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Ordinance 648 ORDINANCE NO. 648 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ASSESS- MENT AND COLLECTION OF REVENUE AND RELATING TO THE ASSESSMENT AND COLLEC. TION OF TAXES ON TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY; PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION OF THIS ORDINANCE AND REP. PEALING ALL ORDINANCES AND PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; DE- CLARING THIS ORDINANCE TO BE AN EMER- GENCY MEASURE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: SECTION 1. Definition of Tangible Personal Property. "Tangible Personal Property" shall include all goods, chattels, boats, vessels, vehicles (except motor vehicles) animals and other articles of value capable of manual possession and whose chief value shall consist of the thing itself and not what it represents. The words "Personal Property" as used in this ordinance shall be synonymous with "Tangible Personal Property". SECTION 2. All tangible personal property taxes assessed by the City of Miami Beach shall be a lien on all of the personal property of the taxpayer in said City, from the time they become due, SECTION 3. If no tax return is filed by the taxpayer, then the City tax assessor shall prepare and file in his office a schedule showing the tangible personal property of the taxpayer which is assessed upon the tax roll, which schedule shall be given a number and shall show the date of filing. The number and date of the tangible personal property tax return filed by the taxpayer with the City tax assessor and the number and date of the schedule prepared by the City tax assessor, where no return has been made, shall be shown on the tax roll in connection with the assessment in an appropriate column in the tangible personal property tax roll for that purpose. Any such assess«» ment for tangible personal property taxes appearing on the tax roll in general terms as tangible personal property shall be construed to refer to and embrace the property described in a return, when a return shall have been filed, and where no return has been filed then such assessment shall be construed to refer to and embrace the property described in the schedule filed by the assessor. SECTION 4. Where the relation of husband and wife exists all tangible personal property shall be assessed in the name of the husband unless a special return is filed showing the amount of tangible personal property to be assessed against the husband and wife separately, or unless in the discretion of the City tax assessor the assessments should be separate. When a person is assessed as trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, or in any other representative capacity, his representative character shall be added to his name and such assess ment shall be entered on separate line or lines from the individual assessment of the same person. Where a family relation exists all tangible personal property shall be assessed to the head of the family unless returns of separate ownership are filed, or unless in the discretion of the City tax assessor the assessments should be separate. SECTION 5. It is hereby made the duty of every person, firm or corporation owning or having the control, management or custody of tangible personal property of whatsoever character in the City of Miami Beach which is subject to taxation under the laws of Florida, including trustees, executors, administrators, receivers, and all other fiduciaries, to return the same for taxation to the City tax assessor on or before the first day of April of each and every year, giving the character, description, location and full cash value of the same according to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person making the return, The City tax assessor may reject or refuse to receive or file any tax return which is not made out in the form required or prescribed in the event of the refusal of the person making such return to correct the same upon the demand of the City tax assessor by supplying such information as may have been improperly omitted there.. from. All such tangible personal property tax returns shall be verified by the signature and oath of the person making the same that such return is true to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person making the return and that the valuations shown thereon are to the best of the knowledge and belief of such person the full cash value of the property described in the return, SECTION 6. In the event any person, firm or corporation shall make or file a return as required by this Ordinance, the full cash value of the tangible personal property owned by him shall be presumptively considered to be that shown in the tax return, unless the City tax assessor shall, upon his knowledge or after investigation find that the taxpayer has property subject to taxation which is not described in such return or that the valuation of that which is described in such return is greater than the valuation shown by such return, in which event the City tax assessor shall give notice by mail to the person filing the return of such opinion by him. Such notice need not be given unless the taxpayer shall state his post office address on his return and thereon expressly request such notice, but the failure to give or receive such notice shall not invalidate the assessment. The City tax assessor thereafter, upon request of such person, shall give him a full end fair hearing as to the tangible personal property which he may have subject to taxation and as to the full cash value of the same. After such full and fair hearing the City tax assessor shall finally decide and determine and make his assessment accordingly* The City tax assessor may assess the tangible personal property of the taxpayer at an amount less than the valuation shown in such return if he finds that the value thereof as returned is in excess of the full cash value thereof. The taxpayer shall have the right to appeal from any decision of the City tax assessor made under this section to the City Council sitting as a Board of Equalization, and if the taxpayer is dissatisfied with the decision of the City Council he may take an appeal therefrom to the Circuit Court of Dade County. SECTION 7, In the hearings provided for in the preceding section, the City tax assessor and the City Council shall require every person complaining to give in a complete list of his tangible personal property under oath with the full cash value of the same, and to make oath that the valuations fixed to each item thereof are the full cash valuation of the same, and that the list submitted by the taxpayer is full and complete, If any person shall refuse to make such oath he shall not be permitted afterwards to have reduced the valuation made by the City tax assessor of his personal property for that year. SECTION 8, Regardless of any return which may be filed by any tax- payer, the valuation of any item or items of property shown in the return shall in no case prevent the City Tax assessor from determining and assessing the full cash value according to his information and best judgment, or from determining and entering upon the return of the taxpayer any item or items of tangible personal property which the City tax assessor may find has been omitted there.. from, subject to the restrictions and limitations mentioned in this Ordinance. SECTION 9, No tax return shall be received by the City tax assessor after April first of any year for that tax year, Beau ginning on April first of each year the City tax assessor shall begin preparation of his tax roll of tangible personal property, and shall cause the same to be completely assessed at its true and just taxable value according to his best information and judgment, and shall com- plete the same on or before the first Monday in June of that year. The City tax assessor shall enter upon and include in said tax roll the name of each and every person, firm and corporation who or which between January first and March first of that year was an inhabitant and/or was doing business in the City of Miami Beach, and shall enter upon said tax roll, according to his best knowledge and information, the name of each person, firm or corporation not an inhabitant of said City or not doing business therein who or which between said dates of that year had located in said City tangible personal property, and shall also enter upon said roll all taxable tangible personal property usually kept and located in said City, the ownership of which is unknown to him, provided in the last mentioned case the City tax assessor shall give the location of said property if same is known to him• SECTION 10. After having entered all the names of the owners of tangible personal property on the tax roll, as hereinbefore provided, the City tax assessor shall proceed to assess the tangible personal property in the City of Miami Beach upon such information as he may have before him after making diligent effort to obtain true descriptions, own- erships and valuations of the same, including such information as shown by the tax returns which shall have been filed with him for that year• He shall place on the tax roll opposite the name of the person, firm or corporation listed thereon as a taxpayer the true total taxable valuation, as found and determined by the City tax assessor, of tangible personal property for which said taxpayer is to be assessed for that year• SECTION 11, In making tangible personal property tax returns under this Ordinance it shall be the duty of the taxpayer to com- pletely disclose and claim any and all lawful or constitutional exemptions from taxation to which he may be entitled or which he may desire to claim in respect to taxable tangible personal property. The failure to disclose and include such exemptions, if any, in a tangible personal property tax return made under this Ordinance shall be deemed a waiver of the same on the part of the taxpayer and no such exemption or claim thereof shall thereafter be allowed for that tax year. SECTION 12, Every receiver or custodian of tangible personal property who shall be appointed by any court in this State and every clerk of any court in this State who shall hold or have the custody of any such tangible personal property in the registry of the court between January first and April first of each year shall return the same for taxation to the City tax assessor on or before the first day of April of each year, If the tangible personal property so reported by the officers named in this Section shall not be otherwise taxed, the City tax assessor shall enter the same upon the tangible personal proper ty tax roll and assess the tax thereon to the proper party• The taxes thereon shall be paid by the receiver, clerk or other officer named in this Section to the tax collector, and the amount so paid shall be charged against such tangible personal property and allowed as a credit to the officer paying or delivering the same, which may be established by the receipt of the tax collector* SECTION 13. All taxes on tangible personal property shall be due and payable on the first day of November of each year, or as soon thereafter as the tangible personal property assessment roll shall come into the hands of the City tax collector. The tangible personal property tax assessment roll shall have attached thereto a tax assessor's warrant in substantially the same general form as provided by Section 734, Revised General Statutes of Florida. The absence of such warrant or defects in its form shall not invalidate the tangible personal proper» ty tax roll if it is the authentic tax roll made under and pursuant to this Ordinance; and the effect and purpose of such warrant is hereby declared to be merely evidence/ of the authenticity and official regu- larity of the tangible personal property tax assessment roll itself* SECTION 14. Taxpayers paying tangible personal property taxes shall be entitled to the same discounts as may be allowed by law for the payment of taxes on real property, • SECTION 15. Taxes on tangible personal property shall be deemed delinquent on the first day of April of the year follow- ing that for which the assessment was made. On May fifteenth, the City tax collector shall advertise one time in some newspaper published in the City, said newspaper to be selected by the City Council at a regu- lar meeting in February of each year, and the newspaper so selected shall have been continuously published in the City for a period of not less than one year prior to its selection, or if there be no such news- paper, a newspaper published for a less period of time may be selected, a notice setting forth the names of delinquent tangible personal proper.. ty taxpayers and the amount of tax due by each and advising them that such delinquent tangible personal property taxes will draw interest at the rate of one (l%) per cent per month from the first day of June, and that unless such delinquent tangible personal property taxes are paid before the first day of June warrants will issue thereon directing levy upon and seizure of the tangible personal property of the taxpayer for unpaid taxes; which advertisement shall be paid for by the City at the rate provided by law for official or legal advertisement and the proportionate cost of such advertisement shall be added to the delinquent taxes as and when they are collected. Beginning on the first day of June, the City tax collector in person or by deputy appointed by him for that purpose shall levy upon and seize tangible personal property of the delinquent taxpayer for unpaid taxes, and a written appointment from the City tax collector with a statement from him of the person in whose name the property is assessed and the amount of taxes due shall be sufficient warrant and authority for the City tax collector or said deputy to act, and it shall not be necessary for the City tax collector or said deputy to take the tax roll or warrant annexed thereto with him. SECTION 16. When tangible personal property shall be levied upon for any delinquent taxes as provided for in the preceding section, the tax collector or his deputy shall give public notice of the time and place of sale and of the property to be sold at least fifteen days previous to the sale by advertisement, to be posted in at least three public places in the City, one of which shall be at the City Hall door, and the property shall be sold at public auction at the City Hall door and the property sold shall be present if practical; but at any time previous to the sale the owner or claimant of such property may release the same by the payment of the taxes plus delinquency charges interest and costs for which the same was liable to be sold. SECTION 17. If the property levied upon shall be sold for more than the amount of taxes, the delinquent charges, interest costs and collection fee the surplus shall be returned to the person in whose possession the said property was when the levy was made or to the owner of the property. SECTION 18. The City tax collector shall have the power to attach for taxes thereon any tangible personal property which has been assessed at anytime before payment, if he has reason to believe that such property is being or has been r emoved or disposed of so as to prevent or endanger the payment of taxes thereon in the same manner and under the same rules of law governing attachments or debts, dues or demands in other cases; and all taxes assessed upon tangible personal property, from the date such taxes become due, shall have all the force and effect of a judgment and execution at law against the owner of such property, except that the same shall not constitute a lien on the real property of such owner• SECTION 19. Any person who fails to make a tax return as required by this Ordinance shall pay no penalty but shall not be heard to complain of the assessed value fixed by the City tax assessor. A taxpayer making a return and who fails to include therein all of his tangible personal property subject to taxation, as required by this Ordinance shall pay as a penalty, in addition to and as part of the tax, a sum equal to 10% of the tax found to be due upon that part of his tangible personal property which he fails to include in his return. All taxes together with any penalties shall draw interest at the rate of 1% per month from the first day of June of the year in which the sat d taxes become delinquent until the same shall be paid. SECTION 20. On or before the first Monday in November of each and every year the City tax collector shall make out a report to the City Council showing the discounts, errors, double assessments and insolvencies for which he is to be credited under the different heads, giving in every case, except discounts, the names of the parties on whose account the credit is to be allowed. In no case, however, shall the City tax collector take credit on this list as insolvent items, any tangible personal property tax due by a solvent taxpayer. The City Council, upon receiving such report shall examine same, making such investigations as may be necessary, and if it is discovered that the City tax collector has taken credit as an insolvent item any tangible personal property tax due by a solvent taxpayer, then the amount of taxes represen- ted by such item shall be charged to the City tax collector and the report shall not be approved until the City tax collector shall strike from the report such item. SECTION 21. If any section, sub-section, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this Ordinance is for any reason, held or declared to be unconstitutional, inoperative or void, such holding or invalidity shall not affect the remaining portions of this Ordinance; and it shall be construed to have been the legislative intent to pass this Ordinance without such unconstitutional, inoperative or invalid part therein; and the remainder of this Ordinance after the exclusion of such part or parts shall be deemed and held to be valid as if such excluded part or parts had not been included herein; or if this Ordinance or any provisions thereof shall be held inapplicable to any persons, groups of persons, property, kind of property, circumstances or set of circumstances, such holding shall not affect the applicability thereof to any other person, property or circumstance. SECTION 22. Whenever any specific day or date is mentioned in this Ordinance as the time for the performance of any act by any officer of the City, if said day or date shall fall upon Sunday, then at the discretion of the officer whose duty it is to perform any act under this Ordinance such act, or the performance of such act, may be delayed and postponed to the succeeding secular day. SECTION 23. All Ordinances or parts of Ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. SECTION 24. This Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure for the immediate preservation of the welfare of the City of Miami Beach, Florida. PASSED AND ADOPTED this 15th day of April, A. '. 1942. ayor Attesty--- —4� • City C erk 1st Reading - April 15, 1942 2nd Reading - April 15, 1942 3rd Reading - April 15, 1942 Posted - April 16, 1942 • STATE OF FLORIDA) COUNTY OF DADE ) I, C. W. TOMLINSON, City Clerk in and for the City of Miami Beach, do heregy certify that Ordinance No. 648 entitled "AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE ASSESS- MENT AND COLLECTION OF REVENUE AND RELATING TO THE ASSESS- MENT AND COLLECTION OF TAXES ON TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY; PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION OF THIS ORDINANCE AND REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES AND PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; DECLARING THIS ORDINANCE TO BE AN EMERGENCY MEA-- SURE" , HAVING BEEN PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE City Council of the City of Miami Beach, Florida, has been posted by me in three conspicuous places in the City of Miami Beach, one of which was at the door of the City Hall in said City, on the 15th day of April, A. D. , 1942, and that said Ordinance remained posted for a period of at least thirty days in accordance with the requirements of the City Charter of the said City of Miami Beach. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Miami Beach, Florida, on this the 30th day of September, A. D. , 1942. Waitaki ity lerk. l • 1--b Pt 0 Pi d Ca N 0115 H O W CJS. C� H w N Ot1 tri 1-1 H O 0 l'3 • C� kl La OD co