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3159 ORDINANCE NO. 3159 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SANFORD, FLORIDA, CREATING CHAPTER 18 1/2, ARTICLE V, OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF SANFORD, FLORIDA, TO BE KNOWN AS THE "INTERIM GENERAL SERVICES FEE"; ESTABLISHING AUTHORITY; PROVIDING FOR DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING A PURPOSE THEREFORE; PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND IMPOSITION OF SUCH INTERIM GENERAL SERVICES FEE; PRESCRIBING THE RATES TO BE CHARGED THEREFORE; PROVIDING FOR THE YEARLY REVISION OF SUCH RATES; PROVIDING FOR COLLECTION; PROVIDING CODIFICATION, SEVERABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Commission of the City of Sanford, Florida, finds the ever-continuing growth and development within the City's incoFporated Hmits places additional strains on the City's finances and resources necessary to provide adequate CRy services; and WHEREAS, the City Commission recognizes the demand for services associated with the increased development of real property located within the City's incorporated limits and the subsequent occupancy of those developed properties; and WHEREAS, between the time new development to real property has been competed and the time the developed real property is placed on the county's tax roll, there is no assessment of ad valorera taxes on said real property; yet the City is obligated to provide City services to the newly developed real property and its occupants for which the City receives no monies; and WHEREAS, the City finds the imposition of an Interim General Services Fee to be sound fiscal policy and an appropriate manner to obtain additional funds necessary to meet the increased demand for City services associated with new development; and WHEREAS, the City desires to maintain a fair and equitable allocation of the incremental cost of making available City services to newly developed real properties and their occupants; and WHEREAS, the City has established by study the need for an Interim General Services Fee, an equitable distribution of the fee among different land uses, and a direct benefit to the newly developed property and occupants; and WHEREAS, the City finds it in the best interest of the City of Sanford to impose an Interim General Services Fee to meet the increased financial burden resulting from new development and the City finds that said fee will help pay for City services to new development which promotes the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Sanford. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF SANFORD, FLORIDA: SECTION 1: Chapter 18 1/2, Article V, of the City of Sanford City Code is hereby created, to be known as the "Interim General Services Fee" and shall read as follows: CHAPTER 18 1/2, Article V, INTERIM GENERAL SERVICES FEE. Section 18 1/2-1. Authority. The City has authority to adopt this Ordinance pursuant to Article VIII of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Chapter 166 of the Florida Statutes, and the City Charter of the City of Sanford. Section 18 1/2-2. Definitions. A. "City Services." The following municipal services provided by the City: general administration, parks and recreation, planning and development, public safety (i.e. police, fire, etc. ), and public works. B. "Dwelling." Any structure or portion thereof intended for Residential Use, including, but not limited to a house, duplex, apartment, condominium or mobile home. C. "Dwelling Unit." Any portion of a multiple-family dwelling consisting of its own sleeping quarters and constituting a separate residence for single-family occupancy. D. "Interim General Services Fee or Fee." An annual user fee imposed on a structure certified for occupancy by the City Building Official or his designee, but not yet listed on the Seminole County tax rolls as an improvement to real property. E. "Lodging Unit." Any room or sleeping quarters in a hotel, motel or other lodging establishment. F. "New development." or "newly-developed." The construction of a structure to improve or alter real property, either from its natural state or where there exists or once existed another structure, to facilitate a residential, retail, commercial, office, or industrial use. G. "Non-Residentiai Unit." Any retail store or single-occupancy commercial structure; each individual retail space in a multiple-occupancy retail structure; each individual commercial space in a multiple-occupancy commercial structure; any single-occupancy industrial structure; each individual space in a multiple-occupancy industrial structure; any single-occupancy office building; each individual office space in a multiple-occupancy office building; and any warehouse or any unit in a warehouse facility subdivided into individual units and used primarily as leased storage space. OPrlln~nCe No. 3159 H. "Owner." That person or legal entity reflected on the public records of Seminole County, including the Seminole County tax records, as the owner of real property, upon which a structure has been erected. I. "Residential Unit." Any single-family dwelling; and each dwelling unit of a townhouse, duplex, condominium or other multiple-family dwelling, including, but not limited to, nursing homes providing long-term care. J. "Square Feet" or "Square footage." The total gross square footage of a Non-Residential Unit as determined by the Building Official and/or indicated on the applicable City building permit. K. "Structure." Any temporary or permanent residential, lodging or non- residential building or building-unit built for the support, shelter or protection of persons, animals, chattels or property of any kind, for which a certificate of occupancy is required, and constructed upon real property located within the incorporated municipal limits of the City of Sanford, Florida. Any words or terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaning ascribed to them under normal usage. Section 18 1/2-3. Purpose. The cost for City services is borne in large part through ad valorera taxation. Between the time that a new structure is completed and occupied and the time the value of the new structure on such real property is reflected on the County's tax roll (usually as of the ensuing January lst), the City is obligated to provide City services for which no part of the cost of said services does the City receive monies. The Interim General Services Fee will defray the cost to the City in providing City services to newly-developed real properties and their occupants prior to the imposition of ad valorera taxes on said Property. The fee is not in any manner, directly or indirectly, intended as an ad valorera tax, nor is the amount of the fee established herein related to the valuation of the property receiving and benefiting from said City services. The fee is equitably distributed and reasonably covers the cost of making such City services available to newly- developed real properties and their occupants. Section 18 1/2-4. Fee Levied for Services to Certain Pro~oerties. There is hereby levied an Interim General Services Fee which shall apply to those real properties located within the City limits with structures, either permanent or temporary, for which a certificate of occupancy is required, for full or partial use of the premises, and which shall cover the period from the date of issuance of the certificate of occupancy until and including the ensuing December 31st (i.e. the day normally preceding the date the structure necessitating the certificate of occupancy OrdjnanCe No. 3159 is assessed by the Seminole County Property Appraiser and extended on the tax roll). Section 18 1/2-5. Fee; When paid. The Interim General Services Fee shall be paid in full by the owner of the real property prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy, and the certificate of occupancy shall not be issued until such time as the Interim General Services Fee has been fully paid. Section 18 1/2-6. Rate Charged. The Interim General Services Fee shall be imposed at the following rates, according to land use: A. For Residential Units: (1) One hundred eighty-seven dollars and fifty-two cents ($187.52) per year per single family dwelling unit. (2) One hundred eighty-seven dollars and fifty-two cents ($187.52) per year for each dwelling unit within a multiple-family dwelling or long- term care nursing home and for each residential unit. B. For Retail Establishment: Two hundred twenty dollars and fifty- three cents ($220.5S) per year per 1,000 square feet of office space or commercial space in each retail store, or for every 1,000 square feet of retail or commercial space in each non-residential unit of a multiple-occupancy retail or commercial structure. C. For Office Space: Two hundred twenty dollars and fifty-three cents ($220.53) per year per 1,000 square feet of office space in a single-occupancy office building or in each non-residential unit of a multiple-occupancy office building. D. For Industrial Warehouse Space: Thirty-six dollars and seventeen cents ($36.17) per year per 1,000 square feet of industrial warehouse space in a single-occupancy industrial building or warehouse or in each non-residential unit of a subdivision industrial building or warehouse. E. For Industrial Manufacturing Space: Sixty-four dollars and thirty- eight cents ($64.38) per year per 1,000 square feet of industrial manufacturing space in a single-occupancy industrial building or manufacturing facility or in each non-residential unit of a subdivided industrial building or manufacturing facility. F. For Lodging Units: One hundred and three dollars and thirteen cents ($103.13) per year per sleeping quarter in a hotel, motel or other lodging establishment. All such fees will be imposed, at the applicable rates, from the date the certificate of occupancy is issued through and including the following December 31st, calculated on a prorated daily basis and applied at a monthly rate on a full --4-- Ord'in~nce No. 3159 month basis. All newly developed real property shall be classified as one of the above-stated land uses. The Buildin~ Official shall have the authority to determine which of the above-stated land uses best applies to a particular structure not otherwise definitively classified. While all fees for convenience, are stated in terms of every thousand square feet, the actual fee assessed shall be calculated on each square foot. Section 18 1/2-7. Fee Revisions. Upon the recommendation of the Finance Department, the City Commission may, by adoption of a resolution, revise the Interim General Services Fee rate by increasin~ or decreasin~ the annual rate and roundin~ to the nearest dollar. Any rate revision to the Interim General Services Fee shall take effect on the first day of the calendar month that follows the adoption of the rate revision by the City Commission unless the resolution shall state otherwise. The revised fee shall be calculated based upon a reasonable estimate of the annual net cost of all City services divided by the total numbe~ of Residential, Non-residential and Lod~in~ Units actually existin~ as of January 1 of the year in which the revised fee is to be adopted, then ad~ustinE that cost for each of the respective land uses. The revised fee shall be stated in annual dollar rates, but shall be assessed on a prorated daily basis and applied at a monthly rate of a full month basis. The fee, however, may only be revised once a year and may not be increased by more than twenty-five percent (25%) from one year to the next. Section 18 1/2-8. Exemptions. The followin~ shall be exempt from payment of the Interim General Services Fee: A. Property for which a bnildin~ permit (in proper form and order) was issued in Eood faith prior to the effective date of this Ordinance; B. Property consistinE of a structure currently reflected on the County tax roll, where a certificate of occupancy is required for the purposes of either a chan~e of use of the property; an alteration or remodelin~ of an existin~ Residential, Non- residential or Lod~in~ Unit which does not entail an increase in square foota~e; or an expansion to a single-family dwelling; C. Property that would otherwise be totally exempt from ad valorera taxation. (There shall be no partial exemption from the Interim General Services Fee for any property partially exempt from ad valorera taxation. ); or D. Property owned and operated by Federal, State or local ~overnment and used for a ~overnmental or public purpose, or ~overnment owned property leased to a person or organization which uses the property exclusively for tax-exempt purposes under State or Federal laws. Any claim of exemption under A through D Ordin.T. ee No. 3159 of this Section must be made at the time of application for the building permit; any claim made subsequent thereto shall be considered untimely and not entitled to an exemption. The property owner must present to the Building Official sufficient and satisfactory documentation to verify that the property owner or property owner's land use qualifies for one of the above exemptions. Section 18 1/2-9. Lien Provisions. Any form of payment of the Interim General Services Fee which, subsequent to the issuance of the certificate of occupancy, is not honored or accepted, for whatever reason, by a national banking institution, shall remain due and payable and shall constitute, and is hereby imposed as, a special assessment lien against the real property upon which such fee remains due; and until fully paid and discharged, or otherwise barred by law from being assessed, shall remain a lien equal in rank and dignity with the Hen of a city or county for ad valorera taxes and senior in dignity to all other property containing the structure. Such special assessment line may be enforced by any of the methods provided for in Chapter 85, Florida Statutes, or in the alternative, foreclosure proceedings may be instituted under Chapter 173, Florida Statutes, or the collection allowed by law. The owner shall pay all costs associated with enforcement and collection of unpaid Interim General Services Fees, including reasonable attorney fees, court costs, abstracting expenses and other related costs incurred. Section 18 1/2-10. Collection and Deposit. All monies collected in the form of Interim General Services Fees shall be collected by the City's Building Official or his designee and shall be deposited into the General Fund of the City of Sanford. SECTION 2: Codification. Specific authority is hereby granted to codify and incorporate this Ordinance in the existing Code of Ordinances of the City of Sanford. SECTION 3: Conflicts. If any section or portion of a section of this ordinance proves to be invalid, unlawful or unconstitutional, it shall not be held to impair the validity, force or effect of any other section or part of this Ordinance. SECTION 4: Severability. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby revoked. SECTION 5: Effective Date. That this Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its passage and adoption. --6-- Ol~]~ins~rsce No. 3159 City of Sanford, Florida CERTIFICATE I, Janet R. Donahoe, City Clerk of the City of Sanford, Florida, do hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing Ordinance No. 3159, PASSED and ADOPTED by the City Commission of the City of Sanford, Florida, on the 28th day of June, 1993, was POSTED at the front door of the City Hall in the City of Sanford, Florida, on the 29th day of June, 1993. ~the City Clerk of the City of Sanford, Florida --7-- Or~n--ee No. 3159