1975-053NO '15 '53
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, PROVIDING THAT CHAPTER
23 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES BE AMENDED BY ADDING ARTICLE I ENTITLED
"HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX", PROVIDING FOR THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF A
HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX, PROVIDING FOR EXEMPTION, PROVIDING FOR REPORTS
PROVIDING FOR RULES AND REGULATIONS BY THE TAX COLLECTOR, PROVIDING
FOR A PENALTY, PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS,
THAT
PART I
Chapter 23 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton,
Texas, shall be and the same is hereby amended by adding thereto
Article I entitled "Hotel Occupancy Tax" which shall read as
follows
ARTICLE I
HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX
SECTION 23-1 - DEFINITIONS
The following words, terms and phrases are, for the purposes
of this chapter, except where the context clearly indicates a
different meaning, defined as follows
(a) Hotel - Shall mean any building or buildings, trailer
or other facilities, in which the public may, for a consideration,
obtain sleeping accommodations The term shall include hotels,
motels, tourist homes, houses or courts, lodging houses, inns,
rooming houses, or other buildings where rooms are furnished for
a consideration, but hotels shall not be defined so as to include
hospitals, sanitariums or nursing homes
(b) Consideration - Shall mean the cost of the room, sleep-
ing space, bed or other facilities in such hotel and shall not in-
clude the cost of any food served or personal services rendered to
the occupant of such room not related to the cleaning and readying
of such room, sleeping space, bed or other facility for occupancy
(c) Occupancy - Shall mean the use or possession, or the
right to use or possession of any room or rooms in a hotel for any
purpose
(d) Occupant - Shall mean anyone, who, for a consideration,
uses, possesses, or has a right to use or possess any room or rooms,
sleeping space, bed or other facility in a hotel under any lease,
concession, permit, right of access, license, contract or agreement
(e) Person - Shall mean any individual, company, corporation
or association owning, operating, managing or controlling any hotel
(f) Tax Collector - Shall mean the Tax Collector of the City
of Denton, Texas
(g) Quarterly Period - Shall mean the regular calendar
quarters of the year, the first quarter being composed of the months
of January, February and March, the second quarter being the months
of April, May and June, the third quarter being the months of July,
August and September, and the fourth quarter being the months of
October, November and December
(h) Permanent Resident - Shall mean any occupant who has or
shall have the right to occupancy of any room or rooms or sleeping
space or other facility in a hotel for at least thirty (30) con-
secutive days during the current calendar year or preceding year
SECTION 23-2 - LEVY OF TAX, RATE, EXCEPTION
(a) There is hereby levied a tax upon the cost of occupancy
of any room or space furnished by any hotel where such cost of
occupancy is at the rate of two dollars ($2 00) or more per day,
such tax to be equal to three percent (38) of the consideration
paid by the occupant of such rooms to such hotel
(b) No tax shall be imposed hereunder upon a permanent
resident
(c) No tax shall be imposed hereunder upon a corporation or
association organized and operated exclusively for religious,
charitable or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings
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of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or indivi-
dual
SECTION 23-3 - COLLECTION
Every person owning, operating, managing or controlling any
I
hotel shall collect the ~ax imposed in Section 23-2 hereof for the
V
City of Denton 11
SECTION 23-4 - REPORTS
On the last day of the month following each quarterly period,
every person required he eby to collect the tax imposed by this
Article shall file a rep rt with the tax collector showing the con-
sideration paid for all oom occupancies in the preceding quarter,
the amount of the tax co lected on the city's behalf on such occu-
pancies, and any other information as the tax collector may reason-
ably require, such reports shall be in writing Such person shall
pay over the tax due on such occupancies at the time of filing such
report There shall also be furnished to the tax collector of the
i
City of Denton at the time of payment of such tax, a copy of the
quarterly tax report filed with the State Comptroller in connection
with the State of Texas Hotel Occupancy Tax
SECTION 23-5 - ADOPTION OF PROCEDURES, RULES & REGULATIONS,
ACCESS TO BOOKS, RECORDS
The tax collector shall adopt such procedures, rules and regu-
lations as are reasonably necessary to effectively collect the tax
levied herein, and shall upon request of any person owning, operat-
ing, managing or controlling any hotel furnish a copy of such pro-
cedures, rules and regulations for the guidance of such person and
facilitate the collection of such tax as such collection is re-
quired herein Such procedure, rules and regulations shall be in
writing and a copy thereof shall be placed on file with the City
Secretary The tax collector shall be permitted to have access to
the books and records during reasonable business hours as shall be
necessary to enable the tax collector to determine the correctness
of the amount due under the provisions of this article, or to deter-
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mine whether or not a report should have been filed and the amount,
if necessary, of taxes due
SECTION 23-6 - PENALTIES
(a) If any person required by the provisions of this article
to collect a tax imposed herein or make reports as required herein,
and pay to the tax collector the tax imposed herein, shall fail to
collect such tax, file such report, or pay such tax, or if any per-
son shall file a false report, or any person shall violate any of
the provisions of this article, such person shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine
not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200 00)
(b) If the operators of any hotels, shall fail to file a re-
port for any period as required by this article, or shall fail to
pay the tax for any period as required by this article, then the
tax collector is hereby authorized to make an assessment of the
tax for such period The tax assessed together with any penalty
provided by this article shall be a prior and superior lien on the
property of the hotel
PART II
That if any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause,
phrase or word in this ordinance, or application thereof to any
person or circumstances is held invalid by any court of competent
jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this ordinance, and the City Council of the
City of Denton, Texas, hereby declares it would have enacted such
remaining portions despite any such invalidity
PART III
That this ordinance shall become effective on the lst day of
January, 1976, and the City Secretary is hereby directed to cause
the caption of this ordinance to be published twice in the Denton
Record-Chronicle, the official newspaper of the City of Denton,
Texas, within ten (10) days of the date of its passage
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PASSED AND APPROVED This the 16th day of December, A D 1975
T n J , YOR
CITY OF DENT , T S
ATTE
R KS HOLT, C Y SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM
PAUL C HAM, CI Y ATTORNEY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
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