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15706&"ili im ORDINANCE NO. 15,706 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS ORDINANCE NO. 11,345, BY GRANTING A FRANCHISE TO ALL COMPANIES THAT PROVIDE INTERSTATE OR INTRASTATE TOLL TELEPHONE SERVICE, AND ALL BUSINESS INCIDENTAL TO OR CONNECTED WITH THE CONDUCTING OF SUCH TELEPHONE BUSINESS IN THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS; A FRANCHISE TO ERECT, MAINTAIN AND PLAN CONSTRUCTION AND APPURTENANCES ALONG, ACROSS, ON, OVER, THROUGH, ABOVE, AND UNDER ALL PUBLIC STREETS, AVENUES, ALLEYS, PUBLIC GROUNDS AND AIRWAYS, AND PLACES IN THE CITY; PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT OF A FRANCHISE FEE BY THESE COMPANIES; REPEALING ORDINANCES AND AGREEMENTS IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. WHEREAS, the City entered into a franchise agreement with Southwestern Bell Telephone, a Missouri Corporation, pursuant to Ordinance No. 11,345, as amended, on December 17, 1962; and WHEREAS, the City has had the authority to require such franchises for public utilities utilizing the City rights -of -way since 1935 by virtue of Act 324 of 1935 [codified as Ark. Code Ann. §§ 14- 200 -101 et seq (1987); and, WHEREAS, the transmission of communications by telephone or telegraph meets the definition of public utilitiy under Arkansas law by virtue of Act 324 of 1935 [codified as Ark. Code Ann. § 23 -1 -101 (4)(A)(iv)(1987); and, 223 6-5 $ �F-6 �` M M w M MM M M M M 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 • 6 WHEREAS, since the passage and approval of the original ordinance, and its subsequent amendments, establishing a franchise fee for telecommunications services within the City there have been monumental changes in what is meant by the transmission of communications by telephone or telegraph by the telecommunications industry; and, WHEREAS, there has been a divestiture of the monopoly on telephone service once enjoyed by Southwestern Bell Telephone and American Telephone and Telegraph Companies so that numerous companies compete to provide customers with telecommunication services wi.thi.n the City of Tittle Rnr_.k; and WHEREAS, it is the intention of the City to more fairly impose a franchise tax for these services, particularly as they relate to intrastate and interstate toll services; and WHEREAS, this ordinance will assess a fee for the use of the public rights -of -way including those public areas along, across, on, over, through, above, and under all public streets, avenues, alleys, public grounds and airways, and places in the city; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS: SECTION 1: Ordinance No. 11,345, as amended, is hereby amended to also provide as follows for a franchise fee on toll services. SECTION 2: Definitions - (a) "Service address" means the address where telephone equipment from which a call is made, or a call is received, is located and to which the telephone number is assigned. (b) "Long Distance Telecommunications Service" means the furnishing of facilities in different local exchanges as determined by the appropriate government agency excluding services furnished by a local exchange company out of the local exchange tariff. (c) "Toll Call" means a communication between two service points in different local exchanges transmitted by any physical units utilized in providing the communication excluding services 224 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 '26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 225 furnished by a local exchange company out of the local exchange tariff. SECTION 3: There is hereby levied, and there shall be collected and paid to the City, a fee in the amount of $.004 per minute for toll calls charged to a service address within the corporate limits of the City of Little Rock, Arkansas. This fee is levied as a franchise tax. This fee may be passed to the end user by the provider of long distance telecommunications services as long as such pass through is permitted by Arkansas law. SECTION 4; Any person that can nrnva that a portion of the franchise tax charged to their service address, and collected by the City, has been assessed on calls not originating from a service address within the City of Little Rock shall be entitled to a credit for such charges. The procedure for obtaining that credit shall be as follows: (a) Any party claiming a refund will contact the Office of the City Collector of the City of Little Rock and will receive an appropriate form upon which to request a refund; (b) The party claiming the refund will list the call and the total duration of the call during any particular billing period together with copies of supporting bills from the long distance service provider in accordance with procedures established by the City; (c) The total time for properly challenged calls will then be multiplied by $.004, which represents the amount of the franchise fee assessed, and this sum will be forwarded to the claimant within thirty (30) days of the City's certification of the accuracy of the documentation. (d) Any party claiming a refund must submit that claim within six (6) months of the date of billing as shown by the records provided the claimant by the company providing the claimant the services being contested. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 00 go M M � M 226 (e) Notwithstanding any provisions set forth within this Section, the City shall not be required to make any refunds until a reasonable time after it has received the first installment provided for in this ordinance. SECTION 5: Any company providing long distance telecommunications services that is required to pay a franchise fee pursuant to this ordinance shall make monthly payments of the sums collected pursuant to this ordinance. These payments will be made within thirty (30) days of the last day of each month commencing January 1. 1990. SECTION 6: Each company required to pay a franchise tax under the provisions of this ordinance shall provide a statement from their auditor no later than March 31 of each year that the amount of tax paid for the previous year pursuant to this ordinance, accurately reflects the number of minutes billed for toll calls by the company during the previous year. SECTION 7: The provisions of this ordinance shall not be applied to private line calls, or to money paid coin calls from pay phones. Based upon information supplied by the industry the City finds that private line calls are not treated as toll calls by the Public Service Commission, hence they are not subject to a franchise tax on toll calls. Further, based upon information supplied by the industry, the City finds that there is no effective way to distinguish money paid long distance calls from charged long distance calls made from pay phones. It is clear that charged toll calls made from pay phones and billed to a service address within the City will be taxed, while charged toll calls billed to a service address outside the City will not be taxed. The City finds that the amount of tax lost by this exemption is not so great as to require the industry to tax money paid coin calls from pay phones. SECTION 8: If any portion of this ordinance is deemed illegal or unconstitutional it shall be severable from the other 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 i 227 portions and the ordinance shall remain in full force and effect from and after its passage. ADOPTED: July 5, 1969 AT CITY CLERK JAN'. CZECH APPROVED,AS TO F RM: MARK STODOLA, CITY ATTORNEY 80435.tmc APPROVED' • I MAYOR LOYD G. VILLINES, III