license tax shall be paid.

D. If the business, for which application for annual license is made, is to commence during the quarter beginning April 1st, twenty-five percent of the license tax shall be paid.

B. The license for daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly licenses shall not be prorated.

(Prior code § 5-2-15)

A. Where an annual license is provided for herein, the same shall apply to the year beginning July 1st and ending on June 30th.

B. Where a quarterly license is provided for herein, the same shall apply to the following quarter of the year:

1. First quarter: July 1st to September 30th, inclusive;

2. Second quarter: October 1st to December 31st, inclusive;

3. Third quarter: January 1st to March 31st, inclusive;

4. Fourth quarter: April 1st to June 30th, inclusive.

C. Where a monthly license is provided for herein, the same shall apply to a calendar month.

D. Where a weekly license is provided for herein, the same shall apply to a seven-day period, beginning on Monday and ending on the following Sunday.

E. Where a daily license is provided for herein, the same shall apply to a twenty-four-hour period beginning at midnight and ending at midnight.

(Prior code § 5-2-14)

A. No license issued pursuant to this chapter shall be transferable, and no person other than the licensee named therein shall be authorized to carry on the business thereby licensed.

B. This section shall not apply in the instance of a change of form in ownership of a business in which upon such change one or more of the former owners retains an interest and active part therein.

(Prior code § 5-2-8)

Subject to zoning restrictions and other applicable provisions of this code relating to the location of a business, the clerk upon application of the licensee may amend a previously issued license so as to authorize the carrying on and transacting of the licensed business at some new location to which the business has been, or is to be, moved.

(Prior code § 5-2-9)

A duplicate license may be issued by the clerk to replace a previously issued license which has been lost or destroyed. For the issuance of each duplicate license, the clerk shall collect a fee of five dollars from the licensee at the time of issuance.

(Prior code § 5-2-7)

An application for the renewal of an annual license issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall not be required in the case of a continuing business if there is no change in the person conducting the business, nor in the type of business or businesses conducted, nor in the location or place where the business is to be carried on.

(Prior code § 5-2-17)

If a person who holds an annual license under the provisions of this chapter and who has paid the full amount of the annual business license tax therefor, shall discontinue the business, for which such license tax was issued and such license tax was paid, prior to the expiration of one-half of the license tax year, such person, upon making proper written application to the city clerk within sixty days after discontinuance of such business, shall be given a refund of one-half of such annual business license tax.

(Prior code § 5-2-15A)

All licenses must be kept and posted in the following manner:

A. Any licensee transacting and engaging in 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 conducted.

B. Any licensee transacting and engaging in business in the city, but having no fixed place of business in the city, shall keep the license upon his person at all times while transacting and engaging in such business in the city.

(Prior code § 5-2-13)

A. Every person engaged in any business at a fixed place of business in the city, which business is not specifically designated in, and for which business a license tax is not specifically provided by another section or other sections of this chapter, shall pay an annual license tax of eighty dollars.

B. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, in the event a person conducts at one fixed place of business in the city more than one business for which a license is required by the foregoing provisions of this chapter, the license tax to be paid shall be based on one business only, and no license tax shall be payable for the additional business or businesses conducted. The license issued in any such instance shall show each type of business conducted at such fixed place of business and the license tax charged shall be for the business with the highest tax.

(Prior code § 5-2-18)

A. Every person engaged in one or more of the following professions at a fixed place of business in the city shall pay an annual license tax in accordance with the following schedule:

1. Single individual: eighty dollars;

2. Partnership, firm or association having two or more professional members: eighty dollars plus eighty dollars for each professional member in excess of two.

B. Notwithstanding any other provision contained in this chapter, for purposes of this section, an employee of professional status or standing shall be treated as being a professional member of the professional partnership, firm or association by which he is employed, and the term "professional member" as used herein shall include employees of professional status or standing in the profession engaged in or practiced by such partnership, firm or association.

C. The professions for which a license is required and a license tax is payable under the provisions of this section shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Accountant;

2. Architect;

3. Attorney-at-law;

4. Chiropodist;

5. Chiropractor;

6. Dental laboratory;

7. Dentist;

8. Engineer;

9. Medical laboratory;

10. Optometrist;

11. Osteopath;

12. Physician;

13. Surgeon;

14. Veterinarian;

15. Tax preparer.

(Prior code § 5-2-19)

Every person engaged in a temporary or seasonal business at a fixed place of business in the city, which business is not specifically designated in, and for which a license tax is not specifically provided by another section or sections of this chapter, shall pay a license tax of thirty dollars to engage in such temporary or seasonal business for a period of three months or less, or a license tax of fifty dollars to engage in such temporary or seasonal business for a period of six months or less.

(Prior code § 5-2-18A)

A. Every person transacting and carrying on a business enumerated in this section at a fixed place of business in the city shall pay a license tax as follows:

1. Automobile wrecking: five hundred dollars per year;

2. Billiard or pool tables: forty dollars per year for each table;

3. Bowling alley: twenty-four dollars per year for each lane;

4. Cardroom: two hundred fifty dollars per quarter year;

5. Cocktail bar/lounge: one hundred dollars per quarter year;

6. Pawnbroker: two hundred dollars per year;

7. Skating rink: two hundred dollars per year.

B. A separate license tax shall be paid and a separate license shall be issued for each business enumerated in this section, even though a business enumerated in this section may be transacted and carried on at a fixed place of business in the city in conjunction with other business or businesses enumerated in this section or in conjunction with other business or businesses for which a license is required under other sections of this chapter; provided, however, that no separate license under this section shall be required for billiard tables, pool tables, or other recreation facilities located in a place of business chiefly catering to and patronized by minors.

(Prior code § 5-2-20)

A. Every person engaged in any of the businesses enumerated in this section in the city shall pay a license tax as follows:

1. Billboard advertising: two hundred dollars per year;

2. Christmas tree lot: forty dollars per quarter year;

3. Curb painting: thirty dollars per quarter year;

4. Junkyard or junk dealers: five hundred dollars per year;

5. Public dances: three hundred dollars per year or forty dollars per day;

6. Sign painting: thirty dollars per quarter year;

7. Telephone/telegraph: eighty dollars per year;

8. Barbers, beauticians and manicurists: twenty-five dollars per year;

9. Food vending vehicles, (except ice cream trucks and ice cream pushcarts) as defined in Chapter 5.56 shall pay an annual business license fee of one hundred twenty dollars plus a twenty dollar vehicle safety inspection fee by the Shafter police department. In addition, the section should also include: ice cream trucks, as defined in Chapter 5.56 shall pay an annual business license fee of sixty dollars plus a twenty dollar vehicle safety inspection fee by the Shafter police department. Ice cream pushcart operators shall pay an annual business license fee of sixty dollars. Total annual city of Shafter fees will be two hundred fifteen dollars for food vending vehicles (except ice cream trucks); one hundred fifty-five dollars for ice cream trucks and one hundred thirty-five dollars for ice cream pushcarts.

B. The license tax hereinabove provided for the business of Christmas tree lot, curb painting and sign painting shall not apply to such businesses when the same are conducted in conjunction with or as an incident to, and on the same business premises as, a business licensed under the provisions of Section 5.04.170.

(Ord. 594 § 2, 2007; Ord. 449 § 1, 1993; Ord. 406 § 1, 1988: prior code § 5-2-21; Ord. No. 778, § 2(Exh. A), 3-17-2026)

Every person engaged in the city in any of the businesses enumerated in this section shall pay an annual license tax of twenty dollars:

A. Bootblack;

B. Janitorial service (offices and plants);

C. Lawn trimming and care;

D. Security guard companies;

E. Sharpening and repair shop (for lawnmowers and hand tools);

F. Shoe shine parlors;

G. Tree spraying.

(Prior code § 5-2-21A)

Every person not having a fixed place of business in the city, who engages in any business in the city, which business is not specifically classified and designated in this chapter and for which business a license tax has not been fixed and imposed by any other section, shall pay an annual license tax of one hundred sixty dollars.

(Prior code § 5-2-37)

A. Every person engaged in the business of making door-to-door distribution of commercial advertising matter shall pay a license tax of fifty dollars per week or one hundred dollars per quarter year, or two hundred dollars per year.

B. The license tax provided by this section shall not apply to delivery of mail or newspapers, nor shall it apply to distribution of commercial advertising matter conducted by a person holding a business license under Section 5.04.170 or 5.04.190.

C. The licensee of a license for the distribution of commercial advertising matter issued pursuant to this section shall furnish each person employed or engaged by the licensee for the actual distribution of such matter with an identification card obtained from and issued by the city clerk. No person shall distribute such matter without having first been furnished such an identification card. Each person distributing such matter shall carry such identification card at all times while so distributing such matter.

(Prior code § 5-2-21B)

A. Definitions.

1. The term "amusement machine," as used in this section or elsewhere in this chapter, means any mechanical, electrical, electronic or other machine, apparatus, contrivance, or device, which may be operated or played by placing or depositing therein a coin, check, slug, ball, token, card, or other article, or by paying for the use thereof in advance or after use, involving in its operation or play either skill or chance, including, but not limited to, pinball machines, bowling game machines, shuffleboard machines, marble game machines, video game machines, or any other similar machine or device. The term amusement machine does not include phonographs, jukeboxes or other music machines.

2. The word "distributor," as used in this section, means any person engaged in the business of selling, renting, or placing on consignment or on commission or otherwise with any person an amusement machine in or at any place of business in the city of Shafter.

3. The word "owner," as used herein, means any person engaged in business at a fixed place of business in the city of Shafter, at or in which place of business there is located one or more amusement machines intended or available for use by the public generally or by patrons of such business, whether the business of amusement machines is conducted as a single business or in conjunction with another business.

B. License and Sticker Requirement.

1. No amusement machine shall be placed in any place of business and become available for use by the public generally or by patrons of the business unless and until the city council shall have approved such location for such amusement machine, nor unless and until a proper license under the provisions of this section shall have been issued.

2. Each amusement machine located in or at any place of business in the city shall have an identification sticker affixed thereto on a prominent and readily visible part thereof. The clerk shall furnish to the owner one identification sticker for each amusement machine licensed to such owner under the provisions of this section.

C. License Tax. Every person engaged in the business of amusement machines, as an owner or distributor, shall pay the city a license tax of two cents for each dollar of gross receipts realized and returned to such person from such business. The license tax shall be paid quarterly within thirty days from the end of the quarterly period for which the license tax is payable; and each such person shall place and have on deposit with the city a security deposit of fifteen dollars for each amusement machine at such place of business. The security deposit shall be returned to the licensee upon a termination of the license; provided, that at that time all license taxes of such person payable to the city have been fully paid.

(Prior code § 5-2-31)

A. Any person conducting or operating any flying horses, merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels or other riding devices, when such devices are not operated in conjunction with a circus or carnival and are not operated solely for the amusement of children, shall pay a license tax of twenty dollars per day for each such riding device.

B. A license shall not be issued for the operation of any such riding devices unless and until the council has approved the issuance thereof.

(Prior code § 5-2-26)

A. Every person conducting, managing or carrying on a circus, carnival, animal exhibit, itinerant show, rodeo, parade or sports exhibit shall pay a license tax of two hundred and fifty dollars per day.

B. A license shall not be issued for any of the businesses enumerated in subsection A of this section unless and until the same has been approved for issuance by the council.

(Prior code § 5-2-25)

A. The provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed or construed to require the payment of a license tax to conduct, manage or carry on a business, occupation or activity from any institution or organization which is conducted, managed or carried on wholly for the benefit of charitable purposes or from which profit is not derived, either directly or indirectly, by any individual; nor shall any license tax be required for the conducting of any entertainment, concert, exhibition, or lecture on scientific, historical, literary, religious or moral subjects within the city whenever the receipts of any such entertainment, concert, exhibition or lecture are to be appropriated to any church or school or to any religious or benevolent purposes; nor shall any license tax be required for the conducting of any entertainment, dance, concert, exhibition or lecture by any religious, charitable, fraternal, educational, military, state, county or municipal organization or association whenever the receipts of any such entertainment, dance, concert, exhibition or lecture are to be appropriated for the purpose and objects for which such organization or association was formed and from which profit is not derived either directly or indirectly, by any individual; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be deemed to exempt any such organization or association from complying with this or any other provisions of this code requiring a permit from the council or any commission or officer to conduct, manage or carry on any profession, trade, calling or occupation.

B. Any person claiming an exemption under this section shall file a verified statement with the clerk stating the facts upon which exemption is claimed.

C. The clerk shall, upon a proper showing contained in the verified 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.

D. The council, after giving notice and a reasonable opportunity for hearing to a licensee, may revoke any license granted under the provisions of this section upon information that the licensee is not entitled to the exemption claimed.

E. Whenever the word "receipts" is used in this section, it shall refer to the receipts to be received by, or to be appropriated to, the person making application for a license and claiming exemption from the payment of a license tax under the provisions of this section.

(Prior code § 5-2-10)

A. Every person not having a fixed place of business within the city who engages in the business of contractor shall pay a license tax the same as that imposed by Section 5.04.170 upon a contractor who has a fixed place of business in the city.

B. For the purpose of this section, the word "contractor" means and includes any person engaged in the business of constructing, altering, repairing, adding to, subtracting from, improving, moving, wrecking or demolishing any building, excavation or other structure, project or development, or part thereof; means and includes any person hiring out trucks, tractors, excavating equipment or other equipment in connection with a construction project, whether for a contract amount or at rates by the hour or day; and means and includes any person engaged in business as a subcontractor or specialty contractor.

C. Each applicant for issuance or renewal of a business license to engage in the business of contractor in the city shall file, or have on file, with the clerk a signed statement that such applicant is licensed under the provisions of the Contractors License Law of the state of California, and stating that such license under the provisions of the Contractors License Law is in full force and effect, or, if the applicant is exempt from the provisions of the Contractors License Law, he shall furnish proof of the facts which entitle him to such exemption.

(Prior code § 5-2-23)

A. Every person not having a fixed place of business in the city who engages in the business of transporting and delivering goods, wares or merchandise for others and makes delivery of such goods, wares or merchandise from a place outside the city to a delivery destination within the city, shall pay an annual license tax of forty dollars.

B. Every person not having a fixed place of business in the city, who engages in the business of selling goods, wares or merchandise or of providing any service to a retail or wholesale dealer, manufacturer or other person having a fixed place of business in the city, and who makes delivery of such goods, wares or merchandise by vehicle from a place outside the city, or who provides such service by the use of such vehicle in the city, shall pay an annual license tax of forty dollars; provided such goods, wares, merchandise or services are for the purpose of and used in the business of such retail or wholesale dealer, manufacturer or other person having a fixed place of business in the city to whom such goods, wares, merchandise or services are delivered or furnished.

C. Every person not having a fixed place of business in the city, except as otherwise provided by this chapter, who engages in the business of selling goods, wares or merchandise at retail and makes delivery thereof by vehicle to a place within the city, or who by use of vehicle provides any service within the city, shall pay a license tax of forty dollars per quarter year or one hundred twenty dollars per year.

(Prior code § 5-2-36)

A. Any person engaged in the business of farming and maintaining a business office in the city solely and exclusively for the purpose of this farming business shall be exempt from obtaining a business license and paying a license tax under this chapter.

B. The exemption provided in this section shall not apply to a person buying or selling for others any farm produce, farm products, seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, machinery equipment or other materials or commodities.

(Prior code § 5-2-38)

Every person who carries on, practices or professes to practice the business or art of astrology, palmistry, phrenology, fortunetelling, life reading, cartomancy, clairvoyance, clair-audience, crystal gazing, hypnotism, mediumship, prophecy, augury, divination, magic, or necromancy, and demands or receives a fee for the exercise or exhibition of his art therein, directly or indirectly, either as a gift, donation or otherwise, or gives an exhibition thereof at any place where admission is charged, shall pay an annual license tax of three hundred dollars.

(Prior code § 5-2-24)

Every person not having a fixed place of business in the city who engages in the business of taking orders for and selling goods or wares, drugs, vitamins, household goods or cosmetics, and who, at the request or solicitation of home occupants, makes regular calls at the homes of such occupants for the purpose of taking orders for or making delivery of any such items, shall pay a license tax of forty dollars per quarter, or eighty dollars per year.

(Prior code § 5-2-30)

A. Any person operating any ride or riding device, such as merry-go-rounds, flying horses, ferris wheels, miniature trains, pony rides, and the like, designed and operated solely for the amusement of children, as a permanent business with a fixed place of business in the city, shall pay an annual license tax of one hundred dollars.

B. Any person operating any such ride or device as mentioned in subsection A of this section, other than a permanent business with a fixed place of business in the city, shall pay a license tax of twenty dollars per day for each such device or ride.

(Prior code § 5-2-27)

A. Every person engaged in the business of self-service laundry in the city shall pay an annual license tax of one hundred twenty dollars.

B. The term "self-service laundry," as used herein, means any premises or establishment in which coin-operated facilities are available for washing clothes or drying clothes, or both, and which is open and available to the public generally for use.

C. Any person engaged in the business of self-service laundry in the city at a fixed place of business may obtain a license therefor and pay a business license tax under the provisions of Section 5.04.170 if a competent person is in attendance and in charge of the business while open for use.

D. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, and in lieu of any license tax provided to be paid under such provisions, every person engaged in the business of renting, leasing or operating laundry equipment in the city, whether coin-operated or not, which business is limited exclusively to renting, leasing or operating such machines, shall pay an annual license tax of two mills for each dollar of gross receipts derived therefrom.

(Prior code § 5-2-35)

Every person not having a fixed place of business in the city who engages in the business of selling milk, buttermilk, cream, cottage cheese, or other dairy products, or bread, pies, cakes, pastries, or other bakery products, at retail, and makes delivery thereof to homes by the use of a vehicle or vehicles operated over fixed routes shall pay an annual license tax of sixty dollars.

(Prior code § 5-2-29)

Every person maintaining and operating a parking area in the city for two or more motor trucks used for the transportation of freight, produce or other materials shall be deemed to be engaged in business in the city and shall pay an annual license tax of eighty dollars.

(Prior code § 5-2-22)

A. Defined. The word "peddler," as used herein, means any person traveling by foot, wagon, cart, bicycle, automotive vehicle, or other type of conveyance, from place to place, or from street to street, carrying, conveying or transporting goods, wares, merchandise, provisions, or foodstuffs, offering or exposing the same for sale, or making sales and deliveries thereof to purchasers, or who without traveling from place to place, shall sell or offer the same for sale from a wagon, automotive vehicle, or other vehicle or conveyance. Peddler does not include food vending vehicles as defined in Chapter 5.56 of the municipal code.

B. License Required—Fee. Every person without a fixed place of business in the city who engages in the business of peddlers in the city shall pay a license tax of twenty dollars per day, or fifty dollars per month, or one hundred dollars per quarter year, or two hundred fifty dollars per year. This subsection shall not apply to persons licensed under Section 5.04.330 or 5.04.360, nor shall this subsection apply to a person who merely takes orders for merchandise to be billed and mailed from outside the state.

C. Peddling Within Business District Restricted—Penalty.

1. The practice of persons in engaging in the business of peddler within business areas of the city is prohibited and declared to be a nuisance, in that such practice creates an interference with other business activities conducted in those areas and causes an interference with pedestrian and vehicular traffic in those areas.

2. The business areas in which the carrying on of the business of peddler is prohibited by this section are as follows:

The public rights-of-way, sidewalks and vehicular traffic way of, and all properties fronting upon:

a. Central Avenue between Shafter Avenue and Kern Street;

b. East Lerdo Highway between Shafter Avenue and Beech Street;

c. Central Valley Highway between Tulare Avenue and Euclid Avenue;

d. James Street between Shafter Avenue and East Lerdo Highway;

e. South Shafter Avenue between East Lerdo Highway and Los Angeles Street;

f. North Shafter Avenue between East Lerdo Highway and Central Valley Highway;

g. Pacific Avenue between James Street and Central Valley Highway; and

h. State Street between James Street and Central Valley Highway.

3. A violation of this section shall constitute an infraction and shall be punishable by:

a. A fine not exceeding fifty dollars for a first violation;

b. A fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for a second violation within one year;

c. A fine not exceeding two hundred fifty dollars for each additional violation within one year.

(Ord. 594 § 3, 2007; prior code § 5-2-34)

A. Every person engaged in business as a transient photographer shall pay a license tax of fifteen dollars per day.

B. Every person engaged in the business of soliciting or taking orders for a transient photographer or selling coupons to apply on photographs, shall pay a license tax of ten dollars per day.

C. For the purpose of this section any photographer whose business is principally taking portraits in the home and who does not have a fixed place of business in the city shall be deemed to be a transient photographer.

D. A transient photographer soliciting on days for which he is not licensed as a transient photographer shall pay the license tax hereinabove provided for the solicitation or taking of orders.

E. No person shall be relieved of the requirements of obtaining a license and of paying a license tax under the provisions of this section by reason of associating temporarily with or using the name of any dealer, merchant or other person having a fixed place of business in the city, nor by reason of temporary occupancy of any building, hotel, lodginghouse, autocourt, motel, apartment house or other place in the city.

(Prior code § 5-2-28)

A. Every person without a fixed place of business in the city, who engages in the business of solicitor in the city, by himself or by the use or employment of others, shall pay a license tax in accordance with the schedule as follows:

1. One hundred twenty dollars per year; or

2. Fifty dollars per quarter; or

3. Twenty-five dollars per month; or

4. Ten dollars per day.

B. The word "solicitor," as used herein, means any person, whether resident of the city or not, traveling either by foot, wagon, automobile, motor truck or other type of conveyance, from place-to-place, from house-to-house, or from street-to-street, taking or attempting to take orders for sale of goods, wares and merchandise, personal property of any nature whatsoever for future delivery, or for services to be furnished or performed in the future, whether or not such person has, carries or exposes a sample of the subject of the sale, or whether or not such person is collecting advance payment on account of such sale or services; and includes any person who, for himself or for another person, shall lease, hire, use or occupy any building, structure, tent, hotel room, lodginghouse, apartment, shop, or other place in the city for the sole purpose of exhibiting samples or taking orders for future delivery.

C. This section shall not apply to soliciting by telephone for a business not having a fixed place of business in the city.

D. This section shall not apply to a salesman taking orders from an established dealer in the city for merchandise which is to become a part of the stock in trade, wholesale or retail, of such dealer, nor to a salesman taking orders for business having a fixed place of business in the city which is licensed under the provisions of this chapter.

E. This section shall not apply to a person with a customer route licensed under the provisions of Section 5.04.330.

(Prior code § 5-2-33)

A. Every person engaged in the business of vending machines in the city as a distributor shall pay a license tax in accordance with the schedule as follows:

1. Distributor of vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of one cent: twenty dollars per year;

2. Distributor of vending machines vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of five cents or more: forty dollars per year plus five dollars per year for each machine;

3. Distributor of vending machines vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of five cents or more, which distributor holds a license as distributor of amusement machines under Section 5.04.250: five dollars per year for each machine;

4. Distributor of vending machines vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of one cent and vending machines vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of five cents or more: forty dollars per year plus five dollars per year for each machine vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of five cents or more.

B. Every person engaged in the business of vending machines in the city as an owner shall pay a license tax in accordance with the schedule as follows:

1. Owner for vending machines vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of one cent: no license tax;

2. Owner for vending machines vending goods, wares or merchandise for the sum of five cents or more: five dollars per year for each machine.

C. As used herein:

1. "Distributor" means any person engaged in the business of selling, renting or placing on consignment or on commission basis or otherwise with any person any vending machine at or in any place of business in the city of Shafter.

2. "Owner" means any person owning or operating any business at a fixed place of business, at which place of business there is located any vending machine intended or available for use by the public generally or by patrons of the place of business.

3. The term "vending machine" means a mechanical apparatus so operated as to sell or deliver goods, wares or merchandise only the equivalent in marketing value to the face value of the coin or coins deposited in such machine. The word vending machine includes phonographs and music machines.

D. No license tax shall be chargeable or payable under the provisions of this section by any person owning and conducting a business at a fixed place of business in the city and also owning the vending machines which are located in or at such place of business.

E. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, and in lieu of any license tax provided to be paid under such provisions, every person engaged in the business of renting, leasing or operating coin-operated vending machines in the city, which business is limited exclusively to renting, leasing or operating such machines, shall pay an annual license tax of three mills for each dollar or gross receipts derived therefrom.

(Prior code § 5-2-32)

The amount of any license tax imposed by this chapter shall be deemed a debt to the city and any person carrying on any business mentioned in this chapter without having a license from the city so to do, shall be liable to action in the name of the city in any court of competent jurisdiction for the amount of the license tax imposed on such business by this chapter, together with the amount of all penalties due thereon.

(Prior code § 5-2-5)

No business license issued under the provisions of this chapter or the payment of any license tax required under the provisions of this chapter shall be construed as authorizing the conduct or continuance of any illegal business or of a legal business in an illegal manner, or to conduct within the city the business for which a business license has been issued without strictly complying with all the provisions of this code and state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, those requiring a permit from any board, commission, department or office of the city. Any failure to comply with the aforesaid provisions and laws shall constitute grounds for suspension or revocation of the business license.

(Prior code § 5-2-39)

Any person aggrieved by any decision with respect to the issuance or refusal to issue a license hereunder may appeal to the council by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk. The council shall thereupon fix a time and place for hearing such appeal. The clerk 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 Shafter, 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.

(Prior code § 5-2-40)

A. It shall be the duty of the clerk, and he is directed, to enforce each and all of the provisions of this chapter, and the chief of police and all other police officers of the city shall render such assistance in the enforcement hereof as may from time to time be required by the clerk or the council.

B. All police officers of the city are appointed inspectors of business licenses, and in addition to their several duties as police officers, they are required to examine all places of business and persons liable to have a business license under the provisions of this chapter.

C. The clerk and each and all of his deputies and assistants and any police officer shall have the power and authority to enter free of charge, at any time, any place of business for which a business license is required by this chapter and to demand the exhibition of such license for the current term. Any person who willfully fails to exhibit a business license issued to him under the provisions of this chapter, upon the demand of the clerk, his assistants, or any police officer, shall be liable to the general penalty provided for upon a violation of this chapter.

(Prior code § 5-2-41)

A. For failure to pay an annual license tax when due, the clerk shall add a penalty of ten percent of the license tax on the last day of each month after the due date thereof; provided, that the amount of such penalty shall not exceed thirty percent of the amount of the license tax due.

B. For failure to pay a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly license tax when due, the clerk shall add a penalty of fifty percent of such license tax.

(Prior code § 5-2-16)

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 a business license hereunder shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Prior code § 5-2-42)