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Co. 4 A- i <br />ORDINANCE NO. <br />AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF REDWOOD CITY( AMENDING <br />CHAPTER 32, ARTICLE VII OF THE REDWOOD CITY MUNICIPAL <br />CODE REGARDING THE UTILITIES TAX OF THE CITY OF REDWOOD <br />CITY <br />WHEREAS, the City Council adopted in 1983 the "City of Redwood City Utilities <br />Tax "; <br />WHEREAS, the City has imposed a tax for many years on the use of telephone, <br />electricity, gas and video utility services in order to provide a portion of the general fund <br />revenues required to provide police, fire, general government and a host of other <br />essential services to the community; <br />WHEREAS, state and federal regulators are encouraging competition in the <br />provision of traditional utility services by deregulating monopoly providers and by <br />unbundling the billing charges for the various components of these services; <br />WHEREAS, in recent years there has been a substantial increase in the number of <br />providers of telephone and gas services in the City, and in the technologies used; all of <br />which has caused dramatic changes in the manner in which the services are produced, <br />marketed and distributed; <br />WHEREAS, the federal Wireless Telecommunications Sourcing Act of 2000 was <br />enacted to authorize local government to employ simple "sourcing" rules to achieve <br />administrative ease and consistency in the collection of local taxes on wireless services; <br />WHEREAS, in view of these changes and in order to give guidance to the many <br />new utility service providers regarding their collection and remittance obligations, it is <br />appropriate for the City to update its utilities tax ordinance with needed clarifications <br />regarding the scope of the City's existing taxes and the responsibilities of the various <br />utility service providers; <br />WHEREAS, to assure fair and equal application of the law, the City's utilities tax <br />ordinance should be applied to similar utility services, regardless of the provider or the <br />technology used to provide it; and, <br />WHEREAS, while modifying the City's utilities tax ordinance in the manner <br />provided herein, it is the intent of the City Council that none of the clarifications or <br />revisions shall impose a new tax, revise an existing tax methodology, or increase an <br />existing tax. <br />NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Redwood City does hereby <br />ordain as follows: <br />F:Atty /Ord /Ord.186 <br />060403 <br />