(a) Collection and Payment.
(1) Taxes collected by the hotel operator shall be due and payable to the City of Keyser in monthly installments on or before the 15th day of each month; provided, that for credit sales in which the tax authorized by this article is not collected by the hotel operator at the time of such sale, such tax shall not be considered accrued until the date which it is received by the hotel operator or upon the expiration of the thirty-day payment period. The hotel operator shall deliver with each tax payment a return, as prescribed by the city, detailing sales activity for that taxing period. The City of Keyser may enter into an agreement with Mineral County Commission in the collection of the Hotel Occupancy Tax.
(2) The first month that the tax is delinquent, there shall be assessed a penalty in the amount of five (5) percent of the tax due for the delinquent period. For each additional month that the tax remains delinquent, there shall be further assessed an additional one (1) percent penalty per month until the tax is paid. No payment for a subsequent period shall be collected until all prior delinquent taxes have been paid in full with all penalties assessed thereto.
(b) General Procedures and Administration.
(1) The City Administrator shall be the City’s agent for administration and collection of the tax and shall have the power to distrain property and to initiate civil suits for collection of this tax. The City may enter into an agreement with the Mineral County Commission in the collection of the Hotel Occupancy Tax. The City Council may promulgate such additional administrative regulations and return forms as may be necessary or desirable for the administration and the collection of the tax. The City Administrator shall have the power and the duty to issue and to receive tax returns for this tax.
(2) Hotel operators shall keep complete and accurate records of taxable sales and charges, together with a record of the tax collected thereon and shall keep all invoices and other pertinent documents for a period not less than three years unless written permission to destroy such records is obtained from the City Administrator.
(3) The administration of the article shall be in full compliance with West Virginia Code Chapter 7, Article 18, and as such shall be governed by all its provisions whether or not they are expressly set forth by this article.
(c) Proceeds of Tax. The proceeds of the tax collected by the City shall be deposited in the General Fund and shall be accounted for separately from other funds received by the City. All expenditures made from these revenues shall be approved by the Mayor/Council and such expenditures shall be in compliance with West Virginia Code Chapter 7, Article 18, Section 14.
(d) Criminal Penalties. Persons violating the provisions of this article shall be subject to criminal penalties as provided by West Virginia Code Chapter 7, Article 18, Section 15.
(e) Exclusions. The following exclusions shall apply in the administration of this tax:
(1) Hotel room occupancy billed directly to the federal government shall be exempt from this tax.
(2) Hotel room occupancy billed directly to the State of West Virginia or its political subdivisions shall be exempt from this tax.
(Ord. 229. Passed 4-19-89.)