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City of Cleveland Codified Ordinances, Chapter #196
PART ONE — ADMINISTRATIVE CODETitle XVII — TaxationChapter 196 — Parking Facility TaxComplete to June 30, 2007
This chapter shall be known and cited as the "parking facility tax chapter" and the tax herein imposed shall be known and cited as the "parking facility tax."
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
(a) For the purposes of this chapter, when any of the following words or terms are used herein they shall have the meaning or construction ascribed to them in this section:
(1) "City" means the City of Cleveland, Ohio.
(2) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses or his authorized representative.
(3) "Division" means the Division of Assessments and Licenses of the City.
(4) "Month" means a calendar month.
(5) "Motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle as defined in division (B) of RC 4501.01.
(6) "Operator" means any person operating a parking facility or receiving consideration for housing, parking or storing of motor vehicles at a parking facility (including a person operating under a management agreement, lease, or concession agreement).
(7) "Patron" means any natural person who drives a motor vehicle to, into, or upon a parking facility for the purpose of housing, parking or storing such vehicle for any length of time for a fee, charge or other consideration, regardless of by whom paid, and includes any natural person who has a vehicle in his custody or control taken from him by another for housing, parking or storage at a parking facility.
(8) "Parking facility" means any building, garage, structure, premises, parking lot or other place, except a public way, within the City, in or which three or more motor vehicles owned or operated by patrons other than the operator are stored or parked for any period of time for a charge, fee, or other consideration.
(9) "Tax" means the parking facilities tax imposed pursuant to Section 196.03.
(10) "Transaction" means the act of housing, parking or storing a motor vehicle in or on a parking facility for a charge, fee, or other consideration.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
(a) For the purposes of providing funds for (i) the payment of costs of permanent improvements, including costs of acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, rehabilitating, remodeling, renovating, enlarging, improving, equipping or furnishing facilities by contract, lease, lease-purchase, or otherwise, and including the improvement of the municipal stadium by cooperative arrangements with other political subdivisions or nonprofit corporations, the elimination of deficits in City funds and the payment of costs of general municipal operations, and (ii) recreational, cultural and extracurricular programs of the Cleveland Public Schools, and (iii) all other lawful purposes, including the payment of lease rentals, lease-purchase amounts, debt charges, deposits to reserves or other funds or other obligations, an excise tax is hereby imposed upon the privilege of housing, storing or parking a motor vehicle in or on any parking facility in the City. Such tax shall be imposed upon the patron for each transaction and shall be in the amount of eight percent (8%) of the charge, fee or other consideration for the transaction. The annual collections shall be used initially to fund recreational, cultural and extracurricular activities in the Cleveland Public Schools, to fund the renovation and improvement of the municipal stadium, and thereafter to fund any lawful municipal purposes, including payment of costs of general municipal operations, permanent improvements, and the elimination of deficits in City funds, all subject to provisions governing the collection, investment and disbursement of collections from the tax contained in the proceedings for any bonds, notes, leases, lease-purchase agreements or other obligations issued or incurred for those purposes.
(b) The tax herein imposed is in addition to any other taxes imposed by law on or relating to transactions or the income or gross receipts therefrom.
(c) An operator shall be required to collect the tax at the time the charge, fee, or other consideration for a transaction is collected and to pay it over to the Commissioner as provided in divisions (e) and (f) of this section.
(d) The tax shall not apply to: (1) a parking facility with respect to which the United States government or a division or department thereof is an operator; or (2) transactions by a resident of a single-family home, multiple-family dwelling unit, apartment, boarding house, condominium, or mobile home for the purpose of parking on-site at that place of residence or at an off-site parking facility under contract to provide parking for residents at that place of residence, provided that the resident utilizes such home, dwelling unit, apartment, boarding house, condominium, or mobile home for living or sleeping purposes for at least thirty (30) consecutive days.
(e) Except as otherwise provided herein, the operator shall remit the tax to the Commissioner on a monthly basis, by the twentieth day of the month following the month in which the tax has been or should have been collected. A remittance return shall accompany each monthly payment. The format of such remittance return shall be prescribed by the Commissioner, and such return shall include: a) the gross receipts that were collected from transactions during the calendar month; b) the total number of vehicles parked during the month; c) the amount taxes due; and d) such other pertinent information as the Commissioner deems necessary. The remittance returns shall be filed and signed by the operator under penalty as provided in Section 196.99 of this chapter.
(f) An operator shall be liable for the payment to the Commissioner of the taxes required to be collected, whether or not such taxes have in fact been collected.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
(a) Any tax not paid when due shall bear interest at the rate of two percent (2%) per month, or fraction thereof, until paid.
(b) In addition to any interest charges, an operator who fails to make timely payment of taxes shall be subject to a late payment penalty, unless a late filing penalty is due as provided in division (c) below, equal to ten percent (10%) of the taxes not paid timely.
(c) In addition to any interest charges, an operator who fails to file a remittance return when due shall be subject to a late filing penalty equal to ten percent (10%) of the taxes reported, or that should have been reported, on the return that is not filed timely.
(d) Any payment or return shall be considered paid or filed, respectively, on the date such payment or return is physically received by the Commissioner.
(e) All payments received shall first be applied to penalty due, then interest due and finally the taxes due for the period for which the payment is made.
(f) The Commissioner may abate all or any portion of the penalty imposed for late payment or late filing if the Commissioner determines that such failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
(a) Every operator shall keep separately, with respect to each parking facility operated by such operator, accurate and complete books and records of all transactions. These records shall include:
(1) a daily report showing for each day:
(A) the number of cars housed, parked or stored on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis in or on a parking facility;
(B) the gross receipts from all transactions; and
(C) the taxes due the City on all transactions.
(2) copies of all claim checks issued in connection with all transactions.
(b) All books, records, daily reports and claim check stubs shall be retained by each operator for a period to be prescribed by the Commissioner in rules and regulations.
(c) Access to Records. Each operator shall afford the Commissioner and his designated agents access to all such records and evidence at all reasonable times and shall provide verification or authentication of the same, as the Commissioner may require. The Commissioner and his agents are hereby authorized to examine the books, papers and records of any operator or suspected operator in order to verify the accuracy of any return made, or, if no return has been made, to determine the taxes due. Every operator is hereby required and directed to provide to the Commissioner and his designated agents the means, facilities and opportunity to conduct any examinations or investigations as are hereby authorized.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
The Commissioner is hereby empowered to adopt, promulgate, and to enforce rules and regulations relating to any matter or thing pertaining to the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter, including, but not limited to, provisions relating to recordkeeping.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
(a) If it shall appear to the Commissioner that any person has violated any provision of this chapter or any rule or regulation promulgated hereunder, or if the amount of any tax payment is incorrect in that it does not include all taxes payable for a month, or if the Commissioner shall find that the collection of any taxes which have accrued but are not yet due will be jeopardized by delay, and declares said taxes to be immediately due and payable, or if it shall appear to the Commissioner that any final assessment did not include all taxes payable for the periods involved, or if it appears to the Commissioner that any person has, by reason of any act or omission or by operation of law, become liable for the payment of any taxes, interest or penalties not originally incurred by him, the Commissioner may in any of the above events determine and assess the amount of such taxes or deficiency, as the case may be, together with the interest and penalties due and unpaid, and immediately serve notice upon such person of such determination and assessment and make a demand for payment of such taxes, interest and penalties. If the person against whom such assessment is, or could have been, made has died, such assessment may at the discretion of the Commissioner be made against his personal representatives. Such determination and assessment by the Commissioner shall become final upon the expiration of twenty (20) days from the date of the service of such written notice thereof and demand for payment, unless prior to such expiration such person shall have filed with the Commissioner a written protest and a petition for a hearing, specifying its objections thereto. Upon the receipt of such protest and petition, the Commissioner shall fix the time and place for a hearing and shall notify the petitioner thereof. The Commissioner may amend his determination and assessment at any time before it becomes final. In the event of such amendment the petitioner shall be given notice thereof and an opportunity to be heard. At any hearing held as herein provided, the determination and assessment by the Commissioner shall be prima facie correct and the burden shall be upon the petitioner to prove that it is incorrect. Upon the conclusion of such hearing a decision shall be made by the Commissioner either canceling, increasing, modifying or affirming such determination and assessment and notice thereof given to the Petitioner. Such decision shall become final upon the expiration of twenty (20) days from the date notice of the decision is provided to the petitioner, unless prior thereto the petitioner shall have filed an appeal to the Board of Appeals pursuant to Section 196.12.
(b) Whenever any person shall fail to pay any tax as herein provided, the Director of Law shall, upon the request of the Commissioner, bring or cause to be brought an action to enforce the payment of said tax on behalf of the City in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(c) Whenever any person shall fail to pay any tax as herein provided with respect to any parking facility, the Commissioner may, at his discretion, revoke the license granted pursuant to Section 457.03 of the Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976, applicable to such parking facility upon seven (7) days' notice to the licenseholder.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
(a) Whenever it appears that an amount of tax, interest or penalty has been paid to the division in error, whether such amount be paid through a mistake of fact or an error of law other than an error resulting from the tax, any of its provisions or its application being declared invalid or unconstitutional, not later than three (3) years from the date upon which such payment was made, the person paying such tax (hereinafter referred to as "claimant") may file a claim for credit or refund with the division on forms provided by the Commissioner for that purpose. No credit or refund shall be allowed for any amount paid by any claimant unless such claimant bore the burden of such amount and did not shift the burden to another person.
(b) Any credit or refund that is allowed under this section shall be without interest.
(c) A claim for credit or refund shall be considered to have been filed with the division on the date upon which it is physically received by the division and receipt of any claim for credit or refund filed under this section shall be acknowledged by the Commissioner, said receipt to describe the claim in sufficient detail as to identify it, and to state the date upon which the claim was received by the Commissioner.
(d) As soon as practicable after a claim for credit or refund is filed, the Commissioner, shall examine the same and determine the amount of credit or refund due, if any, and shall issue a notice of tentative determination of claim and notify the claimant of such determination. If the claimant disagrees with the determination, he shall file a protest and challenge thereto within twenty (20) days after the date of notice of tentative determination of claim has been mailed to him. Upon receipt of such protest within the twenty (20) days allowed, the Commissioner or his designee, shall fix the time and place for a hearing thereof, giving notice to the claimant of, not less than seven (7) days. At any hearing held as herein provided, the tentative determination of claim shall be prima facie correct and the burden shall be upon the claimant to prove that it is incorrect. Upon the conclusion of the hearing, a decision shall be made by the Commissioner and notice thereof given to the claimant. Such tentative determination of claim shall become final upon the expiration of twenty (20) days from the date notice of the determination is provided to the claimant, unless prior thereto the claimant shall have filed an appeal to the Board of Appeals pursuant to Section 196.12.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
Unless otherwise provided in this chapter, whenever notice is required by this chapter, such notice may be given by the United States registered or certified mail, addressed to the person concerned at his last known address, and proof of such mailing shall be sufficient for the purposes of this chapter. Notice of any hearing provided for by this chapter shall be given not less than seven (7) days prior to the date fixed for a hearing. Following the initial contact of a person represented by an attorney, the division shall not thereafter contact the person concerned but shall only contact the attorney representing the person concerned.
All hearings provided for in this chapter shall be at a location determined by the Commissioner.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
Any officer or employee of and operator subject to the provisions of this chapter who has the control, supervision or responsibility of collecting such tax, filing returns or making payment of the taxes herein imposed and who willfully fails to collect such taxes, file such returns or to make such payments to the division shall be personally liable for such amounts, including interest and penalties thereon; and the personal liability of such officer or employee as provided herein shall survive the liquidation, dissolution or withdrawal of the entity from the status of an operator.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
An operator who sells or transfers his business of operating one or more parking facilities in the City or a major part of the assets of such business, other than a sale of assets, including inventory, in the ordinary and usual course of such business, must file a notice of such intended sale or transfer with the division at least forty-five (45) days prior to the date of such sale or transfer, setting forth the name of the seller or transferor, purchaser or transferee, a description of the property or business sold, the amount of the purchase or transfer price and such other information as the Commissioner may reasonably request. Within thirty (30) days after such sale or transfer, such seller shall file any remittance returns and pay any taxes due and not paid up to the date of sale or transfer. At least forty-five (45) days before the closing of the sale or transfer referred to above, the purchaser or transferee shall also file a notice of intended purchaser or acquisition with the division, setting forth the same information as required in the seller's or transferor's notice and further requesting that the division perform an audit of the seller's or transferor's books and records or do whatever is necessary to determine the amount of taxes due up to the date of sale or transfer. The purchaser's or transferee's notice may be made in conjunction with the seller's or transferor's notice. If the purchaser or transferee fails to file the notice as required herein, the purchaser or transferee shall be personally liable to the division for the amount of taxes, interest and penalty owed by the seller or transferor to the division up to the amount or fair market value of the consideration paid by the purchaser or transferee. Upon the filing of a notice, the division shall notify both the seller (or transferor) and the purchaser (or transferee) of the amount to be withheld from the purchase or transfer price to cover all taxes, interest and penalties due under this chapter and unpaid up to the date of closing of the sale or transfer. The purchaser or transferee shall withhold this amount from the purchase or transfer price or, if payment of money or property is not involved, shall withhold the performance that constitutes consideration for the sale or transfer until the seller or transferor produces a receipt from the division showing that such taxes, interest and penalty had been paid or a certificate from the division showing no taxes are due. The purchaser or transferee is relieved of any duty to withhold from the purchase or transfer price and shall have no liability for taxes, interest or penalty due hereunder from the seller or transferor if the division fails to notify the purchaser or transferee of such amount claimed due at least five (5) days before the date of such sale or transfer. If the purchaser or transferee is notified by the division of the amount to be withheld from the purchase or transfer price and does withhold such amount, the purchaser's or transferee's liability for any taxes, interest or penalty hereunder shall be limited to the amount to be withheld as set forth in the notification from the division. If the purchaser or transferee fails to withhold from the purchase or transfer price the amount requested by the division, the purchaser or transferee shall be liable for any taxes, interest or penalty due in excess of any amount withheld, but not exceeding the amount or fair market value of the consideration paid upon such transfer. The purchaser or transferee shall pay over to the division any amount withheld hereunder upon notification of the refusal of the seller or transferor to pay any taxes, interest or penalty due hereunder and upon notification of the division's claim against the purchaser or transferee. Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve the seller or transferor of his liability for taxes, interest and penalty except that any payments received from the purchaser or transferee as provided herein shall reduce such liability payable to the division.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
Appeals from any ruling of the Commissioner hereunder shall be made to the Board of Appeals established pursuant to Charter Section 76-6 in the same manner as other appeals to the Board. The Board shall have authority to annul, modify or affirm any such ruling appealed from, in conformity with the intent and purpose of this chapter.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
The tax shall be effective as of September 1, 1995.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this chapter and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
Any person found guilty of violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) for the first offense and not less than three hundred dollars ($300.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for the second and third offense in any one hundred eighty (180) day period. A person who commits offenses in excess of three (3) within any one hundred eighty (180) day period is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree. A separate and distinct offense shall be regarded as committed each day on which said person shall commit any such violation or after notification thereof permit any such violation to exist.
(Ord. No. 1025-A-95. Passed 6-29-95, eff. 6-29-95)
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