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PUBLICATION OR DISCLOSURE OF DELINQUENT FEE INFORMATION
The Treasurer of the city collects fees. It is a goal of the office of the Treasurer to achieve the effective collection of current and delinquent fees while providing quality customer service. This policy provides procedures for collecting delinquent municipal fee accounts by publishing or disclosing delinquent account information to aid in the collection of fees enacted by city ordinance, authorized by W.Va. Code § 8-13-13 and any other operative laws of the state.
(Ord. 066, passed 9-20-2007)
(A) The Treasurer of the city may, from time to time in his or her discretion, prepare one or more lists of those certain service fee accounts for the previous period(s) which are reflected as delinquent in the city’s records and to be included for publication, which list shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with W.Va. Code §§ 59-3-1 et seq., and the publication area for such publication shall be the county.
(B) The delinquent account information published or disclosed pursuant to this policy may show the name of any person(s) associated with the delinquent account, including business name and owners thereof (if applicable), address of, and the amount or amounts due from each delinquent account in the aggregate or by period. The published list shall display the applicable period(s) to which the delinquency relates. The list may be presented in any sequence, format or grouping the Treasurer may determine and may omit accounts with de minimus delinquencies.
(C) The Treasurer, after ascertaining which accounts are delinquent, shall, at least ten days prior to publication or release of a list, send notice to the last known name and address on record with the city associated with the account. The notice shall identify the delinquent account and/or responsible person(s) of last record, the applicable period(s) covered, aggregate amount due and the procedures for settling the account. Any account that is delinquent may be removed from the delinquent list prior to publication or release by paying the city the full amount of fees and all related costs owed by such account before the list is delivered for publication or release. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, a regular fee billing statement showing that an account is more than 60 days overdue shall satisfy the notice requirement of this division (C).
(D) The Treasurer, prior to the delivering a delinquent list to the newspaper or otherwise releasing such list, shall review the same and be satisfied that the list is correct.
(Ord. 066, passed 9-20-2007)
No irregularity, error, omission or mistake in respect to anything provided by this policy to be done concerning the delinquent lists shall invalidate any fee administered by the city. No irregularity, error, omission or mistake shall invalidate any collection or enforcement procedures used by the city with respect to any delinquent account. Nor shall any person be allowed to enjoin or otherwise question the validity of any subsequent step in the collection and enforcement procedures by reason of any irregularity, error, omission or mistake. Any action by the Treasurer in good faith reliance on this policy shall relieve the Treasurer and the city from any claim by any person aggrieved by any publication or disclosure hereunder. The Treasurer may, without any investigation or inquiry, rely upon the city’s existing and future regular procedures and systems, including computerized collection systems, in determining the name(s), amounts, periods and nature of purported delinquent accounts for purposes of this policy.
(Ord. 066, passed 9-20-2007)
The promulgation of this policy does not in any way limit the city from utilizing other methods of collection, including without limitation, administrative or judicial actions, liens, boot/tow orders, cease and desist orders, payment plans, collection agencies and credit bureaus and all other methods permitted by law.
(Ord. 066, passed 9-20-2007)
PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICE TAX
For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICE. Any service or tangible personal property purchased within this city from a seller, as hereinafter in this section defined, namely: telephone service; electric service; gas service, including bottled or liquid gas, if the seller thereof is classified as a public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the State Public Service Commission; water service and sanitary sewer service if purchased, used or consumed within the corporate limits of this city.
PURCHASER. Any person who purchases, uses or consumes a public utility service.
SELLER. Any person, whether a public service corporation, a municipality or private corporation, classified as a public utility and subject to the jurisdiction of the State Public Service Commission, who sells, furnishes or supplies a public utility service.
USER. The owner or tenant of private residential property or the owner or tenant of property used for commercial or industrial purposes, and every combination thereof, of every kind.
(1991 Code, § 15-1) (Ord. passed 5-3-1971)
There is hereby imposed and levied upon every purchaser of a public utility service an excise tax upon the privilege of purchasing, using or consuming, within the corporate limits of the city, such public utility service. Such tax shall be in the amount of 2% of the charge, exclusive of any federal or state tax thereon imposed upon the purchaser, made by the seller against the purchaser with respect to each public utility service, which tax, in every case, shall be collected by the seller and paid by the purchaser upon the amount of each periodic statement rendered such purchaser by the seller, and shall be paid by the purchaser to the seller at the time the purchase price or such charge shall become due and payable under the agreement between the purchaser and the seller. The tax imposed and levied by this subchapter is in addition to all other taxes imposed and levied by this city. In the event the amount of the charge for any single public utility service exceeds an amount set by Council from time to time in any given calendar month to any single purchaser, no tax shall be imposed for such additional purchase, use or consumption in excess of an amount set by Council from time to time. In the event more than one public utility shall furnish the identical public utility service to the same purchaser, the purchaser shall be entitled to group such services as a single public utility service in calculating the amount of the charges in any calendar month for such public utility service.
(1991 Code, § 15-2) (Ord. passed 5-3-1971)
It shall be the duty of every seller, in acting as the tax-collecting medium or agency for the city, to collect from each purchaser for the use of the city the tax hereby imposed and levied at the time of collecting the purchase price charged for its public utility service, and the amount of tax actually collected during each calendar month shall be reported by each seller to the city, and each seller shall remit the amount of tax shown by such report to have been collected by the city on or before the last day of the second calendar month following the month in which collected, as well as the name and address of any purchaser who has failed or refused to pay the tax so imposed and levied. The required reports shall be in the form prescribed by the City Collector and Treasurer.
(1991 Code, § 15-3) (Ord. passed 5-3-1971)
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