[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Ridgefield as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Multiple dwellings — See Ch. 271.
[Adopted 12-23-1985 by Ord. No. 1296]
No person shall engage in the business of conducting motels and hotels without first having applied for and received from the Borough a license to do so.
A. 
Each applicant for such license shall make written application on forms prescribed and supplied by the Mayor and Council setting forth:
(1) 
The full name, residence and post office address of the applicant and of any person or persons not the applicant who have an interest, directly or indirectly, in the business or, if the applicant or such person having an interest, directly or indirectly, in the business is a corporation or partnership, the names, residences and post office addresses of the officers, stockholders, directors, partners or any other person having an interest, directly or indirectly, in the ownership of the corporation or partnership.
(2) 
The exact location of the proposed licensed premises, giving the street address, block and lot number as shown on the Tax Assessment Map of the Borough and the exact dimensions of the lands upon which the business is to be conducted.
(3) 
A description of the buildings, structures and accommodations upon the lands, including a statement of the number of housing or lodging units; the maximum number of persons who can be accommodated at any given time; a description of the character of the buildings or structures as to size, type of construction and whether or not the same are fireproof; and a description of automobile parking space and facilities.
(4) 
The name and address of the owner of the lands and buildings.
(5) 
The name or names of the person on the licensed premises upon whom process may be served.
(6) 
Whether any of the persons required by Subsection A(1) above to be named in this application have ever been convicted of a crime; if the answer to the foregoing is yes, state the details of such conviction.
B. 
The application shall be filed with the Borough Clerk, together with the appropriate fee.
A. 
The Borough Clerk shall forthwith forward the application to the Health Officer of the Board of Health and to the Fire Prevention Bureau of the Borough, who shall inspect the premises to determine whether or not the premises comply with the Board of Health and fire ordinances and regulations. If the premises do not so comply, the Secretaries of the Board and/or Bureau shall attach to the application a written list of recommendations and return the same to the Borough Clerk, who shall in turn return the application to the applicant. The Chief of Police shall cause to be made an investigation of all persons having direct or indirect interest in the business, which persons are required by § 227-2A(1) to be named in the application, or in the premises, which persons are required by § 227-2A(4) to be named in the application. The investigation shall be concerned particularly with the criminal record or other evidence of bad moral character of any of the persons so named. If the premises do comply with the health and fire regulations, it shall be the duty of the Mayor and Council to issue a license to the applicant unless by reason of the unfitness of one or several of the persons named pursuant to § 227-2A(1) and (4), as determined by the following standards, it shall deem issuance of a license to the applicant to be reasonably detrimental to public health and morals. The reasons for which an application may be denied are:
(1) 
Such applicant has made a material false statement or concealed a material fact in connection with his application.
(2) 
Such applicant or any person named in the application pursuant to § 227-2A(1) or (4) was the former holder of a license similar to the one applied for here or was an officer, director, stockholder or partner in a corporation or partnership which held such a license and which license has been revoked or suspended by the proper authority.
(3) 
Such applicant or any other person named pursuant to § 227-2A(1) or (4) has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
(4) 
Such applicant or the persons set forth in the application as the owners of the business or premises are not the true owners thereof.
B. 
If an application is denied because of unfitness on one or more of the aforementioned grounds, the applicant shall be informed of the specific reasons for such denial and shall be entitled, at his request, to a hearing before the Mayor and Council, at which hearing the applicant shall be afforded full opportunity to offer any reasons which may tend to offset the facts on the basis of which his application was denied. The hearing shall be held within 30 days of the written request of applicant for such hearing.
A. 
The annual fee for the license is hereby fixed and determined as follows:
(1) 
For premises having not more than 10 housing or lodging units: $1,000.
(2) 
For premises having 11 or more housing or lodging units: $1,000, plus the sum of $25 for each additional housing or lodging unit in excess of 10 housing or lodging units.
B. 
The license fee is hereby declared to be for the purpose of revenue.
Any license issued under the provisions of this article shall be for the term of one year, commencing January 1 and expiring December 31. After January 1, 1986, no license fee shall be apportioned, regardless of the date on which such license may be issued. Each license shall be valid only to the applicant to whom it is issued and to such applicant to whom the license may be transferred as hereinafter provided. All licenses shall be displayed at a prominent place on the licensed premises. On application made therefor setting forth the same matters and things as are required by this article to be set forth in connection with an original application for a license, the Mayor and Council, with the consent of the licensee and upon payment of a fee of 10% of the annual fee for the license sought to be transferred, may transfer to such applicant any license issued under the terms and provisions of this article. The 10% shall be retained by the Mayor and Council whether the transfer is granted or not. Any change in any of the information set forth in the application during the term of the license shall forthwith be communicated by the licensee in writing to the Borough Clerk.
Each licensee shall at all times cause to be maintained on the licensed premises a register, consisting of a permanently bound volume of consecutively numbered pages or a permanent card system enclosed in a metal card index box with consecutively numbered cards. No registration hereinafter required to be made shall be made in any register other than the official register, endorsed as aforesaid, unless and until the official register shall have been completely filled. Upon filling of any register, it shall be preserved at all times upon the licensed premises, and a new register, endorsed as aforesaid, shall thereupon be used for subsequent registrations. The register shall be kept and preserved by the licensee and shall be available on request at any hour of the day or night to any police officer of the Borough. The system of registration as described in the licensee's application shall not be altered in any manner unless the licensee shall first have applied for and received the permission of the Mayor and Council to do so.
No person shall occupy and no licensee shall permit any person to occupy any room on the licensed premises unless the head of the party or the person renting the accommodations shall first:
A. 
Display to the licensee or to a duly authorized agent or employee of the licensee in charge of registration written evidence of his or her identity and residence and, in addition thereto, write or cause to be written on the card record, in ink, his or her full and true name and address and the full and true name and address of each member of the party and, in the case of the operator of a motor vehicle, the state license or registration number of the motor vehicle conveying him or her to the licensed premises.
B. 
In addition to the foregoing, the licensee shall cause to be written into the register, in ink, the number of the room assigned to each registrant, the date and hour of the registration, the signature or identification of the person taking or accepting the registration and the date and hour when the occupant or occupants of each room quit or surrender the same.
It shall be the duty of the Police Department of the Borough to inspect the licensed premises at any hour of the day or night to determine compliance with the provisions of this article.
A. 
The terms used in this article are hereby defined as follows:
BUSINESS OF CONDUCTING HOTELS AND MOTELS
The renting, leasing, maintaining, keeping, operating, conducting or providing of overnight or temporary sleeping accommodations, for a consideration, to tourists, transients or travelers in any buildings or structures devoted exclusively or primarily to the business commonly known as "motels" and "hotels," whether meals are served therein or not.
HOTEL or MOTEL
Every building kept, used, maintained, advertised as or held out to be a place where sleeping accommodations are supplied for pay to permanent or transient guests in which 15 or more rooms on the premises are rented, furnished or unfurnished, including any rooms found to be arranged for or used for sleeping purposes, with or without meals, for the accommodation of such guests, or every building or part thereof which is rented for hire to 30 or more persons for sleeping accommodations. This definition shall not be construed to include any building defined as a "tenement house" in N.J.S.A. 55:1-1 to 55:1-13,[1] recorded as a tenement house under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Tenement House Supervision and occupied exclusively as such.
[1]
Editor's Note: N.J.S.A. 55:1-1 to 55:1-13 were repealed by L. 1967, c. 76, § 28. See now N.J.S.A. 55:13A-1 et seq.
B. 
A residential dwelling which does not have more than five rooms rented or used for tourist business is not governed or regulated by this article.
Any license issued under this article may be revoked for any violation of this article after due notice of the charges and a hearing at which the licensee shall be afforded full opportunity to be heard. Any such hearing shall be held by the Mayor and Council within 30 days of service of written charges upon the licensee.
[Adopted 8-11-2003 by Ord. No. 1827]
It is the purpose of this article to implement the provisions of P.L. 2003, c. 114, which authorizes the governing body of a municipality to adopt an ordinance imposing a tax at a uniform percentage rate not to exceed 1% on charges of rent for every occupancy on or after July 1, 2003, but before July 1, 2004, and not to exceed 3% on charges of rent for every occupancy on or after July 1, 2004, of a room or rooms in a hotel subject to taxation pursuant to Subsection (d) of Section 3 of P.L. 1966, c. 40 (N.J.S.A. 54:32B-3) which shall be in addition to any other tax or fee imposed pursuant to statute or local ordinance or resolution by any governmental entity upon the occupancy of a hotel room.
There is hereby established a hotel and motel room occupancy tax in the Borough of Ridgefield which shall be fixed at a uniform percentage rate of 1% on charges of rent for every occupancy of a hotel or motel room in the Borough of Ridgefield on or after July 1, 2003, but before July 1, 2004, and 3% on charges of rent for every occupancy of a hotel or motel room in the Borough of Ridgefield on or after July 1, 2004, of a room or rooms in a hotel subject to taxation pursuant to Subsection (d) of Section 3 of P.L. 1966, c. 40, N.J.S.A. 54:32B-3 (sales tax).
The hotel and motel room occupancy tax shall be in addition to any other tax or fee imposed pursuant to statute or local ordinance or resolution by any governmental entity upon the occupancy of a hotel room.
In accordance with the requirements of P.L. 2003, c. 114:
A. 
All taxes imposed by this article shall be paid by the purchaser.
B. 
A vendor shall not assume or absorb any tax imposed by this article.
C. 
A vendor shall not in any manner advertise or hold out to any person or to the public in general, in any manner, directly or indirectly, that the tax will be assumed or absorbed by the vendor, that the tax will not be separately charged and stated to the customer or that the tax will be refunded to the customer.
D. 
Each assumption or absorption by a vendor of the tax shall be deemed a separate offense, and each representation or advertisement by a vendor for each day that the representation or advertisement continues shall be deemed a separate offense.
E. 
The penalty for violation of the foregoing provisions shall be a fine of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days, or both, for each offense.
The tax imposed by this article shall be collected on behalf of the Borough by the person collecting the rent from the hotel or motel customer. Each person required to collect the tax herein imposed shall be personally liable for the tax imposed, collected or required to be collected hereunder. Any such person shall have the same right in respect to collecting the tax from a customer as if the tax were a part of the rent and payable at the same time, provided that the Chief Financial Officer of the Borough shall be joined as a party in any action or proceeding brought to collect the tax.