Any applicant for a business tax certificate or renewal of a business tax certificate aggrieved by a decision of the collector and/or City with respect to the decision to deny, suspend, revoke, or fail to renew a business tax certificate may be appealed pursuant to the processes in this section.
(A) Such appeal must be filed with the office of the city manager on a city-approved hearing request form within twenty (20) days from the date the City gave written notice of the challenged decision, setting forth the reasons why the applicant believes that the grounds for the challenged decision have not been established under subsection 4-2-9(D). The request may be for an in-person hearing or a hearing by written declaration.
1. If an in-person hearing is requested, the City shall set the date and time for the administrative hearing before an assigned neutral hearing officer. The responsible party requesting the in-person hearing shall be served written notice of the time and place set for the administrative hearing and the assigned hearing officer at least ten (10) days prior to the date of the administrative hearing.
2. If a hearing by written declaration is requested, then the written declaration(s) submitted by the applicant must be made under penalty of perjury and attached to the hearing request form upon submission to the office of the city manager to be provided to an assigned neutral hearing officer. The written declarations must relate to the grounds identified in subsection 4-2-9(D) and must attach all evidence the applicant wishes the hearing officer to consider. The written declarations may not be augmented or supplemented unless permission to do so is obtained from the hearing officer prior to her or her issuance of a decision.
3. The collector and/or other relevant city departments may submit a written report concerning the grounds identified in subsection 4-2-9(D) to the hearing officer for consideration. If an in-person hearing is requested, then the report must be submitted to the hearing officer three business days in advance of the in-person hearing and served upon the hearing officer and applicant who sought the appeal. If a hearing by written declaration is requested, then the report may be submitted to the hearing officer within thirty (30) days of the hearing request and served upon the hearing officer and applicant who sought the appeal.
4. Failure by any applicant to timely and properly appeal a decision as provided in this section shall constitute an admission by the applicant to the establishment of the grounds for denial, suspension, revocation, or failure to renew the business tax certificate cited in the decision, an admission by the applicant to that party's liability for the grounds cited in the decision, a waiver of the applicant's right to contest the decision, and a failure by the applicant to exhaust that party's administrative remedies. The decision shall be deemed final if no timely or proper appeal is made.
(B) The procedures for all administrative hearings pursuant to this section shall follow the procedures of section 1-3-9. However, in that section where reference is made to any administrative citation, or the cited violations in any administrative citation, for purposes of this section, the references should be understood as referring to the decision to deny, suspend, revoke, or fail to renew a business tax certificate and the grounds for denial, suspension, revocation, or failure to renew the business tax certificate cited in the decision.
(C) The procedures for the selection of a hearing officer and the decision of a hearing for all administrative hearings pursuant to this section shall follow the procedures of section 1-3-10. However, in that section where reference is made to uphold, modify, or dismiss the contested administrative citation, for purposes of this section, the references should be understood as referring to uphold or set aside the decision to deny, suspend, revoke, or fail to renew a business tax certificate. Further, in that section where reference is made to any administrative citation, for purposes of this section, the references should be understood as referring to the decision to deny, suspend, revoke, or fail to renew a business tax certificate. Finally, in that section where reference is made to the enforcement officer, for purposes of this section, the references should be understood as referring to the collector.
(D) The decision issued by the hearing officer under this section shall be deemed a final order and may be judicially reviewed pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.6. There is no right to an appeal to the City Council. (Ord. 621-94, 12-20-1994; amd. Ord. 852-23, 7-18-2023)