Title
Authorizing the use of fund balance in the 2023 Recycling and Solid Waste fund for the Public Works Organized Trash Collection accounting unit to pay State Solid Waste Management taxes and related interest costs.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul collects revenue each year from residential solid waste customers to administer the City’s residential trash collection system; and
WHEREAS, the Minnesota Department of Revenue is authorized to administer, collect, and enforce Saint Paul local Sales, Use, and Lodging Taxes; and
WHEREAS, the State of Minnesota levies its Solid Waste Management Tax of 9.75% on the cost of residential solid waste collection charged to customers; and
WHEREAS, when the City began the residential trash collection system in 2018, the Solid Waste Management Tax was not included, since the City itself was not collecting and hauling trash; and
WHEREAS, an audit of the City’s residential trash collection system and the uses of revenue collected for that system was conducted by the Minnesota Department of Revenue; and
WHEREAS, the audit determined that Minnesota’s Solid Waste Management Tax applies to revenues collected by the City to administer the residential trash collection program; and
WHEREAS, the audit confirmed that Minnesota’s Solid Waste Management Tax does not apply to revenues collected by the City to administer its recycling and waste reduction programs; and
WHEREAS, the Solid Waste Management Tax does not apply to assessments levied by the City to reimburse bad debt payments to solid waste haulers because they included the tax on their invoices; and
WHEREAS, the City owes this tax on payments received from residential customers since the inception of the organized collection system on January 1, 2018; and
WHEREAS, the payment contemplated by this resolution makes the City current on this obligation through December 31, 2023; and
WHEREAS, an amount sufficient to pay these taxes in 2024 is included in the Mayor’s Proposed 2024...
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