For the purpose of providing revenue with which to meet the needs of the City, for use of the General Fund of the City and for the further purpose of providing revenues to promote and publicize the City, an excise tax is hereby levied on transactions by which lodging by a hotel or transient accommodation is or is to be furnished transient guests.
The tax is six percent (6%) of the amount paid or to be paid by the transient guest for lodging.
The tax applies and is collectable at the time the lodging is furnished regardless of the time when the price is paid. The tax does not apply to lodging furnished to the federal government or any of its agencies, when such lodging is provided and paid directly by the federal government or any of its agencies; the government of the State of Ohio or any of its agencies, when such lodging is provided and paid directly by the State or its agencies; any charitable organization for the lodging of transient indigent individuals, when such charitable organization pays the hotel or transient accommodation for such lodging.
For the purpose of the proper administration of this chapter and to prevent the evasion of the tax, it is presumed that all lodging furnished by hotels or transient accommodations in this City to transient guests is subject to tax until the contrary is established.
On and after January 1, 1993, all revenues generated by the provisions of this chapter shall be disbursed as follows:
(a) Forty percent (40%) of the revenues shall be placed into the General Fund to be reappropriated by Council for any lawful purpose.
(b) Sixty percent (60%) of the revenues shall be placed into an account established by the Auditor and revenues shall be paid to the Reynoldsburg Visitors and Community Activity Bureau on a monthly basis.
(c) Effective January 1, 2003 the amount generated by sixty percent (60%) of the revenues, referred to in subsection (b), shall be seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) per year, but shall not exceed seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) per year.
(Ord. 135-94. Passed 11-14-94; Ord. 79-97. Passed 6-9-97; Ord. 44-02. Passed 5-28-02; Ord. 103-09. Passed 12-28-09.)