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(a) An alarm monitoring company shall not service a new customer who does not have a current valid license under this Article, provided that the monitoring company may provide the customer with a license application form and shall accept from the customer the completed form and the applicable license fee on behalf of the Tax Collector, after which the company may service the alarm system.
(b) No later than December 1 of each year, and beginning in 2005, no later than November 1 of each year, an alarm monitoring company doing business in San Francisco shall notify each of its customers of the license renewal for the following year and shall bill such customers for the license fee required under this Article. Such bill shall be due and payable in not more than 30 days. The notification may be part of the company's regular billing or a separate notice, and shall be in a form approved by the Tax Collector. The company shall also provide the customer with a copy of the license renewal form. The alarm monitoring company shall be responsible for collecting the license renewal fee from the customer.
(c) No later than last day of each month following the month of collection or receipt, the monitoring company shall remit to the Tax Collector as a single check all license fees collected, completed license renewal forms received or license renewal information in electronic form if authorized by the Tax Collector, and a list of customers who have not paid the fee. Remittance reports shall be in a format approved by the Tax Collector and shall include the name, license number, and alarm system location of each alarm user who has paid the fee, and any other information required by the Tax Collector.
(d) The alarm monitoring company shall maintain its records in such a manner so as to be able to cross-reference the alarm user's name, the alarm system's location, and the license number assigned by the Tax Collector.
(e) The billing and remittance provisions of this Section shall only apply to a monitoring company that has a direct contractual relationship with the alarm user. If a monitoring company has no such direct contractual relationship, and instead provides monitoring services pursuant to a subcontract with the alarm installation company or any other person or company, then the installation or other such person or company shall be responsible for meeting the billing and remittance requirements of this Section. However, the monitoring company shall continue to be responsible for complying with all other applicable provisions of this Article, including, but not limited to, the requirements of Section 3710.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; amended by Ord. 297-04, File No. 041336, App. 12/24/2004; Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
(a) Alarm installation and monitoring companies shall hold fee revenues in trust for the City and shall remit the revenues collected as the fee to the Tax Collector as provided in this Article.
(b) The fees collected by alarm companies under this Article shall be stated separately in the alarm companies' billings to their customers.
(c) If the amount paid by a customer is less than the full amount of the charges for service and the license or license renewal fee which have accrued for the billing period, and if the customer remitting has not indicated how to allocate the payment as between alarm company service charges and alarm license fees, then a proportionate share of both the charges for service and the fee shall be deemed to have been paid.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003)
(a) Any fee required to be paid by an alarm user under the provisions of this Article shall be deemed a debt owed by the alarm user to the City until it has been paid to the City, except that proof of actual payment to an alarm company is sufficient to relieve the alarm user from further liability for the fee.
(b) Any fee required to be collected by an alarm company under the provisions of this Article shall be deemed a debt owed to the City and County of San Francisco by the company required to collect and remit such fee, if the alarm company has failed to take reasonable steps to collect the fee. A company will be deemed to have taken reasonable steps if, at a minimum, it bills the alarm user, waits 30 days, timely bills the user a second time, and then informs the City of the user's continued nonpayment.
(c) Whenever an alarm company remits funds collected as a license or license renewal fee to the City, the alarm company shall also provide the City with the name and address of any customer refusing or failing to pay the fee for a period of one or more billing periods and shall state the amount of such fee remaining unpaid, and such other information as the Tax Collector may require. The Tax Collector may assume responsibility for collection of any fees due and payable for the stated periods and demand payment of such fees, plus administrative costs, interest, and penalties, if any.
(d) Any person owing money to the City under the provisions of this Article shall be liable in an action brought in the name of the City and County for the recovery of such amount.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; amended by Ord. 297-04, File No. 041336, App. 12/24/2004)
(a) Any fee or false alarm penalty not paid by the due date is delinquent.
(b) Alarm User. Failure by an alarm user to pay any fee or false alarm penalty herein imposed shall result in the following interest and penalties on the alarm user:
(i) If a license fee or false alarm penalty is not paid within 30 days after the same becomes due, the Tax Collector shall add 50 percent to the amount of the stated fee or penalty as a penalty for non-payment.
(ii) In addition to the penalties imposed in this Subsection (b), any alarm user who fails to pay any fee or false alarm penalty imposed by this Article, shall pay interest on the amount of the fee or penalty, exclusive of late payment penalties, plus an additional collection charge for each delinquent account in an amount to be determined by rules and regulations of the Tax Collector. The Tax Collector shall establish collection charges sufficient to reimburse the costs incurred by the City for collecting delinquent fees or penalties. Interest shall be paid at the rate of one percent per month, or fraction thereof. Interest and collection charges shall accrue 90 days after the original due date.
(iii) The penalties, interest and collection charges imposed in this Subsection (b) shall not be collected by the alarm company, but shall be determined and collected by the City and County as set forth hereinafter.
(c) Alarm Companies. Interest and penalties for delinquency in remittance of any fee not remitted shall be assessed as follows:
(i) Any alarm company who fails to remit any fee imposed by this Article within 10 days after receipt of written notice from the Tax Collector of such failure shall pay a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of the fee.
(ii) If the Tax Collector determines that the nonpayment of any remittance due hereunder is due to fraud or an intentional disregard of the provisions of this Article or of any applicable rule or regulation of the Tax Collector, a penalty of 100 percent of the amount of the fee shall be added thereto in addition to the penalty stated in subparagraph (i) of this Subsection.
(iii) In addition to the penalties imposed in this Subsection (c), any alarm company who fails to remit any fee imposed by this Article shall pay interest on the amount of the fee, exclusive of penalties, from the date on which the remittance first became delinquent until paid. Interest shall be paid at the rate of one percent per month, or fraction thereof.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003)
(a) If any alarm company shall fail or refuse to make, within the time provided in this Article, any report and remittance of said fee or any portion thereof required by this Article, the Tax Collector may make a determination based upon an estimate of the total liability of the alarm company. The estimate shall be made for the period or periods in respect to which the alarm company failed to timely make a return or failed to timely remit any fees, and may be based upon any information which is in the Tax Collector's possession or may come into his or her possession. Upon the basis of this estimate, the Tax Collector shall compute and determine the amount required to be paid to the City and County, adding to the sum interest and penalties provided by this Article.
(b) In case such determination is made, the Tax Collector shall give a notice of the amount so assessed by serving the determination personally or by depositing it in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the alarm company so addressed at its last known place of address. Such alarm company may within 10 days after the serving or mailing of such notice make application in writing to the Tax Collector for a hearing to protest the determination.
(c) If application by the alarm company for a hearing is not made within the time prescribed, the fee, interest and penalties, if any, determined by the Tax Collector shall become final and conclusive and immediately due and payable. If such application is made, the Tax Collector shall forward such application to a hearing officer, giving not less than five days' written notice in the manner prescribed herein to the alarm company to show cause at a time and place fixed in said notice why the amount specified in the determination should not be fixed for such fee, interest and penalties. At such hearing, the alarm company may appear and offer evidence why such specified fee, interest and penalties should not be so fixed. After such hearing, and in accordance with the decision reached by the hearing officer therein, the Tax Collector shall determine the proper fee to be remitted and shall thereafter give written notice to the alarm company in the manner prescribed herein of such determination and the amount of such fee, interest and penalties. The amount determined to be due shall be payable within 15 days.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; amended by Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
(a) An alarm company may claim a refund or claim a credit a against fees to be collected and remitted of the amount overpaid or paid more than once or erroneously or illegally collected or received by filing a claim in the manner provided in Sections 6.15-1 et seq. of the Business and Tax Regulations Code; provided, however, that neither a refund or a credit shall be allowed unless the amount of the fee so collected has either been refunded to the person entitled thereto or credited to the charges subsequently payable by such person to the alarm company.
(b) An alarm user may obtain a refund of fees overpaid or paid more than once or erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City and County by filing a claim in the manner provided in Sections 6.15-1 et seq. of the Business and Tax Regulations Code, but only when the fee was paid by the alarm user directly to the Tax Collector, or when the alarm user, having paid the fee to the alarm company, establishes to the satisfaction of the Tax Collector that the alarm user has been unable to obtain a refund from the alarm company who collected the fee.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003)
(a) If the Tax Collector determines that alarm user has deliberately withheld the amount of the fee to be remitted to an alarm company or that an alarm user has failed to pay the amount of the fee for a period of one or more billing periods, or if the Tax Collector deems it in the best interest of the City and County, he or she may assume responsibility for collection of fees due under this Article from certain named alarm users for specified billing periods. The Tax Collector shall notify the alarm user that the Tax Collector has assumed responsibility for collection of the fees due and payable for the stated periods and demand payment of such fees. The notice shall be served on the alarm user by handing it to him or her personally or by deposit of the notice in the United States mail, postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the alarm user at the address to which billing was made by the alarm company, or, should the alarm user have changed his or her address, to his or her last known address.
(b) If an alarm user fails to remit the fee to the Tax Collector, the alarm user shall be subject to the interest and penalties provided in Section 3710.5, in addition to any other penalty imposed by this Article.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003)
The Tax Collector may make administrative agreements with alarm companies to vary the strict requirements of this Article so that collection and/or remittance of any fee imposed herein may be made in conformance with the billing procedures of a particular alarm company so long as the overall result of said agreements results in the timely collection and remittance of the fee in conformance with the general purpose and scope of this Article. A copy of each such agreement shall be on file and available for public examination in the Tax Collector's office.
(Added by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003)
(a) The Tax Collector shall have general responsibility for publicizing the existence and requirements of this Article.
(b) The Director of the Department of Emergency Management shall designate a manner, form and telephone numbers for the communication of alarm dispatch requests, and shall establish a procedure to accept cancellation of alarm dispatch requests. The Director shall establish a procedure to record information on alarm dispatch requests including, but not limited to, the information listed below.
(1) Identification of the license number for the alarm site;
(2) Identification of the alarm site;
(3) Date and time alarm dispatch request was received, including the name of the monitoring company and the monitoring operator name or number;
(4) Date and time of police officer arrival at the alarm site;
(5) Zone and zone description, if available;
(6) Name of alarm user's representative at alarm site, if any;
(7) Whether responding police officer was unable to locate the address of the alarm site; and
(8) Cause of alarm signal, if known.
(c) The Tax Collector shall establish a procedure for the notification to the alarm user of a false alarm. The notice shall include the following information:
(1) The date and time of Police Department response to the false alarm;
(2) The identification number of the responding police officer; and
(3) A statement urging the alarm user to ensure that the alarm system is properly operated, inspected, and serviced in order to avoid false alarms and resulting penalties.
(d) The Director of the Department of Emergency Management may require an alarm user to remove an alarm device that is a single action, non-recessed button, if a false alarm has occurred.
(e) The Tax Collector will provide a copy of this Article and/or an Article summary sheet to the alarm user upon request.
(Added by Ord. 154-02, File No. 021078, App. 7/12/2002; amended by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
(a) Except where this Article or a rule or regulation of the Tax Collector provides to the contrary, all alarm licenses issued under the provisions of this Article shall be administered under the applicable provisions of Article 1 of the San Francisco Business and Tax Regulations Code, except as otherwise provided in this Article.
(b) The Department of Emergency Management and the Tax Collector may adopt such rules, regulations, and procedures as he or she determines necessary for his or her department to administer the functions assigned to his or her department under this Article.
(c) Any license issued under this Article may be suspended or revoked for good cause by the Tax Collector.
(Added by Ord. 154-02, File No. 021078, App. 7/12/2002; amended by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
(a) No penalty shall be assessed for the first false alarm from an alarm system during the calendar year. Thereafter, the alarm user shall pay a penalty for each subsequent false alarm from the same alarm system during the calendar year, based upon the following schedule:
Number of False Alarms | Penalties |
1 | no penalty |
2 | $100 |
3 | $150 per alarm |
4 | $200 per alarm |
5 | $250 per alarm |
(b) In addition to the penalties provided in subsection (a), any person operating a non-licensed alarm system will be subject to a penalty of $100, as well as a penalty of $250 for each false alarm, including the first false alarm during the calendar year. A non-licensed alarm system includes a system for which a license has not been obtained or for which a license has been suspended or revoked. The Tax Collector may waive the first $100 penalty for a non-licensed system if the alarm user submits an application for alarm license (or for reinstatement of a license) within ten (10) days after notification of such violation.
(c) If cancellation occurs prior to the Police Department arriving at the scene, the Tax Collector may determine that the cancellation will not be counted as a false alarm for the purpose of assessing penalties.
(d) The alarm installation company will be subject to a penalty of $250 if the officer responding to the false alarm determines that an on-site employee of the alarm installation company directly caused the false alarm. In this situation, the false alarm will not be counted against the alarm user.
(e) The monitoring company will be issued a penalty of $250 for each failure to verify alarm system signals as specified in Section 3710(h)(2).
(f) The alarm installation or monitoring company will be issued a penalty of $500 if the Tax Collector determines that an alarm installation or monitoring company employee knowingly made a false statement relating to its duties and obligations under this Article, including but not limited to statements concerning the inspection of an alarm site or the performance of an alarm system.
(g) Any penalty imposed under this Section shall be subject to the collection and enforcement provisions of Sections 3710.5 and 3718, including late payment penalties and accrual of interest. The Tax Collector may enforce the provisions of this Article by administrative citation, as provided in Sections 6.19-3 et seq. of the Business and Tax Regulations Code.
(Added by Ord. 154-02, File No. 021078, App. 7/12/2002; amended by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
(a) The Tax Collector shall notify the alarm user in writing after each false alarm. The notification shall include: the amount of the penalty for the false alarm, and a description of the appeals procedure available to the alarm user.
(b) The Tax Collector will notify the alarm user and the alarm installation company or monitoring company in writing after an alarm license has been suspended or revoked. This notice will include the reason(s) for the suspension or revocation, any outstanding fees or penalties, any outstanding corrective actions required by the Tax Collector, and a description of the appeals procedure available to the alarm user and the alarm installation company or monitoring company.
(c) Notice shall be by first class mail to the alarm user within fifteen (15) days of police response to a false alarm or to the alarm user and the alarm installation company or monitoring company within fifteen (15) days after an alarm license has been suspended or revoked.
(Added by Ord. 154-02, File No. 021078, App. 7/12/2002; amended by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
(a) If the Tax Collector revokes or suspends an alarm license, assesses a penalty, or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm license, the Tax Collector shall send written notice of the action and a statement of the right to an appeal to either the affected applicant or alarm user and the alarm installation company and/or monitoring company.
(b) The alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may, within 15 days from the date the assessment of a fee or a license revocation is served, protest the assessment of the fee or license revocation by either (1) requesting a hearing to be conducted by mail, or (2) requesting an in-person hearing. If a protest is not filed within 15 days as provided in this Section, the decision of the Tax Collector shall be final.
(1) Hearing by Mail. An alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may protest the assessment of a fee or license revocation by paying the fee, if any, and requesting a hearing to be conducted by mail from the Tax Collector. The request must be made in writing, in the format prescribed by the Tax Collector. Protests must be mailed together with the fee, if any, to the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector at the address provided on the assessment of a fee or license revocation. The request for a hearing by mail must specify the basis for the protest in detail and must be accompanied by evidence supporting the protest. The Tax Collector may request that the protesting party provide any additional information necessary to decide the validity of the assessment of a fee or license revocation. The Tax Collector shall evaluate the protest and notify the protesting party of the decision by mail within 30 days of receipt by the Tax Collector of all information and evidence. The notice shall include a copy of the Tax Collector's written determination. The Tax Collector's decision shall be final.
(2) In-Person Administrative Hearing. An alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may protest the assessment of a fee or license revocation by paying the fee, if any, and filing a petition for redetermination pursuant to Section 6.13-1 of the Business and Tax Regulations Code. A hearing on the petition for redetermination of an assessment of a fee or license revocation shall proceed in the same manner as a petition for redetermination of a tax. Any reference in Sections 6.13-1 et seq. to taxes, penalties or interest shall be deemed to also apply to the hearing of an assessment of a fee or license revocation under this Article. If the protesting party fails to appear for the hearing, a default judgment shall be entered against the party. The party will automatically be deemed liable for the fee or to have consented to the license revocation, together with any additional fees and interest.
(3) In any hearing conducted under subsections (b) (1) or (b)(2), the burden of proof shall be on the person protesting the assessment of a fee or license revocation to demonstrate that the assessment of the fee or the revocation of the license was arbitrary and capricious or beyond the jurisdiction of the Tax Collector.
(c) The Tax Collector or the hearing officer may adjust the count of false alarms based on:
(1) Evidence that a false alarm was caused by an Act of God;
(2) Evidence that a false alarm was caused by action of the telephone company;
(3) Evidence that a false alarm was caused by a power outage lasting longer than four (4) hours;
(4) Evidence that the alarm dispatch request was not a false alarm;
(5) Evidence that the police officer response was not completed in a timely fashion; and/or
(6) In determining the number of false alarms, multiple alarms occurring in any twenty-four (24) hour period may, in the Tax Collector's or the hearing officer's discretion, be counted as one false alarm, to allow the alarm user time to take corrective action unless the false alarms are directly caused by the alarm user.
(e) With respect to penalties imposed against an alarm installation company or monitoring company, the Tax Collector or the hearing officer may take into consideration whether the alarm company had engaged in a pattern of violations.
(Added by Ord. 154-02, File No. 021078, App. 7/12/2002; amended by Ord. 30-03, File No. 021995, App. 2/28/2003; Ord. 175-13
, File No. 130551, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013)
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