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HomeMy WebLinkAbout22665 1 ORDINANCE NO. 22,665 2 3 AN ORDINANCE TO LEVY FRANCHISE FEES TO BE PAID BY ALL 4 CARRIERS PROVIDING LOCAL ACCESS TELEPHONE SERVICE; TO 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 9 by ordinance to operate its telephone system and all business incidental to or connected with the conduct 10 of a telephone business in the City; and, 11 WHEREAS, pursuant to Little Rock, Ark. Ordinance No. 11,345 (December 17, 1962), and 12 recognizing an order of the Arkansas Public Service Commission entered on December 10, 1957,in Docket 13 U-281 relating to the treatment by the Telephone Company of all City special taxes,the City granted AT&T 14 the privilege to continue operation of its telephone system and related business within the City and first 15 provided for the payment of a Privilege Tax by that company of One and 07/100 Dollar($1.07)multiplied 16 by 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 be 19 in an amount equal to 7.32%of the company's access line billing revenues for 1985 or a minimum of One 20 Million, Seven Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars($1,775,000.00); and, 21 WHEREAS, subsequent ordinances thereafter incrementally raised the amount of the minimum 22 Franchise Fee until,beginning with Ordinance No. 16,557(December 21, 1993)it reached the amount Two 23 Million Dollars($2,000,000.00), which 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 27 system in the City are now and will be occupying the streets,alleys,airways and other public rights-of-way 28 of the City 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 33 OF LITTLE ROCK,ARKANSAS: [Page 1 of 31 1 Section 1. There is hereby imposed and each and every Local Access Telephone Service Carrier 2 ("Telephone Company")shall pay to the City a Franchise Fee in an amount equal to 7.32%of the respective 3 Telephone Company's local exchange access line charges collected within the City's corporate limits during 4 the previous month. 5 Section 2. An additional condition of this franchise is that any removal of trees,or underbrush,of any 6 kind,to maintain the integrity of utility lines shall be done without the use of any toxic substance or poison, 7 and instead cutting trees, or mowing or other such means shall be the only means to remove underbrush. 8 Section 3. Payments to the City by the Telephone Company for the Franchise Fee shall be made 9 monthly by the 20th day of each month. 10 Section 4. On a monthly basis,by the 20th day of each month,the auditor for each Telephone Company 11 shall certify to the City that Telephone Company's access line revenues collected during the previous month 12 in Little Rock. 13 Section 5. The City recognizes and accepts the purposes and results of an Order of the Arkansas Public 14 Service Commission entered on February 7, 1980, in Docket U-30132 relating to the treatment by the 15 Telephone Company of all City special fees. 16 Section 6. It is acknowledged that Ordinance No. 11,345 (amended by Ordinance No. 14,981), which 17 set out the terms and conditions of the present privilege authority, is the controlling document over current 18 Local Access Telephone Service Franchises. Ordinance No. 11,345 specifically provided that nothing 19 contained therein was to be construed as giving AT&T any exclusive privileges. Ordinance No. 14,981 20 amended Ordinance No. 16,557 to change the method of calculating the fee to that method presently 21 employed and to add a section detailing the City's utility relocation policy to be complied with.That Utility 22 Relocation Policy shall remain in effect under this ordinance. The Telephone Company shall also be subject 23 to the Utility Relocation Policy set forth in Little Rock,Ark., Rev. Code §§2-350 to 357(1988). 24 Section 7. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as altering or amending any other rights or 25 obligations of the City or each Telephone Company as provided for in Ordinance No. 11,345 except the 26 language of Section 2 of Ordinance No. 11,345 pertaining to the method of calculating the Telephone 27 Company's annual Franchise Fee. 28 Section 8. Nothing in this ordinance shall prevent the City from collecting from Telephone Companies 29 previously due but unpaid Franchise Fees. 30 Section 9. Effective Date. Because an ordinance of this nature remains in effect until abandoned, and 31 in light of the language of the current Section 1 of this ordinance, it is noted that the Franchise Fees set 32 forth in Section 1 of this ordinance shall be in full force and on January 1, 2026. 33 Section 10.Severability. In the event any title, section, paragraph, item, sentence, clause, phrase, or 34 word of this ordinance is declared or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration or [Page 2 of 31 1 adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of the ordinance which shall remain in full force and 2 effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional was not originally a part of the 3 ordinance. 4 Section 11. Repealer. All ordinances and parts of ordinances that conflict herewith are hereby 5 repealed; provided, however, only to the extent that the same are in direct conflict herewith. Except as 6 provided,nothing herein shall be construed to alter or change the terms or conditions of the present franchise 7 under which AT&T is operating,as set forth in Ordinance No. 11,345(December 17, 1962),Ordinance No. 8 14,981 (November 5, 1985),and Ordinance No. 16,557(December 21, 1993) 9 PASSED: October 6,2025 10 ATTEST: APPROVED: 11 Q 12 AnAAVI 13 Allison Segars,City k Frank Scott,Jr.,Mayor 14 APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: 16 LIA• 17 Thomas M. Carpenter,City Att ey 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 35 // 'Page 3of31