Council adopts ordinance setting administrative rules for city taxes, including new utility tax

The Sammamish City Council on July 1 adopted an ordinance establishing administrative provisions for the administration and collection of city taxes, including rules needed to implement the utility tax the council passed earlier in March.

Chris (Deputy Finance Director) told the council the ordinance provides standard administrative provisions modeled on peer cities. The code includes requirements about who must file returns, due dates and payment methods, procedures for late payments, over‑ and underpayments, penalties, an appeal process and provisions for businesses that sell their utility operations or go out of business. Chris said the city had already notified roughly 160 potential utility providers and had received no substantive comments in response.

During the meeting a councilmember moved and seconded adoption of the ordinance. The council voted in favor and the motion carried; the record shows the ordinance was adopted as moved. The ordinance text and administrative provisions were included in the meeting packet and will be used by the finance office to communicate rules and schedule payments to affected utility providers.

The ordinance applies to the newly enacted utility tax and to other municipal taxes currently on the books (gambling and admissions taxes), though the deputy finance director noted there are currently no businesses in Sammamish subject to the gambling or admissions taxes.