§ 1206. Occupancy fees or inspection fee and service charge.

A.

Occupancy Fees. Except as provided in this section, every occupancy permit holder shall pay an occupancy fee to reimburse the City for the cost of acquiring, maintaining and managing the arterial rights-of-way. The occupancy fee shall be computed in accordance with this section.

1.

No later than February 15th of each year, each occupancy permit holder shall submit to the ROW administrator a certified statement of the number of linear feet of arterial rights-of-way occupied by facilities by the ROW occupant as of January 1st of that same year.

2.

No later than February 15th of each year, those ROW occupants who are eligible to make inspection fee and service charge payments as set forth in 1206.B. May select by filing a written statement of selection with the City Clerk whether to make inspection fee and service charge payments as set forth in Subsection 1206.B. or occupancy fee payments as set forth below. A ROW occupant who does not file a written statement during that time period, and who has not previously filed a written statement with the City Clerk during that time period in a previous year electing a computation method, shall be deemed to have chosen to make occupancy fee payments. A ROW occupant who, in a previous year, has chosen a particular method and has not filed a written statement of selection with the City Clerk in the current year, shall be deemed to have chosen to continue to utilize that computation method utilized in the previous year.

3.

Each occupancy permit holder shall be notified of the amount of the fee and the basis on which it was calculated no later than ten (10) working days from the date the statement of linear feet is received by the ROW administrator. Unless otherwise authorized by the Director of Finance, one-twelfth ( 1/12 ) of the occupancy fee shall be due and payable monthly, on or before the 25th day of each month, commencing on the first day of the calendar month commencing after the date this chapter goes into effect. The payment shall be made to the Director of Finance when due and shall be paid into and appropriated and expended from the General Revenue Fund of the City of Tulsa. Upon failure or refusal to pay such fee, the City may, in addition to any other remedies provided herein, maintain an action against such person, firm or corporation for the amount of such fee and all expenses of collecting same, including reasonable attorney's fees. That occupancy fee is set out as follows:

a.

The Occupancy Fee shall be computed by multiplying the Occupancy Permit Holder's pro rata share of the burden on the Arterial Rights-of-Way by the applicable recovery rate. This pro rata share shall be equivalent to the linear feet occupied in the Arterial Rights-of-Way, and shall be calculated as follows: For each linear foot of space less than one (1) foot wide, the recovery rate shall be One and 77/100 Dollars ($1.77). For each linear foot of space more than one (1) foot but less than two (2) feet wide, the recovery rate shall be Three and 54/100 Dollars ($3.54). For each linear foot of space two (2) feet wide or more, the recovery rate shall be Five and 31/100 Dollars ($5.31). This Occupancy Fee does not include manholes or junction boxes.

b.

The recovery rate per linear foot amount of the occupancy fee will be reviewed by the Mayor at least annually using a floating five-year average of the City's cost to provide rights-of-way, and adjusted based on the CPI-U index. The purpose of this review is to examine whether the occupancy fee is under or over recovering costs associated with ROW use. The Mayor shall file the review with the City Clerk. In addition to any material the Mayor deems relevant in establishing the recovery rate per linear foot amount of the occupancy fee, the Mayor shall file a calculation of the recovery rate per linear foot amount of the occupancy fee in the form set forth in "Exhibit A."

B.

Inspection Fee and Service Charge. Those ROW occupants which provide Thermal service and/or communications service may, in lieu of the occupancy fee set forth in Subsection 1206.A, pay an inspection fee and service charge as follows:

1.

An amount equal to two percent (2%) of the thermal service gross revenues from within the corporate limits of the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for each current year, if any; and

2.

An amount equal to two percent (2%) of the communications service gross revenues from within the corporate limits of the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for each current year, if any.

This inspection fee and service charge is to compensate the City for the expenses incurred and services rendered incident to the exercise of its power, supervision, police regulation and police control of the construction and maintenance of lines and equipment in the City of Tulsa. Unless otherwise authorized by the Director of Finance, this inspection fee and charge shall be due and payable monthly, on or before the 25th day of each month, on the gross revenues of the preceding month, commencing on the first day of the calendar month commencing after the date this chapter goes into effect, and shall include a complete and accurate verified statement of all gross receipts from sales, for thermal service and/or communications service, as applicable, within the City of Tulsa during the period for which the monthly payment is made. The statement and payment shall be made to the Director of Finance when due and shall be paid into and appropriated and expended from the General Revenue Fund of the City of Tulsa. Upon failure or refusal to pay such fee, the City may, in addition to any other remedies provided herein, maintain an action against such person, firm or corporation for the amount of such fee and all expenses of collecting same, including reasonable attorney's fees.

C.

Inspection Fee and Service Charge Between January 1, 2001, and March 31, 2001. [The text of Subsection 1206.C was repealed because it was no longer applicable after March 31, 2001.]

D.

Records Inspection. The City shall have the right to audit the ROW occupant's records required to be kept by this chapter. The City shall also have the right to audit and to recompute any amounts determined to be payable under this section. If it is determined that the occupancy permit holder has paid less than ninety-five percent (95%) of the amount due to the City, then the City's expenses related to such audit shall be borne by the occupancy permit holder. Any additional amounts due to the City as a result of the audit shall be paid within thirty (30) days following written notice, which shall include a copy of the audit report, to the occupancy permit holder by the City of the underpayment. If recomputation results in additional revenue to be paid to the City, such amount shall be subject to the interest charge described in Subsection E., below. If the audit determines that there has been an overpayment by the occupancy permit holder, the occupancy permit holder shall credit any overpayment against its next quarterly payment.

E.

Late Fees and Interest on Late Payments.

1.

If any occupancy fee payment is not made on or before the required date, the occupancy permit holder shall pay interest computed from such due date at an annual rate equal to one and one-half percent (1½%) interest per month on the total amount of fees due from the last day of the month such was due, plus a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the total amount of the fee due.

2.

If any monthly inspection fee and service charge for thermal service or communications service within the City of Tulsa is not made on or before the required date, the ROW occupant will be charged a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the total amount of the fee due. In addition, the ROW occupant shall pay interest computed from such due date at an annual rate equal to one and one-half percent (1½%) interest per month on the total amount of fees due from the last day of the month such was due.

a.

If a complete and accurate verified statement of all gross receipts from sales for thermal service or communications service within the City of Tulsa during the period for which the monthly payment was due is provided within thirty (30) days of the original due date, the interest and penalty will be computed based on that actual amount.

b.

If a complete and accurate verified statement of all gross receipts from sales for thermal service or communications service within the City of Tulsa during the period for which the monthly payment was due is NOT provided within thirty (30) days of the original due date, the amount of the monthly inspection fee and charge will be estimated and billed.

c.

Adjustments to estimates after receipt of complete and accurate verified statements of all gross receipts will be made at the discretion of the Director of Finance.

F.

No Deduction or Credit Against Taxes. The payments required by this section shall be in addition to any and all taxes of a general nature or other fees or charges which an occupancy permit holder shall be required to pay to the City or to any local, state, or federal agency or authority, as required herein or by law, all of which shall be separate and distinct obligations of the occupancy permit holder. The occupancy permit holder shall neither apply nor seek to apply all or any part of the amount of these payments as a deduction or other credit from or against any City taxes or other fees or charges, except as expressly permitted by law. The occupancy permit holder shall not apply or seek to apply all or any part of the amount of any taxes or other fees or charges as a deduction or other credit from or against any of its fee obligations herein, except as expressly permitted by law.

(Ord. Nos. 19945, 20170, 20233, 20381, 20382, 20392, 20597, 20855, 21270; Ord. No. 22146, § 2, 10-15-2009; Ord. No. 22154, § 1, 11-5-2009; Ord. No. 22741, § 1, 8-30-2012; Ord. No. 23116, § 1, 5-8-2014; Ord. No. 23286, § 1, 5-7-2015 ; Ord. No. 23487, § 1, 5-19-2016 ; Ord. No. 23681 , § 1, 4-26-2017; Ord. No. 23931 , § 1, 6-6-2018)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 23487, § 1, adopted May 19, 2016 , states this ordinance shall be operative on and after June 1, 2016.