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ORDINANCE NO. 20,512
3 AN ORDINANCE TO LEVY FRANCHISE FEES TO BE PAID BY ALL
4 CARRIERS PROVIDING LOCAL ACCESS TELEPHONE SERVICE;
5 PROVIDE FOR THE PAYMENT THEREOF; AND FOR OTHER
6 PURPOSES.
7
8 WHEREAS, the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, now AT &T, has for decades been authorized by
9 ordinance to operate its telephone system and all business incidental to or connected with the conduct of a
10 telephone business in the City; and
11 WHEREAS, pursuant to Little Rock, Ark. Ordinance No. 11,345 (December 17, 1962), and recognizing
12 an order of the Arkansas Public Service Commission entered on December 10, 1957, in Docket U -281 relating
13 to the treatment by the Telephone Company of all City special taxes, the City granted AT &T the privilege to
14 continue operation of its telephone system and related business within the City and first provided for the
15 payment of a privilege tax by that company of $1.07 multiplied by the number of telephones in the City as of
16 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 be in an
19 amount equal to 7.32% of the company's access line billing revenues for 1985 or a minimum of One Million
20 Seven Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($1,775,000), and
21 WHEREAS, subsequent ordinances thereafter incrementally raised the amount ofthe minimum franchise
22 fee until, beginning with Ordinance No. 16,557 (December 21, 1993) it reached the amount $2,000,000, which
23 minimum has remained in effect until the present time, and
24 WHEREAS, after a review of the current market situation, the City has determined that having a
25 minimum franchise fee is no longer appropriate and is setting the minimum aside, and
26 WHEREAS, AT &T and other telephone companies similarly providing a local access telephone system in
27 the City are now and will be occupying the streets, alleys, airways and other public rights -of -way of the City
28 for the purpose of operating and maintaining such local access telephone systems, and
29 WHEREAS, the City is legally authorized to impose, and all local access telephone services companies
30 are obligated to pay, a just and reasonable franchise fee in connection with such company's local access
31 telephone service operations in the City.
32 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY OF
33 LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS:
I Section 1. There is hereby imposed and each and every local access telephone service carrier ( "Telephone
2 Company ") shall pay to the City a franchise fee in an amount equal to 7.32% of the respective Telephone
3 Company's local exchange access line charges collected within the City's corporate limits during the previous
4 month.
5 Section 2. Payments to the City by the Telephone Company for the franchise fee shall be made monthly
6 by the 20th day of each month.
7 Section 3. On a monthly basis, by the 201h day of each month, the auditor for each Telephone Company
8 shall certify to the City that Telephone Company's access line revenues collected during the previous month in
9 Little Rock.
10 Section 4. The City recognizes and accepts the purposes and results of an Order of the Arkansas Public
11 Service Commission entered on February 7, 1980, in Docket U -30132 relating to the treatment by the
12 Telephone Company of all City special fees.
13 Section 5. It is acknowledged that Ordinance No. 11,345 (amended by Ordinance No. 14,981), which set
14 out the terms and conditions of the present privilege authority, is the controlling document over current local
15 access telephone service franchises. Ordinance No. 11,345 specifically provided that nothing contained therein
16 was to be construed as giving AT &T any exclusive privileges. Ordinance No. 14,981 amended Ordinance No.
17 11,345 to change the method of calculating the fee to that method presently employed and to add a section
18 detailing the City's utility relocation policy to be complied with. That utility relocation policy shall remain in
19 effect under this Ordinance. The Telephone Company shall also be subject to the utility relocation policy set
20 forth in Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § §2 -350 to 357 (1988).
21 Section 6. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as altering or amending any other rights or
22 obligations of the City or each Telephone Company as provided for in Ordinance No. 11,345 except the
23 language of Section 2 of Ordinance No. 11,345 pertaining to the method of calculating the Telephone
24 Company's annual franchise fee.
25 Section 7. Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent the City from collecting from Telephone Companies
26 previously due but unpaid franchise fees.
27 Section 8. This ordinance shall be in effect on and after January 1, 2012.
28 PASSED: December 13, 2011
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APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:
Thomas M. Carpenter, City AbIrney
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