The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
CONSIDERATION: The cost of the room in a 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 for occupancy, and shall not include any tax assessed for occupancy therefor by any other governmental agency.
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE: The director of finance of the city.
HOTEL: Any building in which the public may, for a consideration, obtain sleeping accommodations. The term shall include hotels, motels, tourist homes, houses or courts, lodging houses, inns, rooming houses, apartments or other buildings where rooms are furnished for consideration, but hotel shall not be defined so as to include hospitals, sanitariums or nursing homes.
OCCUPANCY: The use or possession of any room or rooms in a hotel for any purpose.
PERMANENT RESIDENT: Any occupant who has or shall have the right to occupancy of any room or rooms in a hotel for at least thirty (30) consecutive days during the current calendar year or preceding year.
PERSON: Any individual, company, corporation or association owning, operating, managing or controlling any hotel.
QUARTERLY PERIOD: The regular calendar quarter of the year, the first quarter being composed of the months of January, February and March, the second 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. (Ord. 03-02-01, 2-6-2001)
A. There is hereby levied a tax upon the cost of occupancy of any room or space furnished in any hotel, where such cost of occupancy is at a rate of two dollars ($2.00) or more per day; such tax shall be equal to seven percent (7%) of the consideration paid by the occupant of such room, space or utility of such hotel, exclusive of other occupancy taxes imposed by other governmental agencies; provided, however, not less than the amount of revenue received by the city from the tax at a rate of one percent (1%) of the cost of the room shall be used for the purposes of advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to attract tourists and convention delegates or registrants to the city or its vicinity. It is further provided that this money is hereby authorized to be contracted with the chamber of commerce for the purposes of providing such services on behalf of the city in accordance with Vernon's Texas Code Annotated section 351.101.
B. No tax shall be imposed under this chapter upon a permanent resident of such hotel. (Ord. 03-02-01, 2-6-2001)
The person responsible for collecting the tax due on the occupancies described in section 3-13-2 of this chapter shall remit the tax to the city on the fifteenth day following each month of collection as required in this chapter. Along with such payment, the person required to collect the occupancy taxes levied in this chapter shall file a report with the director of finance of the city showing the consideration paid for all room or sleeping space occupancies in the preceding monthly period, the amount of tax collected on such occupancy and any other information as the director of finance or his/her designated representative may reasonably require. Such report shall be in writing. In addition to such report, the person collecting such occupancy tax shall also forward to the city, on a quarterly basis, the report required to be filed with the state relating to the hotel occupancy tax imposed by the state on such occupancy. (Ord. 03-02-01, 2-6-2001)
The director of finance shall adopt such procedures, rules and regulation as are reasonably necessary to effectively collect the tax levied in this chapter, 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 in this chapter. Such procedures, rules and regulations shall be in writing and copy thereof shall be placed on file with the city secretary. The director of finance or his/her designated representative shall be permitted to have access to books and records during reasonable business hours as shall be necessary to enable the director of finance to determine the correctness of the amount due under the provisions of this chapter or to determine whether a report should have been filed and the amount, if necessary, of taxes due. (Ord. 03-02-01, 2-6-2001)
A. On the first day after the date on which any tax imposed by this chapter shall be due and payable, there is hereby added to such tax a penalty equal to five percent (5%) of the amount of such tax. If any such tax remains delinquent for thirty (30) days after such due date, there is hereby added to such tax an additional penalty of five percent (5%) of such tax. If any such tax remains delinquent for a period of sixty (60) days after such due date, then in addition to such tax and penalty, there is hereby imposed an interest payment of the amount of such delinquent tax equal to ten percent (10%) per annum until such tax or portion thereof is finally and fully paid in full.
B. In addition to any other remedies provided by law or by this chapter for the collection of the tax imposed under this chapter, the city attorney, or other attorney acting for the city attorney, may bring suit against a person who is required to collect the tax imposed by this chapter, and pay the collections over to the city, and in addition, such attorney may bring suit against any person who has failed to file a report or pay the tax when it is due, and enjoin such person from operating a hotel in the city until the tax is paid or the report is filed, or both, as applicable and as provided in the injunction. (Ord. 03-02-01, 2-6-2001)