Sec. 78-71[Levied.]

(a) Effective at 12:01 a.m. on the first day of July, 2009, there is hereby levied, pursuant to the provisions of O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51(b), and during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009, and subsequent fiscal years, an excise tax in the amount of eight percent of the charges for the furnishing for value to the public of a room, rooms, lodgings, or accommodations furnished by all persons and legal entities licensed by or required to pay business or occupation taxes to the city for operating a hotel, motel, inn, lodge, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campground, or any other place in which a room, rooms, lodgings, or accommodations are regularly or periodically furnished for value.

(b) Each person or entity subject to the tax herein levied shall make a report to the city manager on or before the tenth day of each month of the room occupancy and taxable charges for the previous month, following procedures established by the city manager, and the tax herein levied shall be due and payable monthly no later than the twentieth day of the month following the month for which the tax is collected. Each person or entity subject to the tax herein levied shall keep sufficient and accurate records of room occupancy and all such taxable charges, using an accounting method and system approved by a certified public accountant, and no later than 30 days following the end of the each fiscal year shall submit to the city manager an accounting statement, certified as complete and accurate by a certified public accountant, showing the room occupancy and receipts for each month during the fiscal year. If such certified records of account are not kept, the defaulting party shall be subject to a penalty equal to 50 percent of the taxable proceeds as shown on the monthly reports for each month during which the default has continued. If the annual certified accounting report is not submitted at the end of the fiscal year as herein required, the defaulting party shall be subject to a penalty equal to 50 percent of the total amount of taxable proceeds shown on its monthly reports for the year.

(c) The city shall have the right to audit the records of each entity subject to the tax herein levied, including the room occupancy records. In addition to all other penalties, the failure to keep accurate accounting records certified by a certified public accountant of room occupancy and the receipts from charges therefrom shall be an offense punishable by the municipal court by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 and/or imprisonment for not more than 12 months. Each day such offense continues shall be a separate offense, punishable as provided above. Furthermore, the failure to file the annual certified accounting report at the end of the fiscal year as herein required shall be an offense punishable by the municipal court by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 and/or imprisonment for not more than 12 months.

(d) In each fiscal year during which the tax levied herein is collected, that portion of the proceeds collected from the tax equal to at least 50 percent of the total amount of taxes collected that exceed the amount of taxes that would be collected at the rate of five percent shall be expended for promoting tourism, conventions and trade shows in the manner provided by an annual budget plan adopted by the city specifying how such proceeds shall be expended, or an annual budget plan specifying how such funds shall be expended adopted by an entity qualified to do so by O.C.G.A. §§ 48-13-51(b) and (e) under a contract with the city and pursuant to a budget plan submitted by the entity to the city and made by the city a part of its budget plan for the expenditure of the funds.

(e) In each fiscal year during which the tax levied herein is collected, that portion of the proceeds collected from the tax equal to the taxes that would be collected at the rate of five percent shall be expended in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 48-13-1(a)(3).

(f) Prior to each fiscal year, the city shall adopt a budget plan specifying how the proceeds of the tax shall be expended. The city's budget plan shall incorporate the annual budget plan or budget plans adopted by one or more entity with which the city contracts for the expenditure of the proceeds of the tax pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51.

(g) The tax authorized and levied by this article shall not apply to those persons and entities excepted from the tax by O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51(h), as amended from time to time.

History: (Ord. No. 09-03, §§ 2—8, 6-4-2009)