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Council clarifies cell-phone tax and votes to revert budget code; one ordinance tabled
Summary
Council clarified code language to include cellular telephone service in a 6% utility tax, and approved an ordinance to move back toward an annual budget; a separate ordinance (10-95) was tabled for later consideration.
Benton City councilors spent part of the June 2 meeting reviewing how ordinances are introduced and passed under the city code and then addressed two substantive ordinances.
Cell‑phone tax: staff explained an amendment to the municipal code that adds definitions for cellular telephone service and explicitly includes it in the 6% utility tax rate. Staff said the ordinance follows practices used by other cities and will provide a 60‑day window for providers to update billing procedures after adoption. "It sounds like it's a 60 day window to let them get their billing together," staff said. Council discussed whether the provider or billing address determines the taxable location and heard that disputes over billing addresses have occurred elsewhere; council voted to adopt the ordinance language as presented.
Budget ordinance: staff and council then discussed Ordinance 10‑94, which would revert the city from a biennial to an annual budget by repealing the 2018 code changes; staff emphasized that repealing the 2018 ordinance would reinstate prior annual-budget language and that the city could then amend that language if desired. After discussion the council approved Ordinance 10‑94.
Tabling of Ordinance 10‑95: a councilmember introduced Ordinance 10‑95 (multiple code section amendments) and moved to table it; the motion to table was seconded and approved, sending 10‑95 back to a future agenda.
