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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 375ORDINANCE NO. 375 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, A24ENDING CHAPTER 5 AND ORDINANCE 340 OF SAID CITY RELATING TO REMEDIES AND THE COLLECTION OF BUSINESS LICENSE AND TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX LIABILITIES. The City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN as follows: Section 1: That Section 5.04.340 of Chapter 5 be and the same is hereby added to the Code of the City of Palm Desert, California, to read as follows: "The City Attorney may, on behalf of the City, take all appropriate legal action in order to collect such debts owing to the City, and may commence, or defend, in the name of the City in any court of competent jurisdication, an action or actions relating to any amount due for new or renewal of business license taxes, including penalties, interest and deficit taxes revealed by audits. In case of recovery by the plaintiff, court costs, attorney's fees and auditor's fees shall be added to the judgment as costs to be collected from the defendant or defendants." Section 2: That Section 3.28.080 of Ordinance 340 of the City of Palm Desert, California, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: "Penalties, Interests and Costs (a) Any operator who fails to pay any tax to the City or any amount of tax required to be collected and paid to the City including amounts based on determinations made by the tax administrator under Section 3.28.090, within the time required, shall pay a penalty of ten percent of tax plus interest at the rate of one percent (1%) per month, or fraction thereof, from the date on which the tax or the amount of tax required to be collected becomes due and payable to the City until the date of payment. (b) An operator who fails to remit any delinquent remittance on or before a period of thirty (30) days following the date on which the remittance first became delinquent shall pay accumulative penalties and interest compounded on a monthly basis, until the delinquent remittance or payment is paid in full, provided the amount of such penalties shall in no event exceed fifty percent (50%) of the amount of tax due, and interest shall not exceed twelve percent of the tax due. (c) If the tax administrator determines that nonpayment of any remittance due under this chapter is due to fraud, a penalty of one hundred percent of this amount of the tax shall be added thereto in addition to the penalties stated in subsection A of this section. (d) In the event the tax administrator or the City has expended funds by the use of auditor or any other individual necessary in the review and collection, all of such costs and expenses of the City shall be added to the tax when due in addition to the interest and penalties thereon." Section 3: That Section 3.28.260 be and the same is hereby added to the Code of the City of Palm Desert, California, to read as follows: ORDINANCE NO. 375 "The __ty Attorney may, on behalf of t,.e City, take all appropriate legal action in order to collect such debts owing to the City, and may commence, or defend, in the name of the City in any court of competent jurisdiction, an action or actions relating to any amount due from operators collecting Transient Occupancy Taxes, in- cluding penalties, interest and deficit taxes, revealed by audits. In case of recovery by the plaintiff, court costs, attorney's fees and auditor's fees shall be added to the judgment as costs to be collected from the defendant or defendants." Section 4: The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this ordinance and shall cause the same to be published once in the Palm Desert Post, a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated within said City and the same shall be in full force and effect thirty (30) days after its adoption. PASSED, APPROVED, and ADOPTED by the City Council this June , 1984, by the following vote: AYES: K=Y , P=QI , WnMN & RMER 91 0 ABSENT: JACK -SON ABSTAIN: NONE ATTEST: SHEILA GILLIRAN, City/clerk City of Palm Deser alifornia 14th day of WALTER H. SNYDER, MayorV City of Palm Desert, California