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07/28/2003 <br /> <br /> ORIGINAL <br /> <br /> ORDINANCE NO. 2250 <br /> <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 /> <br /> WHEREAS, the City Council adopted in 1983 the "City of Redwood City Utilities <br />Tax"; <br /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <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 /> <br />F:Atty/Ord/Ord.186 2250 <br />060403 1 <br /> <br /> <br />