(A) There is hereby levied a city excise tax of 3% upon the gross proceeds or gross receipts derived from all sales taxable under the state sales tax law, including, but not exclusive of, the following:
(1) Tangible personal property;
(2) Natural or artificial gas, electricity, ice, steam or any utility or public service except water;
(3) Transportation for hire of persons by common carriers, including railroads (both steam and electric), motor transportation companies, taxicab companies, pullman car companies, airlines and all other means of transportation for hire;
(4) Service by telephone and telegraph companies to subscribers or users, including transmission of messages, whether local or long distance; (This shall include all services and rental charges having any connection with the transmission of any message.)
(5) Printing or printed matter of all types, kinds and characters and the service of printing or overprinting;
(6) Service of furnishing rooms or accommodations by hotels, apartment hotels, public rooming houses, public lodging houses, tourist camps and mobile home or trailer parks or camps;
(7) Service of furnishing storage or parking privileges by auto hotels and parking lots;
(8) Food, confections and all drinks sold or dispensed by hotels, restaurants or other dispensers, and sold for immediate consumption upon the premises, or delivered or carried away from the premises for consumption elsewhere;
(9) Advertising of all kinds, types and characters, including any and all devices used for advertising purposes and the servicing of any advertising devices, except as provided elsewhere in this subchapter;
(10) Dues or fees to clubs, and the sale of tickets or admission to places of amusement, to athletic, entertainment or recreational events, or dues or fees for the privilege of having access to, or the use of, amusement, entertainment, athletic or recreational facilities (including free or complimentary passes, tickets, dues or fees which are hereby declared to have a value equivalent to the sale price of tickets, passes, admissions, fees or dues of like kind or character);
(11) For the purpose of this subchapter, sales of service and tangible personal property made for the purpose of developing real estate, even though the real estate is intended for resale as real property, are hereby declared to be sales to consumers or users; sales of service and tangible personal property, including materials, supplies and equipment made to contractors who use the same in the performance of any contract, are hereby declared to be sales to consumers or users and not sales for resale; and (Sales of tangible personal property to persons who are primarily engaged in selling their services shall be deemed sales to consumers or users and, therefore, taxable. Sales of tangible personal property to peddlers, solicitors and other salesmen who do not have established places of business, shall be deemed to be sales to consumers or users, and therefore, taxable.)
(12) A sale shall include the sale, preparation or service of ice or non-alcoholic beverages that are sold, prepared or served for the purpose of being mixed with alcoholic beverages, for consumption on the premises where the sale, preparation or service occurs.
(B) (1) Fire Department sales tax levy.
(a) In addition to, and cumulative of the excise tax levied herein, there is further levied an additional limited purpose 0.5% upon the gross proceeds or gross receipts derived from all sales taxable under the sales tax laws of the state. The additional limited purpose excise tax levied pursuant to this division may be expended duly for the following limited purposes:
1. Establishing and operating a permanent, full-time Fire Department; and
2. Funds derived from the above stated purpose, may be expended as and in the order deemed appropriate by Council.
(b) There is hereby established a limited purpose tax fund to be known as the “Fire Department Tax Fund” into which all revenues collected pursuant to division (B)(1)(a) above shall be deposited. Moneys in the limited purpose tax fund may be accumulated from year-to-year. The fund shall be placed in an insured interest-bearing account and the interest that accrues on the fund shall be retained in the fund. The limited purpose tax fund shall be non- fiscal and shall not be considered in computing any levy when the city makes its estimate to the excise board for needed appropriations. Moneys in the limited purpose tax fund shall be expended only as accumulated and only for the limited purposes described in division (B)(2)(a) below.
(2) Capital improvement sales tax levy.
(a) In addition to, and cumulative of the excise taxes levied by other provisions of this section, there is further levied an additional limited purpose 0.5% upon the gross proceeds or gross receipts derived from all sales taxable under the state sales tax laws. The additional limited-purpose excise tax levied pursuant to this division (B)(2) may be expended only for the following purposes:
1. Development and funding on an ongoing basis of capital improvements of the city and projects related thereto in following manner.
a. Funds derived from this 0.5% limited-purpose excise tax shall be used exclusively for capital improvements as defined in this paragraph with 70% of receipts being earmarked to fund roads, streets, bridges, signage, rights-of-way and related public projects.
b. The remaining 30% of receipts may be used for any combination of additional funding capital improvements described above and other needed capital improvements to municipally-owned, occupied or leased buildings, facilities and related projects as well as support of municipal programs, including, but not limited to, services for senior citizens and youth.
2. Funds derived from the above stated purpose may be expended as and in the order deemed appropriate by Council.
(b) The City Council shall create an oversight committee composed of one to two members of the City Council with a minimum of five members total to serve in an advisory capacity regarding the disposition of capital improvement funds.
(c) There is hereby established a limited- purpose tax fund to be known as the “Newcastle Capital Improvement Tax Fund” into which all revenues collected pursuant to division (B)(1) above shall be deposited. Moneys in the limited-purpose tax fund may be accumulated from year-to-year. The fund shall be placed in an insured interest-bearing account and the interest that accrues on the fund shall be retained in the fund. The limited-purpose tax fund shall be non-fiscal and shall not be considered in computing any levy when the city makes its estimate to the excise board for needed appropriations. Moneys in said limited-purpose tax fund shall be expended only as accumulated, but may be pledged as permitted by law and only for the limited-purposes described in division (B)(1)(a) above.
(3) Effective. The additional excise tax levied pursuant to division (B)(1) above shall begin at 12:00 a.m. on 7-1-2005.
(2002 Code, § 35.06) (Ord. 393, passed 8-11-1997; Ord. 394, passed 8-11-1997; Ord. 412, passed 6-22-1998; Ord. 472, passed 12-6-2001)