20199I
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ORDINANCE NO. 20,199
3 AN ORDINANCE TO LEVY FRANCHISE FEES TO BE PAID BY ALL
4 CARRIERS PROVIDING LOCAL ACCESS TELEPHONE SERVICE;
s PROVIDE FOR THE PAYMENT THEREOF; AND FOR OTHER
6 PURPOSES.
8 WHEREAS, the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, now AT &T, has for decades been
9 authorized by ordinance to operate its telephone system and all business incidental to or connected
10 with the conduct of a telephone business in the City; and
11 WHEREAS, pursuant to Little Rock, Ark. Ordinance No. 11,345 (Dec. 17, 1962), and
12 recognizing an order of the Arkansas Public Service Commission entered on December 10, 1957 in
13 Docket U -281 relating to the treatment by the Telephone Company of all City special taxes, the City
14 granted AT &T the privilege to continue operation of its telephone system and related business within
15 the City and first provided for the payment of a privilege tax by that company of $1.07 multiplied by
16 the number of telephones in the City as of the end of the preceding year; and
17 WHEREAS, pursuant to Ordinance No. 14,981 (November 5, 1985), the City Board of Directors
18 imposed, beginning on January 1, 1986, a change in the calculation of the privilege fee for AT &T, to
19 be in an amount equal to seven and thirty -two hundredths percent (7.32 %) of the company's access
20 line billing revenues for 1985 or a minimum of One Million Seven Hundred Seventy -Five Thousand
21 Dollars ($1,775,000), and
22 WHEREAS, subsequent ordinances thereafter incrementally raised the amount of the minimum
23 franchise fee until, beginning with Ordinance No. 16,557 (December 21, 1993) it reached the amount
24 $2,000,000, which minimum has remained in effect until the present time, and
25 WHEREAS, after a review of the current market situation, the City has determined that having a
26 minimum franchise fee is no longer appropriate and is setting the minimum aside, and
27 WHEREAS, AT &T and other telephone companies similarly providing a local access telephone
28 system in the City are now and will be occupying the streets, alleys, airways and other public rights-
29 of -way of the City for the purpose of operating and maintaining such local access telephone systems,
30 and
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1 WHEREAS, the City is legally authorized to impose, and all local access telephone services
2 companies are obligated to pay, a just and reasonable franchise fee in connection with such
3 company's local access telephone service operations in the City.
4 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE
s CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS:
6 Section 1. There is hereby imposed and each and every local access telephone service carrier
7 ( "Telephone Company ") shall pay to the City a franchise fee in an amount equal to seven and thirty-
8 two hundredths percent (7.32 %) of the respective Telephone Company's local exchange access line
9 charges collected within the City's corporate limits during the previous month.
10 Section 2. Payments to the City by the Telephone Company for the franchise fee shall be made
ii monthly by the 20th day of each month.
12 Section 3. On a monthly basis, by the twentieth (20th) day of each month, the auditor for each
13 Telephone Company shall certify to the City that Telephone Company's access line revenues
14 collected during the previous month in Little Rock.
15 Section 4. The City recognizes and accepts the purposes and results of an Order of the Arkansas
16 Public Service Commission entered on February 7, 1980, in Docket U -30132 relating to the
17 treatment by the Telephone Company of all city special fees.
is Section 5. It is acknowledged that Ordinance No. 11,345 (amended by Ordinance No. 14,98 1),
19 which set out the terms and conditions of the present privilege authority, is the controlling document
20 over current local access telephone service franchises. Ordinance No. 1 1,345 specifically provided
21 that nothing contained therein was to be construed as giving AT &T any exclusive privileges.
22 Ordinance No. 14,981 amended Ordinance No. 11,345 to change the method of calculating the fee to
23 that method presently employed and to add a section detailing the City's utility relocation policy to
24 be complied with. That utility relocation policy shall remain in effect under this Ordinance. The
25 Telephone Company shall also be subject to the utility relocation policy set forth in Little Rock,
26 Ark., Rev. Code § §2 -350 to 357 (1988).
27 Section 6. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as altering or amending any other rights
28 or obligations of the City or each Telephone Company as provided for in Ordinance No. 11,345
29 except the language of Section 2 of Ordinance No. 11,345 pertaining to the method of calculating the
30 Telephone Company's annual franchise fee.
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1 Section 7. Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent the City from collecting from Telephone
2 Companies previously due but unpaid franchise fees.
3 Section 8. This ordinance shall be in effect on and after January 1, 2010.
4 PASSED: December 15, 2009
5 ATTEST: APPROVED:
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8 4LIey cting City Clerk Mark Stodola, Mayor
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10 APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:
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12 ^R ' " �✓t L
13 Thomas M. Carpenter, Attorney
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17 H
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26 H
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28 H
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30 H
31 H
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