§ 3-2-376. Billing, collection and remittance of tax.

(a)

The service provider shall bill the tax to each consumer who is subject to the tax and to whom it delivers utility services, by adding it as a separate charge to such consumer's monthly statement, and shall collect the tax from all such consumers. Until the consumer pays the tax to such service provider, the tax shall constitute a debt of the consumer to the city. If any consumer receives and pays for utility service but refuses to pay the tax that is imposed by this article, the service provider shall notify the director of the name and address of such consumer. If any consumer fails to pay a bill issued by a service provider, including the tax that is imposed by this article, the service provider shall follow its normal collection procedures with respect to the charge for service and the tax, and upon collection of the bill or any part thereof shall (i) apportion the net amount collected between the charge for utility service and the tax, and (ii) remit the tax portion to the city. After the consumer pays the tax to the service provider, the tax collected shall be deemed to be held in trust by such service provider until remitted to the city.

(b)

A service provider shall remit monthly to the city the amount of tax paid during the preceding month by the service provider's consumers.

(c)

The tax shall be remitted to the city, on or before the last day of the succeeding month of collection. Failure to remit timely will result in a ten percent penalty.

(d)

Bills shall be considered as monthly bills for the purposes of this article if submitted 12 times per year with approximately 30 days in each billing cycle. Accordingly, the tax for a bi-monthly bill (approximately 60 days in each billing cycle) shall be determined as follows: (i) a monthly usage of utility service shall be calculated by dividing the kWh or CCF usage number in a bi-monthly bill by two; (ii) a monthly tax shall then be calculated by multiplying the quotient determined in (i) above by the rate in the appropriate classification set forth in sections 3-2-373 or 3-2-374; (iii) the monthly tax determined in (ii) above shall be multiplied by two; and (iv) the tax determined in (iii) above shall not exceed twice the monthly "maximum tax" for the appropriate classification set forth in sections 3-2-373 or 3-2-374. (Ord. No. 4164, 10/14/00, Sec. 2)

Note— See editor's note at § 3-2-372.