§ 54-127. Hearings.

(a)

The city council or its designee shall hear deferred applications or appeals from administrative decisions by the business and occupation tax office with regard to applications for licenses, transfers, renewals, change of ownership or other matters affecting such licenses.

(b)

Such appeals to the city council or its designee shall be by written petition, filed in the office of the city clerk within 15 days after the final decision or action of the city's tax collector. The hearing before the city council or its designee shall take place not more than 30 days after the filing of the appeal.

(c)

The findings and decision of the city council or its designee shall be forwarded to the city's tax collector within ten days after the conclusion of the hearing, and it shall be the duty of the city's tax collector to notify the certificate holder or applicant by certified mail of the action taken with a copy of the findings and decision within ten days after receipt by the city's tax collector.

(d)

If any individual, firm, or corporation subject to the payment of an occupation tax deems the tax amount to be unlawful, discriminatory, or improper, it may file a written request for review by the city's tax collector or his designee. The request for review must be filed within 15 days from the date of the disputed tax notice. The tax collector or his designee shall, within 30 days from the date of receipt of the request for review, schedule a conference with the occupation tax certificate holder to review those matters set forth in the request for review. Within 30 days from the date of the conference or date of production or provision of additional information, whichever is later, a determination shall be made by the city's tax collector or his designee in writing and a copy of the determination shall be sent to the certificate holder. In the event the certificate holder is dissatisfied with the determination made by the city's tax collector or his designee, it may, within 15 days from the date of the tax collector's or his designee's determination and conditioned upon payment of the full disputed amount of tax, interest, and penalty by the certificate holder to the tax collector, file its appeal with the city clerk for review of the decision by the city council or its designee in the manner outlined above in subsection (b).

(e)

The decision and findings of the city council or its designee shall be final unless the certificate holder applies to the Superior Court of Fulton County by filing a petition for writ of certiorari within 30 days of the decision rendered by the city council or its designee.

(Ord. No. 2009-09-47, 9-1-2009; Ord. No. 2010-08-36, 8-17-2010)