§ 13-2. Public utility franchise tax.

(a)

Agreement with Atlanta Gas. An ordinance, granting to Atlanta Gas Light Company, a Georgia corporation, hereinafter designated as "Grantee, " its successors and assigns, the right and franchise to use and occupy the streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parts and other public places of the City of Union City, Georgia, for constructing, maintaining, renewing, repairing and operating a gas works and gas distribution system, and other necessary means for the manufacturing, transmitting, distributing and selling of manufactured, natural or commingled gas within and through the City of Union City, Georgia, and fixing the terms and conditions of such grant. The City of Union City is not at the present time receiving any gas service and desires that there be gas service in the City of Union City. The City of Union City and the undersigned warrant and represent that there is no gas service in the City of Union City, that there is no franchise granted by the City of Union City, in force and effect, to any other person and that the City of Union City is under no contract or obligation to any other person, firm or corporation in anywise relating to the installation of gas service in the City of Union City, and this franchise is granted to Atlanta Gas Light Company on such warranties and representations to induce it to install a distribution system and furnish gas service in the City of Union City.

BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of the City of Union City, Georgia, as follows:

Section 1. The right is hereby granted to the Grantee, its successor and assigns, to lay, construct, maintain, renew, replace, extend, and repair gas pipes and gas mains under, along, through and across any streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parks and other public places in the City of Union City, Georgia and to use and occupy the said streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parks and other public places for the purpose of herein laying, constructing, extending, maintaining, renewing, replacing and repairing mains and pipes and all appurtenances and appendages thereto, used and useful for the manufacture, transmission, distribution and sale of gas within and through the present or future territorial limits of the City of Union City, Georgia, such right to continue for thirty (30) years after the date of approval of this ordinance by the mayor.

It is recognized by the City of Union City that Atlanta Gas Light Company will not be in position to construct a distribution system and provide gas service in the City of Union City for at least a year, and this franchise is granted with full recognition that there may be such delay.

If at any time under any zoning regulations or similar regulations it becomes necessary for the Grantee to have the property rezoned or permits granted in order to construct, maintain or enlarge its distribution system, the City of Union City agrees to procure and grant such zoning, rezoning or permits as may be necessary.

Section 2. The Grantee shall be entitled to charge for gas furnished by it such rates as are prescribed by the Georgia Public Service Commission or other lawful regulatory body of the State of Georgia.

Section 3. In lieu of all other business licenses and other similar taxes from the date of the granting of this franchise, the Grantee shall pay to said City of Union City, commencing after six (6) years from the date on which natural gas service is made available to consumers in said city, which period is the development period, for the rights and privileges granted under this franchise three (3) percent of all revenues, except forfeited discounts for failure to pay bills, received after the expiration of the development period from the sale of gas to residential and commercial, but not industrial, customers within the territorial limits of said city as the same now are or may hereafter be fixed during the life of this franchise, such payment to be made by the Grantee to said city for each three-month period on or before the twentieth day after the expiration of such three-month period and such payment shall be accompanied by a statement showing how the amount of such payment was arrived at and the period covered thereby. "Industrial Gas" or "gas sold to industrial customers," as to which Grantee shall pay no part of its revenue to the City of Union City, as consideration for this contract, is defined to be gas sold to manufacturing, assembling and processing businesses such as textile and cotton mills, brick and tile manufacturers, glass manufacturing plants, cement plants, foundries, electric generating plants, steel and other metal plants, cotton oil mills, ice plants, bottling plants, and other manufacturing plants, automobile and other assembling plants, kaolin processing plants, rubber processing plants, meat-packing plants, laundries, bakeries, dairies, food processing plants, and other processing plants; and to governmental institutions and to nonprofit educational institutions using more than 2,000,000 cubic feet (2,000 therms) per day, and generally, without limiting the foregoing, and without limitation by the foregoing, all gas sold for use in industrial and manufacturing processes. The city council of said city, through its authorized representative or representatives, shall after the development period have the right to inspect and audit the books and records of the Grantee for the purpose of determining the amount of its revenue received from the sale of gas to residential and commercial, but not industrial customers, within said territorial limits.

Section 4. All rights herein granted and authorized shall be subject to and governed only by this ordinance; provided, however, the city council expressly reserves unto itself all of its police power to adopt general ordinances necessary to protect the safety and welfare of the general public in relation to the rights hereby granted not inconsistent with the provisions of this ordinance.

Section 5. The Grantee upon making an opening in any of the streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parks and other public places in the city, for the purpose of laying, repairing or maintaining gas mains, shall use due care and caution to prevent injury to persons, and shall replace and restore all public ways to their former condition as nearly as practicable, and within a reasonable time, and shall not unnecessarily obstruct or impede traffic upon the streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parks and other public places of said city.

Section 6. Said Grantee shall save and keep harmless the said city from any and all liability by reason of damage or injury to any persons or property whatsoever, on account of negligence of the Grantee in the installation, maintenance and repair of its mains and pipelines along said streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parks, and other public places in the City of Union City, provided the Grantee shall have been notified in writing of any claim against the city on account hereof and shall have been given ample opportunity to defend the same.

Section 7. This ordinance, after its passage according to law, and its acceptance by the Grantee, in writing duly filed with the city clerk, within sixty (60) days from the date of approval hereof by the mayor, shall become effective and in full force. The Grantee's acceptance shall be in substantially the following form:

"On the 14th day of June, 1954, Atlanta Gas Light Company hereby accepts the terms of this ordinance passed on the 14th day of June, 1954, entitled: An Ordinance granting to Atlanta Gas Light Company, a Georgia Corporation, the right and franchise to use and occupy the streets, avenues, roads, public highways, alleys, lanes, ways, parks and other public places of the City of Union City, Georgia for construction, maintaining, renewing, repairing and operating a gasworks and gas distribution system, and other necessary means of manufacturing, transmitting, distributing and selling manufactured, natural or commingled gas within and through the City of Union City, Georgia, and fixing the terms and conditions of such grant."

Section 8. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

(b)

Telephone service. The Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company operating in the City of Union City shall pay an occupational license tax in the amount of three (3) percent of the recurring local service revenues received by such company from subscribers located within the City of Union City. Said occupational license tax shall be paid in quarterly installments, each of which shall be due on or before the last day of the second month following the end of each calendar quarter and shall be based on recurring local service revenues billed during such calendar quarter. The first payment under this ordinance shall be based on revenues billed between the effective date of this ordinance and the end of the calendar quarter in which such effective date falls. Any amount of license tax previously paid and absorbed by a telephone company which is applicable to any period subsequent to the effective date of this ordinance shall be credited against the amounts imposed herein or by subsequent ordinance. "Recurring local service revenues" shall mean:

(1)

Monthly charges for local exchange service, including:

a.

Charges for additional listings and joint users;

b.

The guarantee portion of the charge for semipublic pay station services;

c.

Charges for local message rate service, including mobile service local messages; and

d.

Subscriber station revenues from teletypewriter exchange service.

(2)

Charges or Morse transmission, signaling, data transmission, remote metering and supervisory control, where both terminal points are within the city limits;

(3)

All charges for local private line services (except audio and video program transmission services) where both terminals of the private line are within the city limits;

(4)

Nothing in this definition shall preclude the charging of a separate franchise fee for the transmission of audio or video programs to customers by CATV companies.

(5)

A failure on the part of the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company to pay the license fee herein provided for by the specified time herein stated shall cause the city clerk to issue execution thereon which shall be levied and collected by the city marshal as other tax executions are levied and collected.

(6)

This ordinance, after its passage according to law, and thirty (30) days' notice of its passage being given by certified mail to the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, shall become effective and in full force.

(c)

Agreement with Georgia Power Company.

Editor's note— The agreement provisions with Georgia Power Company previously set out herein had expired and a new franchise agreement was enacted by Ord. No. 2007-03, adopted March 20, 2007. Per the city's instruction, the old agreement has been removed, and a listing of the franchise agreements can be found in Appendix A to the Code.

(Code 1976, § 4-104)

Cross reference

Garbage franchise, § 7-10.