From and after the date of filing of a certificate of acceptance of a franchise pursuant to the provisions of Section 5.28.440 of this chapter, the franchisee shall pay to the cable television commission an annual amount equal to the lesser of the following:
A. One hundred twenty (120) percent times each annual budget of the commission; or
B. A minimum annual amount of eight hundred thousand dollars ($800,000.00).
Said annual amount shall be paid by the franchisee in equal quarterly installments (prorated for the first quarter if a franchise is issued in the middle of a quarter) at the times and for the periods prescribed by Section 5.28.1520 of this chapter. At the commencement of the first full fiscal year following issuance of a franchise and at the commencement of each fiscal year thereafter, said minimum annual amount of eight hundred thousand dollars ($800,000.00) shall be increased by a percentage equal to the annual percentage increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers published by the United States Department of Labor for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area for the twelve (12) month period ending June 30th immediately preceding the commencement of the fiscal year for which adjustment is to be made.
At such time as annual franchise fees due to the commission pursuant to the provisions of Section 5.28.1520 of this chapter, shall exceed the annual sum payable under this section, the amounts previously paid to the commission pursuant to the provisions of this section which have exceeded annual amounts otherwise owing under Section 5.28.1520 of this chapter, shall be credited against the franchise fee in an amount not to exceed twenty (20) percent of the total franchise fee payment each year until the entire amount advanced to the commission is accounted for; provided that in no event shall such credits be used to reduce actual payments to the commission below the minimum amount specified above; provided, further that at no time during the term of a franchise shall the amount payable by a franchisee be lower than prescribed by this section; and provided further, that in no event shall the commission, county or cities become or be liable to the franchisee for payments made pursuant to the provisions of this section.
The purpose of this section is to provide operating capital with which to defray the costs of regulation and other operations incurred by the cable television commission, county and cities during any period in which the franchisee's gross revenues are too low to provide adequate funds from franchise fees to finance such functions. (Prior code § 20.07.604)