HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-1983-1373
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ORDINANCE NO. l373
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS, ADDING CHAPTER
l2 1/4 to THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, ENTITLED "HOTEL OCCUPANCY
TAX" ~ PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF A HOTEL OCCUPANCY
TAX; PROVIDING FOR EXEMPTION; PROVIDING FOR REPORTS~ PROVIDING
FOR RULES AND REGULATIONS BY THE TAX COLLECTOR~ PROVIDING FOR
A PENALTY; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE:
PART I.
Chapter l2 1/4 shall be added to the Code of Ordinances
of the City of La Porte, Texas, ent i tled "Hotel Occupancy
Tax," which shall read as follows:
CHAPTER l2 l/4
HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX
SECTION 12 1/4-l - DEFINITIONS
The following words, terms and phrases are, for the purposes
of this chapter, except where the context clearly indicates a
different meaning, defined as follows:
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(a) Hotel - Shall mean any building or buildings, trailer
or other facilities, in which the public may, for a considera-
tion, obtain sleeping accommodations.
The term shall include
hotel, motels, tourist homes, houses or courts, lodging houses,
inns, rooming houses, or other buildings where rooms are fur-
nished for a consideration, but hotels shall not be defined so
as to include hospitals, sanitariums or nursing homes.
(b) Consideration
Shall mean the cost of the room,
sleeping space, bed or other facilities in such hotel and shall
not include the cost of any food served or personal services
rendered to the occupant of such room not related to the cleaning
and readying of such room, sleeping space, bed or other facility
for occupancy.
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Ordinance No. 1373
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(c) Occupancy - Shall mean the use or possession, or the
right to use or possession of any room or rooms in a hotel for
any purpose.
(d) Occupant - Shall mean anyone, who, for a consideration,
uses, possesses, or has a right to use or possess any room or
rooms, sleeping space, bed or other facility in a hotel under
any lease, concession, permit, right of access, license, contract
or agreement.
(e) Person - Shall mean any individual, company, corpora-
tion or association owning, operating, managing or controlling
any hote 1.
( f) Tax Collector - Shall mean the Tax Collector of the
City of La Porte, Texas.
(g) Quarterly Period - Shall mean the regular calendar
quarters of the year, the first quarter be ing composed of the
months of January, February and March; the second quarter being
the months of April, May and June; the third quarter being the
months of July, August and September; and the fourth quarter
being the months of October, November and December.
(h) Permanent Resident - Shall mean any occupant who has
or shall have the right to occupancy of any room or rooms or
sleeping space or other facility in a hotel for at least thirty
(30) consecutive days during the current calendar year or
preceding year.
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SECTION 12 l/4-2 - LEVY OF TAX~ RATE: EXCEPTION
(a) Thl~re is hereby levied a tax upon the cost of Occu-
pancy of any room or space furnished by any Hotel where such
costs of Occupancy is at the rate of two dollars ($2.00) or
e more per day, such tax to be equal to four percent (4%) of the .~,.
Consideration paid by the Occupant of such rooms to such Hotel.
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Ordinance No.
l373
, Page 3.
(b) No tax shall be imposed hereunder upon a Permanent
Resident.
(c) No tax shall be imposed hereunder upon a corporation
or association organized and operated exclusively for religious,
charitable or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings
of which inures to the benefi t of any private shareholder or
individual.
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SECTION 12 1/4-3 - COLLECTION.
Every Person owning, operating, managing or controlling
any Hotel shall collect the tax imposed in Section l2 1/4-2
hereof for the City of La Porte.
SECTION l2 1/4-4 - REPORTS.
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On the last day of the month following each quarterly
period, every Person required hereby to collect the tax imposed
by this Article shall file a report wi th the Tax Collector
showing the Consideration paid for all room occupancies in the
preceding quarter, the amount of the tax collected on the
Ci ty' s behalf on such occupanc ies, and any other informat ion
as the Tax Collector may reasonably require~ such reports
shall be in writing. Such Person shall pay over the tax due
on such occupancies at the time of filing such report. There
shall also be furnished to the Tax Collector of the Ci ty of
La Porte at the time of payment of such tax, a copy of the
quarterly tax report filed with the State Comptroller in con-
nection with the State of Texas Hotel Occupancy Tax. The
Person required to collect the tax may deduct and withhold from
the Person's payment to City, as reimbursement for the cost of
collect ing the tax, an amount equal to one per cent (l%) of
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Ordinance No. l373
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the amount of tax collected and required to be reported to City.
Such reimbursement shall be forfei ted in case of failure of
Person to pay the tax or file reports as required by City.
SECTION l2 l/4-5 - ADOPTION OF PROCEDURES, RULES & REGULATIONS:
ACCESS TO BOOKS, RECORDS.
The Tax Collector shall adopt such procedures, rules and
regulations as are reasonably necessary to effectively collect
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the tax levied herein, and shall upon request of any Person
owning, operating, managing or controlling any Hotel furnish a
copy of such procedures, rules and regulations for the guidance
of such Person and facilitate the collection of such tax as
such collection is required herein. Such procedure, rules and
regulations shall be in writing and a copy thereof shall be
placed on file wi th the Ci ty Secretary.
The Tax Collector
shall be permitted to have access to the books and records
during reasonable business hours as shall be necessary to
enable the Ta.x Collector to determine the correctness of the
amount due under the provisions of this article, or to determine
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whether or not a report should have been filed and the amount,
if necessary, of taxes due.
SECTION 12 1/4-6 - PENALTIES
(a) If any Person required by th.e provisions of this
article to collect a tax imposed herein or make reports as
required herein, and pay to the Tax Collector the tax imposed
herein, shall fail to collect such tax, file such report, or
pay such tax" or if any Person shall file a false report, or
any Person shall violate any of the provisions of this article,
such Person shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor and upon
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conviction shall be punished by a fine not to exceed two hundred
dollars ($200.00).
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Ordinance No. l373
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(b) If the operators of any Hotels shall fail to
file a report for any period as required by this article, or
shall fail to pay the tax for any period as required by this
article, then the Tax Collector is hereby authorized to make an
assessment of the tax for such period. The tax assessed together
with any penalty provided by this article shall be a prior and
superior lien on the property of the Hotel.
In addition, City
may enforce the payment of delinquent taxes hereunder, by bring-
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ing suit to close down the particular Hotel or Motel until such
taxes are paid in full, as authorized by Art. l269i-4.1, Sec-
tion 3, V.A.T.S.
PART I I.
If any section, sentence, phrase, clause, or any part of
any section, sentence, phrase, or clause, of this ordinance
shall, for any reason, be held invalid, such invalidity shall
not affect the remaining portions of this Ordinance, and it is
hereby declared to be the intention of this Ci ty Council to
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have passed €!ach sect ion, sentence, phrase or clause, or part
thereof, irrespective of the fact that any other section,
sentence, phrase or clause, or part thereof, may be declared
invalid.
PART III.
This Ordinance shall be effective October 1, 1983. The
City Secretary shall give notice of the passage of this ordinance
by causing the caption hereof to be published in the official
newspaper in the City of La Porte at least twice wi thin ten
(10) days after the passage of this ordinance.
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Ordinance No.
1373
, Page 6.
PART IV.
The City Council officially finds, determines, recites
and declares that a sufficient written notice of the date,
hour, place and subject of this meeting of the Ci ty Council
was posted at a place convenient to the publ ic at the City
Hall of the Ci ty for the time required by law preceding this
meeting, as required by the Open Meetings Law, Article 6252-l7,
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Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated: and that this meeting
has been open to the public as required by law at all times
during which this ordinance and the subject matter thereof has
been discussed, considered and formally acted upon. The City
Council further ratifies, approves and confirms such written
notice and the contents and posting thereof.
PASSED AND APPROVED this the 24Lh
day of August, 1983.
CITY OF LA PORTE
By
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Cline, Mayor
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ATTEST:
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Assistant Cit.y Secretary
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APPROVED:
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City Attorney
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THE STATE OF TEXAS ~
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COUNTY OF HARRIS S
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This agreement made and entered into effective the 1st
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day of
October, 1983, by and between the City of La Porte, a municipal
corporation, hereinafter called "City", and The La Porte - Bayshore
Chamber of Commerce, a non-prof it corpora t ion chartered under the
Laws of ,the State of Texas, hereinafter called "Chamber",
WIT N E SSE T H:
WHEREAS, City has recently passed an ordinance providing for the
assessment and collection of a Hotel Occupancy Tax in the City of
La Porte of four percent (4%) of the consideration paid by the occupant
of a room, space or facility in any hotel: and
WHEREAS, thp. Chamber is well equipped to advertise and conduct
solicitation programs to acquaint potential users with public meeting
and convention facilities find to promote tourism and advertise the
City of La Porte; and
WHEREAS, it is to the mutual benefit of the City and Chamber that
the City provide funds to the Chamber for the above stated purposes
and that the Chamber use such funds to the Chamber for the above stated
purposes and that the Chamber use such funds for such purposes:
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and of the mutual
covenants herein contained, City and Chamber hereby agree as follows:
l. Chamber shall employ its best efforts for general promotional
and tourist advertising of the City of La Porte and conducting solici-
tat ion and operating programs to contract conventions and visitors,
including the establishment and operation by Chamber of a convention
and visitors bureau.
2. As a consideration for the services set forth in Paragraph 1
hereof, City agrees to pay to Chamber an amount equal to twenty-five
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per cent (25%) of the amount actually collected by the City from the
Hotel Occupancy Tax in any City fiscal year during the term of this
agreement.
3. The City shall, on or before the 45th day following the end
of each quarter, pay twenty-five per cent (25%) of any amount of the
monies collected for that quarter, less one percent (1 %), to the
Chamber. The quarters will end on the 31st day of March, the 30th
day of June, the 30th day of September and the 31st day of December
of each year.
4. The Chamber agrees that it will record expenditures involved
in this program on a monthly basis in separate accounts. The books
of account will be maintained in a form approved by the City Manager
of the City of La Porte, and will be available for inspecting and
copying by the City Manager, his duly authorized agents and repre-
sentatives, during regular business hours of the Chamber.
5. Th irty days after the end of every year the Chamber will
furnish to City a performance report of its work under this contract
in a form determi.ned by the City Manager and which shall reflect
overall activity, meetings, conventions and conferences conducted,
identity and amounts of advertising conducted, copies of literature
produced as well as a description of direct mailings in the last
year, and the expenditures during the year of the funds received
pursuant to this contract.
6. It is understood and agreed that Chamber shall not in any
sense be considered a partner or joint venturer with City, nor shall
Chamber be considered nor in any manner hold itself out as an agent or
official representative of City. Chamber shall be considered an inde-
pendent contractor for the purposes of this agreement and shall in no
manner incur any expenses or liability on behalf of City.
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7. Chamber does further agree to hold City harmless from any and
all claims by third parties for any injuries, damage or liability
occasioned by Chamber in connection with this agreement.
8. In is understood and agreed that this contract shall be ter-
minated upon occurrence of any of the following events:
(a) The giving of written notice by either party to the other
party a t leas t ninety ( 90) days prior to the da te of termi nation;
(b) The termination of the cor.porate existence of Chamber;
(c) The insolvency of Chamber, the filing of a petition in
bankruptcy, either by or against Chamber, or an assignment by Chamber
for the benefit of creditors:
(d) The breach by Chamber of any of the terms and conditions of
this agreement and the continuation of such breach for a period of ten
( 10) days after wr it ten not ice is given by Ci ty t.o Chamber of such
breach;
9. In the event of the termination of this agreement as provided
in Paragraph 8 hereof, Chamber shall submit to City a statement showing
any expenses incurred by it for the present year in which said termi-
na t ion takes plact~ and Ci ty agrees to re imburse Chamber, to the
extent that said monies are collected from the Hotel Occupancy Tax
during that year, an amount equal to the lesser of the expenses
incurred by the Chamber during that year or the amount of tax collected
for that year. City also realizes that Chamber may have committed
themselves to pay expenses for conventions that will occur after the
termination of this agreement, and City agrees to reimburse the
Chamber for such expenses up to the cumulative sum of $1,000.00 from
the Hotel Occupancy Tax.
lO. Chamber shall not assign this contract without the written
consent of City first obtained in writing.
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11. Any notice required to be given under the terms and provi-
sions of this agreement shall be efEective if and when given in writing
and deposited in the United States Mail, certified or registered mail,
return receipt requested, on the date so deposited and addressed to the
respective parties as follows:
Ci ty Manager
Ci ty of La Porte
P. O. Box ll15
La Porte, Texas 77571
Executive Vice-President
La Porte - Bayshore Chamber of Commerce
P. O. Box 996
La Porte, Texas 77571
12. All the terms, conditions and stipulations of this contract
are subject to all applicable federal laws, state laws, the Charter of
the City of La Porte, all ordinances passed pursuant thereto and all
judicial determinations relative thereto.
WITNESS OUR HANDS, effective the lst day of October, 1983.
CITY OF LA PORTE
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ATTEST:
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Assistant City Secretary
A~zdd
Ci ty At torney
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ATTEST:
Secre tary
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LA PORTE - BAYSHORE CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE
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By: 4...~..(..A,-w..rQ J'~"'-LL_
President