Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES OF UNIVERSITY CITY COUNCIL <br />STUDY SESSION <br />JANUARY 22, 2007 <br /> <br /> <br />The Council Study Session, held in the Chambers of the City Hall, on Monday, January 22, <br />2007, was called to order by Mayor Adams at 5:30 p.m. In addition to Mayor Adams, the <br />following members of the Council were present: <br /> Mr. Robert Wagner <br /> Mr. Arthur Sharpe, Jr. <br /> Ms. Stefany Brot <br /> Ms. Lynn Ricci <br /> Mr. Michael Glickert <br />Mr. Price was absent. <br /> <br />Also present was the City Manager, Ms. Julie Feier and City Attorney, Mr. John Mulligan. <br /> <br />The Study Session agenda was planned to review the City’s history on cell phone taxation. <br /> <br />Mr. Mulligan said that University City passed an ordinance in 1960 concerning taxation on <br />cell phone usage which was well before cell phone use reached its popularity in 1983. He <br />said that the number of landlines peaked in 1999 and since has been slowly declining. <br />According to Mr. Mulligan, Sunset Hills was the first city to impose a business license tax on <br />cell phone towers. He explained that presently there is a disagreement between <br />municipalities and the telephone companies concerning the amount of taxation due each <br />municipality. It was not until 2001 that the telephone companies started to pay attention to <br />the municipalities’ request. Mr. Mulligan said that with his lead, a suit was filed in December <br />2001, against the cell phone companies, six major carriers plus limited partnerships. More <br />cities joined in the suit and are now represented by a staff of attorneys. <br /> <br />Some cell phone companies have started to add the tax on to their customers’ bills and are <br />paying a limited percentage of the tax collected to the municipalities. The proposed Senate <br />Bill 209 if passed would limit the rate paid to the cities to 5 percent; in addition to, the <br />telephone companies would pay only 3 months of back taxes, although the municipalities’ suit <br />has been ongoing during a period of ten years. Mr. Mulligan explained that tax on cell phone <br />usage amounts to a large sum of money and its distribution is presently still in the court <br />system. His purpose at this meeting was to explain to the Council the history of the <br />municipalities’ request. University City is part of this group insisting on its fair share of the <br />monies due them from taxation on cell phone usage. <br /> <br />The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 p.m. <br /> <br />Joyce Pumm <br />City Clerk <br />