(Amended by Ord. No. 173,301, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(a) Every person who redeems a vehicle or pocket bike from an Official Police Garage that was impounded at the direction of any City of Los Angeles Police or Traffic Officer for a violation of any provision of state or local law shall pay a fee of $115.00 per vehicle or pocket bike to reimburse the City for costs related to the impound. (Amended by Ord. No. 181,312, Eff. 10/25/10.)
(b) The fee imposed by this section shall be paid to the operator of the Official Police Garage at the same time the towing and storage charges are paid. The fee imposed herein constitutes a debt owed to the City which is extinguished by payment to the operator.
(c) Each operator of an Official Police Garage shall collect the fee imposed by this section at the same time the towing and storage charges are collected.
(d) Each operator shall, on the 15th day and last day of each calendar month, make a statement to the Office of Finance, on forms provided by the Office of Finance, of the total amount of fees imposed by this section collected for said period. At the time the statement is filed, the full amount of said fees collected shall be remitted to the Office of Finance. However, the statement and remittance are due immediately upon the cessation of business by an operator for any reason. All fees collected by each operator pursuant to this section shall be held in trust for the account of the City until remittance thereof is made to the Office of Finance. (Amended by Ord. No. 181,698, Eff. 6/18/11.)
(e) Any fees imposed by that section which are not collected by an operator or that are collected by an operator and not remitted to the Office of Finance within 15 days of the applicable dates set forth in Subsection (d) hereof are delinquent. A penalty for delinquency in the remittance of fees shall be paid by the operator to the Office of Finance in the amount of 25 percent of the amount of the delinquent fees. (Amended by Ord. No. 181,698, Eff. 6/18/11.)
(f) It shall be the duty of each operator liable for the collection and remittance to the City of fees imposed by this section to keep and preserve for a period of four years all records as may be necessary to determine the amount of said fees for which said operator may have been liable for the collection and remittance to the City, which records the Office of Finance shall have the right to inspect at all reasonable times.
(g) Any fees imposed by this section which are not collected by an operator or which are collected by an operator and not remitted to the Office of Finance shall be deemed a debt owed by the operator to the City. Any operator who fails to collect any fees imposed by this section or who fails to remit to the Office of Finance any fees collected under this section shall be liable in an action brought in the name of the City for the recovery of the amount of such fees.