(A) Investment of public funds.
(1) Pursuant to I.C. 5-13-9-1, the County Treasurer is the Investing Officer of the county.
(2) Investments authorized by this division (A) may not exceed 50% of the funds held by the Investing Officer and available for investment. This limitation does not apply to investments made by the County Treasurer between the date that is ten days before each property tax installment is due, and the property tax settlement distribution date.
(3) The portfolio of the investment company, or investment trust described in this division (A)(3) must be limited to the following: U.S. Treasury securities; Federal Instrumentality securities; time certificates of deposit; repurchase agreements; money market mutual funds; local government investment pools; CDARS (Certificate of Deposit Registry); negotiable certificates of deposit; and municipal securities.
(4) The form of securities of, or interests in, an investment company or investment trust described in division (A)(3) above must be rated as either:
(a) AAAm, or its equivalent, by Standard and Poor’s Corporation, or its successor; or
(b) Aaa, or its equivalent, by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., or its successor.
(5) Investments made pursuant to this division (A) shall be made through depositories designated by the State Board of Finance as depositories for state deposits.
(B) Collections, audit of innkeeper’s taxes.
(1) Innkeeper’s tax shall be paid monthly to the County Treasurer.
(2) The Treasurer may create forms for use by taxpayers for filing and collection of innkeeper’s tax.
(3) For lodging facilities obligated to collect innkeeper’s tax, a monthly report shall be submitted to the Treasurer, along with payment of any innkeeper’s tax collected, by the twentieth of the month following the month of collection (for example, an innkeeper’s tax monthly report shall be submitted by February 20 for activity in January).
(4) For the purposes of this division (B), an innkeeper’s tax monthly report shall be considered timely submitted if the envelope used to mail the report, and any payment, via first class U.S. mail is postmarked on the twentieth of the month, or before. The Treasurer shall also accept monthly reports and any payments at the Treasurer’s Office.
(a) A monthly report is due from any lodging facility covered by the innkeeper’s tax law even if no innkeeper’s tax has been collected in the previous calendar month.
(b) If the twentieth of the month falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the innkeeper’s tax monthly report shall be submitted by the next following business day.
(c) Any monthly reports submitted the after the due date must include a penalty calculated at 10% of the innkeeper’s tax paid, or to be paid, without prorating for the number of days that the monthly report is overdue.
(5) Recognizing that I.C. 6-9-29-3 provides that the Treasurer has the same rights and powers with respect to collecting the innkeeper’s tax as does the Department of State Revenue, the Treasurer is authorized to conduct audits and investigations of taxpayers concerning collection and payment of the innkeeper’s tax. Specifically, but not exclusively, the Treasurer may examine the books, records, papers, or other data bearing on the correctness of innkeeper’s tax returns, including those pertinent records of third parties handling funds for the credit of, or acting as an agent for, any lodging facility subject to the innkeeper’s tax.
(6) Pursuant to I.C. 6-8.1-3- 12(h), the Treasurer has concurrent jurisdiction with the State Department of Revenue to investigate and audit the innkeeper’s tax returns and reports; further, pursuant to 6-8.1-3-12(h), at the discretion of the Treasurer, the cost of the audit of the innkeeper’s tax may be charged or assessed against the lodging facility audited.
(7) After completion of the audit, the results of the audit will be provided to the lodging facility by the audit firm or Treasurer.
(8) Upon receipt of the audit results, the Treasurer shall either:
(a) Remit to the lodging facility the amount of the innkeeper’s tax overpaid; or
(b) Send a statement to the lodging facility for the amount of the innkeeper’s tax due, requesting payment within 30 business days of the date of the statement.
(9) The Treasurer may retain accountants or investigators for purposes of conducting audits of lodging facilities subject to the innkeeper’s tax; the Treasurer may retain legal counsel for purposes of the bringing of enforcement actions for collection of innkeeper’s tax and cost thereof.
(C) Information obtained; prohibited.
(1) The county hereby prohibits information obtained from the County Treasurer to be used for a commercial purpose.
(2) For the purpose of this division (C), COMMERCIAL PURPOSES shall mean to sell, advertise, or solicit the purchase of merchandise, goods, or services, or sell, loan, give away, or otherwise deliver the information obtained by the request to any other person (as defined in I.C. 5-14-3-2) for these purposes. Use of information received under division (B)(4) above in connection with the preparation or publication of new, for nonprofit, activities, or for academic research is not prohibited. A person who uses information in a manner contrary to a rule or ordinance adopted under this division may be prohibited by the state agency or political subdivision from obtaining a copy or any further data under division (B)(4) above.
(3) A violation of this division (C) will cause the person, entity, corporation, company, or proprietorship to be prohibited from obtaining any further information from the county.
(4) The county will charge $200 to mortgage companies for providing full tax files to assist with their escrow payments of taxes to the county.
(5) Any and all fees and fines collected as a result of this division (C) shall be placed in a separate Treasurer Technology Fund for the purchase of specific items not contained in the Treasurer’s regular budget.
(Ord. 2003-08, passed 4-1-2003; Council Ord. 2006-29, passed 12-14-2006; Council Ord. 2012-21, passed 8-16-2012; Ord. 2016-16, passed 6-14-2016)