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(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
The following words and phrases whenever used in this article shall be construed as defined in this section:
(a) “building” shall mean any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls, for the housing, shelter or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels or property of any kind;
(b) “improvement to property” shall mean a building or other improvement erected on or affixed to a parcel;
(c) “parcel” shall mean a unit of real property as shown on the last equalized assessment roll of Los Angeles County; and
(d) “system” shall mean a police dispatch system, known as the Police Emergency Command Control Communications System, which includes the following: a replacement and enhanced voice and digital radio system component; a replacement for the Police Department’s computer-aided dispatch system and the associated police dispatch center located in the metropolitan area; hand-held radios and mobile data terminals; and the addition of a new police/fire 9-1-1 communications component, and a new police communications and dispatch center to be located in the San Fernando Valley.
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
(a) Nothing in this article shall be construed as imposing a tax upon any person when imposition of such tax upon that person would be in violation of either the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of California.
(b) The tax imposed by this article shall not be levied upon the federal government, the state government, any state agency, or any local governmental agency.
(c) The tax imposed by this article shall not be levied upon a parcel of property or improvement which is owned by an organization described in Sections 401(a), 501(c), or 501(d) of Title 26 of the United States Code. All sections of the United States Code shall mean those sections as they exist on the effective date of this article and as they may be amended thereafter.
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
(a) There is hereby imposed a special tax on each parcel, improvement to property, and the use of property within the City of Los Angeles (hereafter “City”) for the purposes set forth in this article. The special tax shall be for a period not greater than 20 fiscal years, commencing with the fiscal year 1993-94 as set forth in Section 21.16.6 hereof.
(b) This tax is enacted under the authority of Section 101 of the Los Angeles City Charter, other authority held as a charter city, and, independently thereof, under the authority of California Government Code Sections 50075- 50077.5 and California Government Code Sections 53970- 53979. (Amended by Ord. No. 173,304, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
(a) (i) The purpose of this special tax is to provide funds to the City to pay or fund:
1. lease payments to be made by the City pursuant to any lease of the System or any component thereof, including any land or building to be acquired or constructed;
2. expenses incurred incident to the authorization, issuance or sale of the bonds referred to below (including refunding bonds);
3. costs or expenses incurred by any lessor of any component of the System in connection with the execution, performance or enforcement of any such lease or any assignment thereof, the acquisition, construction or ownership of any such component or the lease thereof to the City, including, but not limited to, fees, costs, expenses or administrative costs of any such lessor in connection with any such component;
4. costs or expenses (including attorneys’ fees and disbursements) of any trustee under any trust agreement or indenture under which any of the bonds referred to below are issued, including but not limited to compensation and indemnification of any such trustee;
5. any amounts required to be paid into any reserve fund created under any such trust agreement or indenture, or amounts to be set aside for deposit into reserve funds for bonds referred to below (including refunding bonds) theretofore or thereafter issued;
6. any insurance premiums payable on account of any component of the System or its use or operation, as well as amounts paid to or to be set aside in any self-insurance fund or risk retention account, or amounts to be set aside to provide for payment of any deductible under any insurance policy;
7. any amounts payable incident to obtaining or maintaining, or otherwise pursuant to, any credit enhancement or liquidity agreements or arrangements with respect to any of such bonds or lease;
8. any amounts payable
(a) incident to obtaining or maintaining, or otherwise pursuant to, any surety bond, letter of credit or other credit arrangement obtained to fund initially or at any later date any reserve fund or part thereof created under any such trust agreement or otherwise in respect of such bonds, or
(b) to reimburse for any payment made under any such surety bond, letter of credit or other credit arrangement, including interest thereon;
9. any amounts payable pursuant to any contract entered into pursuant to Section 21.16.4 (a)(iii);
10. any amounts required to be paid to the United States of America as a rebate in order for interest payments on any of such bonds to be exempt from federal income taxes;
11. any amounts to be set aside for payment or prepayment of future lease payments in respect of any component of the System (whether then leased or expected to be leased thereafter) or for the defeasance, payment, prepayment or redemption of any of the bonds referred to below (including refunding bonds), including the payment of any prepayment penalty or premium;
12. the costs of collecting and administering the tax; and
13. any amounts required to reimburse the General Fund of the City for amounts withdrawn from the General Fund and used for any of the purposes set forth in this Section 21.16.4.
(ii) The lease payments referred to in Section 21.16.4(a)(i) will serve as collateral for and the source of repayment of not to exceed $235,000,000 aggregate principal amount of lease revenue bonds to be issued as a single issue, or in two or more issues or series of an issue, by a nonprofit corporation, joint powers authority or other financing medium. Such lease payments may also serve as collateral for and the source of repayment of refunding bonds issued to refund lease revenue bonds; provided, however, that unless approved by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by voters voting on a proposition to increase the bonding authority, refunding bonds shall not be issued if the total net interest cost to maturity on the refunding bonds plus the principal amount of the refunding bonds exceeds the total net interest cost to maturity on the bonds to be refunded plus the principal amount of the bonds to be refunded.
The net proceeds of the lease revenue bonds (excluding refunding bonds) are to be used to acquire, construct or install components of the System. The System is required to provide more rapid, efficient delivery of response of police, fire, paramedic and other emergency services in the City. In the event the City shall lease any components of the System under a lease that is payable from the General Fund as well as from the special tax, and such lease provides for abatement of rent or other payments either in whole or in part in the event of damage to or destruction of any such components, then, in the event there is any such abatement, payments from the special tax permitted by this Section 21.16.4 shall be allocated first to, or in respect of, any component of the System for which payment from the General Fund has abated due to such damage or destruction, and thereafter to the balance of the components.
(iii) In connection with or incident to the entering into or maintaining any lease of the System or any component thereof or the issuance or maintenance of any lease revenue bonds contemplated by this ordinance, the City may enter into any contracts which it determines to be necessary or appropriate to place the obligations under any lease of the System or any component thereof, or to place the obligations under the lease revenue bonds, in whole or in part, on the interest rate, currency, cash flow or other basis desired by the City, including without limitation, contracts commonly known as interest rate swap agreements, currency swap agreements, forward payment conversion agreements, futures, or contracts providing for payments based upon levels of, or changes in, interest rates, currency exchange rates, stock or other indices, or contracts to exchange cash flows or a series of payments, or contracts, including without limitation, interest rate floors or caps, options, puts or calls to hedge payment, currency, rate, spread or similar exposure. These contracts may be entered into with the parties, selected by the means, contain the payment, security, default, remedy and other terms and conditions, determined by the City, after giving due consideration to the creditworthiness of the counter-parties where applicable, including any rating by a nationally-recognized rating agency or other criteria as may be appropriate. The City shall not enter into any of the foregoing contracts unless the City Council first determines that the contract is designed to result in a lower payment by the City incident to the lease of the System or any component thereof. Contracts or arrangements authorized by the foregoing shall comply with the provisions of Section 5922(b) of the California Government Code (as in effect on the date this Ordinance is approved by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by the voters voting on the special tax set forth herein) to the extent applicable.
(b) The Los Angeles City Council (hereafter “City Council”) may provide for the collection of the special tax in the same manner and subject to the same penalties as, or with, other charges and taxes fixed and collected by the City, or by the County of Los Angeles on behalf of the City of Los Angeles. If the special tax is collected by the County on behalf of the City, the County may deduct its reasonable costs incurred for such service.
(c) Director of Finance of Los Angeles (hereafter “Director of Finance”) costs and other costs of enforcement and administration of the tax, including refunds, shall be paid from the special tax revenues.
(d) No more than $235,000,000 of lease revenue bonds shall be issued under the authority of this Ordinance, unless a greater amount shall be approved by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by voters voting on a proposition to increase the bonding authority; provided, however, that without such voter approval, refunding bonds may be issued as specified in Section 21.16.4 (a) hereof; and provided further that approval for additional bonding authority shall not constitute approval of any increase in the maximum tax rate authorized by Section 21.16.6 hereof, nor shall it extend the period during which the tax may be imposed, unless expressly approved by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by voters voting on a proposition to so change the tax rate or to extend the period during which the tax may be imposed.
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
(a) There is hereby established a special fund in the City Treasury entitled Special Police Communications/9-1-1 System Tax Fund. Money collected pursuant to this article shall be deposited into said special fund and shall be used exclusively as provided in this article for the purpose for which the tax is imposed, and for no other purpose. Money deposited into this special fund shall not be subject to reversion to the Reserve Fund of the City, established under Charter Section 302. Nothing in this section shall prevent disbursements from this special fund to reimburse the General Fund when money has been advanced from the General Fund to pay the uses provided for in this article. (Amended by Ord. No. 173,304, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(b) The City Treasurer and Controller shall establish within the Special Police Communications/9-1-1 System Tax Fund separate accounts or accounting controls so as to enable the City Treasurer and Controller to account for the uses for which the moneys deposited into the Special Police Communications/9-1-1 System Tax Fund are to be used.
(c) Except as hereinafter provided in Subsection (d) of this section, (i) during each fiscal year, any money raised by the special tax that remains or (by resolution of the City Council) becomes unencumbered for any of the purposes set forth in Section 21.16.4 hereof may be reallocated to other purposes authorized by this article by resolution of the City Council and (ii) at the end of any fiscal year any money raised by the special tax that remains unencumbered for any of the purposes set forth in Section 21.16.4 hereof may only be used in succeeding fiscal years for the purposes stated in this article as authorized by resolution by the City Council; provided, however, that the Director of the Office of Administrative and Research Services may reallocate moneys raised by the special tax to other purposes set forth in Section 21.16.4 hereof and may authorize the use of moneys raised by the special tax that are unencumbered or unallocated for any of the purposes set forth in Section 21.16.4 hereof so long as the amount so reallocated or authorized shall not be greater than the amount referred to in Charter Section 343 (as amended from time to time) as the amount which the Director of the Office of Administrative and Research Services is empowered to authorize the Controller to transfer without the approval of the Mayor and the City Council upon the request of the head of any department. The availability of unencumbered moneys for any succeeding year shall be considered by the City Council when fixing the rates of tax for that year. (Amended by Ord. No. 173,304, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(d) Any amount remaining in the Special Police Communications/9-1-1 System Tax Fund after all lease revenue bonds issued to finance the System have been repaid in full, shall be used solely and exclusively for maintaining, replacing or improving police communications and dispatch equipment and systems.
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
(a) The tax imposed on each parcel, improvement to property, and use of property shall be computed for each parcel by applying a rate to the gross square footage area of any improvements on the parcel. If there are no improvements on a parcel, the tax shall be computed by applying the rate established for improvements to 500 square feet regardless of the size of the parcel. For a period of not more than 20 fiscal years, commencing with fiscal year 1993-94 and continuing through fiscal year 2012-13, the City Council, by ordinance, shall impose a rate applicable to unimproved parcels and, for each parcel upon which there is an improvement to property, shall impose a rate applicable to the gross square footage area of such improvements, regardless of the use of the parcel or improvements. The rate shall be established to provide revenue for each fiscal year sufficient to make the payments estimated to be needed, or to fund amounts to be set aside, for the purposes enumerated in Section 21.16.4 hereof prior to receipt of tax revenues derived from the tax to be imposed in the subsequent fiscal year, and in setting the rate, the City Council shall take into account possible delinquencies in payments, so that the amount expected to be collected, net of delinquencies, will be sufficient to make the estimated needed payments.
(b) Commencing with the 1993-94 fiscal year, and for each of the succeeding fiscal years during which the special tax may be imposed, the maximum tax rate for the improvements on a parcel shall be $1.75 per one hundred gross square feet of improvement area or fraction thereof.
(c) For any fiscal year the City may, by ordinance, adjust the tax rate below the maximum amount. Such a reduction shall not prevent a subsequent levy of taxes for any succeeding fiscal year up to the limits set forth in this Section 21.16.6; however, in no case shall the amount of the tax rate to be levied exceed the maximum amount established by this article without the approval of the voters by two-thirds of the votes cast by voters voting upon such change in the tax rate maximum.
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
(a) Requests for adjustments involving imposition of this tax may be filed with the Director of Finance. Upon sufficient evidence of error in the computation of the tax the Director of Finance or a designee of the Director of Finance shall cause the tax to be recalculated, and shall so advise the Los Angeles County Tax Collector or other appropriate official.
(b) Whenever it is alleged that the amount of any tax has been overpaid or paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City under this article, the refund procedure shall be as follows:
1. No claim for refund of tax payment shall be allowed in whole or in part unless filed with the Director of Finance within a period of three years from the date of the claimed overpayment. All such claims for refund of the amount of the overpayment must be filed on forms furnished, and in the manner prescribed, by the Director of Finance. Refunds may be made from the Special Police Communications/9-1- 1 System Tax Fund.
2. In the event the Director of Finance or the City Council denies the claim, the Director of Finance shall notify the claimant pursuant to California Government Code Section 913.
(c) The Director of Finance shall have the same power to compromise claims involving the special tax, and the same power to accept and record underpayments or overpayments of such tax, as granted to the Director of Finance under Subsections (f) and (g) of Section 21.15 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code with respect to Business Taxes. The Director of Finance shall have the same authority to make refunds of this tax as is provided in Sections 22.12 and 22.13 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.
(d) If the County of Los Angeles does not collect any tax due under this article, then the Director of Finance shall have the power and duty to enforce all of the provisions of this article. In such cases the Director of Finance, for taxes not paid, may make an assessment against the owner of a parcel and improvements, or against the owner of improvements on another’s land, in the manner provided in Section 21.16 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code. Any unpaid tax due under this article shall be subject to Sections 21.19, 21.20, and 21.21 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.
(e) The special tax shall be due in two equal installments in accordance with the collection procedures of the Los Angeles County Tax Collector with the first installment due November 1, and the second installment due the next succeeding February 1, in each fiscal year. The owner of the land, land and improvements, or improvements, at the time set forth in California Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 405 and 2192 for each fiscal year, shall have a personal obligation to the City until the tax is paid for each fiscal year.
(f) The Director of Finance may prepare a questionnaire to be served on the owner of a parcel or improvements subject to the tax imposed by this article. The failure by an owner to provide the information requested within 30 days of receipt of the request, or the act of an owner in knowingly providing false information, shall be a misdemeanor.
(g) In determining the gross square footage area of improvements the City may use County Assessor’s records, City records, questionnaires and any other records the Director of Finance deems reliable.
(Added by Ord. No. 168,368, Eff. 12/4/92.)
If any section, subsection, part, clause, sentence or phrase of this article or the application thereof is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, the validity of the remaining portions of this article, the application thereof, and the tax imposed shall not be affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect, it being the intention of the City Council and the voters to adopt each and every section, subsection, part, clause, sentence or phrase, regardless of whether any other section, subsection, part, clause, sentence or phrase or the application thereof is held to be invalid or unconstitutional.
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