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When used in this chapter and unless otherwise distinctly expressed, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning set out herein.
(a) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, social club, fraternal organization, joint stock company, corporation, estate, trust business, trust receiver, trustee, syndicate or any other group or combination acting as a unit.
(b) "Auditor" means the Auditor of the City of Elyria, Ohio.
(c) "Hotel or motel" means every establishment kept, used, maintained, advertised or rented out to the public to be a place where sleeping accommodations are offered for a consideration of the guests, in which five or more rooms are used for the accommodation of such guests whether such rooms are in one or several structures.
(d) "Transient guests" means persons occupying a room or rooms for sleeping accommodations for less than thirty consecutive days.
(e) "Rent" means the consideration received for occupancy valued in money, whether received n money or otherwise, including all receipts, cash, credits and property or services of any kind or nature, and also any amount for which the occupant is liable for the occupancy without any deduction therefrom whatsoever.
(f) "Operator" means any person who is the proprietor of a hotel, whether in the capacity of owner-lessee, licensee or any other capacity. Where the operator performs his functions through a managing agent of any type or character, other than employee, a managing agent shall be deemed an operator for the purpose of this chapter, and shall have the same duties and liabilities as his principal. Compliance with the provisions of this chapter by either the principal or the managing agent, however, shall be considered to be compliance by both.
(g) "Occupancy" means the use or possession, or the right to the use or possession, of any room or rooms or space or portion thereof in any hotel for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes. The use or possession or right to use or possess any room or any suite of connecting rooms as office space, banquet or private dining rooms or exhibits, sample or display shall not be considered occupancy within the meaning of this definition unless the person exercising occupancy uses or possesses, or has the right to use or possess all or any portion of such room or suite of rooms for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
For the purpose of providing revenue with which to meet the needs of the City, for the use of the General Fund of the City, an excise tax is hereby levied on transactions by which lodging by a hotel is or is to be furnished to transient guests. The tax is three percent on all rents paid or to be paid by the transient guest for lodging. Such tax constitutes a debt owed by the transient guest to the City, which is extinguished only by payment to the operator as trustee for the City, or to the City. The tax applies and is collectible at the time the lodging is furnished regardless of the time when the price is paid.
For the purposes of the proper administration of this chapter, and to prevent the evasion of the tax, it is presumed that all lodging furnished by hotels in the City to transient guests is subject to the tax until the contrary is established.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77; Ord. 79-125. Passed 5-7-79.)
No tax shall be imposed under this chapter:
(a) Upon rents not within the taxing power of the City under the Constitution or laws of Ohio or the United States;
(b) Upon rents paid by the State of Ohio or any of its political subdivisions.
No exemption claimed under subsections (a) and (b) hereof shall be granted except upon a claim therefrom made at the time rent is collected and under penalty of perjury upon a form prescribed by the Auditor. All claims of exemption shall be made in the manner prescribed by the Auditor.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
The tax imposed by this chapter shall be paid by the transient guest to the operator, and each operator shall collect from the transient guest the full and exact amount of the tax payable on each taxable lodging.
If the transaction is claimed to be exempt, the transient guest must furnish to the operator, and the operator must obtain from the transient guest a certificate specifying the reason that the sale is not reasonably subject to the tax. If no certificate is obtained, it shall be presumed the tax applies.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
The tax to be collected shall be stated and charged separately from the rent and shown separately on any record thereof, at the time when the occupancy is arranged or contracted and paid for, and upon every evidence of occupancy or any bill or statement or charge made for such occupancy issued or delivered by the operator, and the tax shall be paid by the occupant to the operator as a trustee for and on account of the City, and the operator shall be liable for the collection thereof and for the tax.
No operator of a hotel shall advertise or state in any manner, whether directly or indirectly, that the cash or any part thereof will be assumed or absolved by the operator, or that it will not be added to the rent, or that if added, any part will be refunded except as in the manner hereinafter provided.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
Within the thirty days after the effective date of this chapter or within thirty days after commencing business, whichever is later, each operator of any hotel renting lodging to transient guests shall register such hotel with the City Auditor and obtain from him a transient occupancy registration certificate to be at all times posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. Such certificate shall, among other things, state the following:
(a) The name of the operator;
(b) The address of the hotel;
(c) The date upon which the certificate was issued;
(d) "This transient occupancy registration certificate signifies that the person named on the face hereof has fulfilled the requirements of the hotel-motel tax ordinance by registering with the Auditor of the City of Elyria for the purpose of collecting from transient guests the hotel-motel tax and remitting said tax to the Auditor of the City of Elyria. This certificate does not constitute a permit."
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
Each operator shall keep complete and accurate records of lodgings furnished, together with a record of the tax collected thereon, which shall be the amount due under this chapter, and shall keep all invoices and such other pertinent documents. If the operator furnishes lodging not subject to the tax, the operator's records shall show the identity of the transient guest if the sale was not exempted by reason of such identity, or the nature of the transaction if exempted for any other reason. Such records and other documents shall be opened during business hours to the inspection of the City Auditor and shall be preserved for a period of four years, unless the Auditor in like, consents to their destruction within that period, or by any orders requesting that such records be kept for a longer period of time.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
Each operator shall, on or before the last day of the month following the close of each calendar quarter year, or at the close of any shorter reporting period which may be established by the City Auditor, make a return to the Auditor, on forms provided by him, of the total rents charged and received and the amount of tax collected by transient occupancies. All claims for exemption from tax filed by the occupants with the operator during the reporting period shall be filed with the report. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the Auditor. The Auditor may establish shorter reporting periods for any certificate holder if he deems it necessary in order to assure the collection of the tax, and he may require further information in the return if such information is pertinent to the collection of the tax. Rates and payments are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason. All taxes collected by operators pursuant to this chapter shall be held in trust for the account of the City until payment thereof is made to the Auditor. All rents and payments submitted by each operator shall be treated as confidential by the Auditor and shall not be released by him except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or to an officer or agent of the United States, the State of Ohio, County of Lorain, City of Elyria for official use only.
(Ord. 77-3. Passed 1-18-77.)
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