ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
Cox Communications and Roanoke have settled a years-old dispute over unpaid gross receipts taxes for about half of what the city had contended the cable provider owed.
Under an agreement announced Monday, Cox will pay the city $124,672 for back Business, Professional and Occupational Licenses taxes it owes for a period covering May 1, 1991 to Aug. 31, 1994.
The company moved to Roanoke County on Aug. 31, 1994, and thus wouldn't be liable to the city for any further BPOL taxes.
The payment agreed upon represents about one half of the $250,000 a city source said the company owned in unpaid BPOL taxes.
Under a franchise agreement that ended in 1991, Cox was allowed to remit to the city the franchise fee taxes it collected from Roanoke customers in lieu of BPOL taxes. A new franchise agreement that took effect in May 1991 kept a requirement for franchise fee taxes, but it didn't exempt Cox from paying BPOL like the old contract did.
The city demanded the unpaid taxes after secret discussions by City Council late last year.
"Cox very much appreciates the spirit of cooperation that the city provided as we attempted to reach agreement," Cox General Manager Gretchen Shine said in a prepared statement. "We are pleased that we were able to reach a resolution that does not in any way impact our customer bills."
"I've very pleased with the collection made by my office which is fair both to the taxpayers and to Cox, a good corporate citizen," City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said in the statement. "I'm also pleased that Cox has agreed not to pass this cost on to its cable TV customers."
The question of what, if any, BPOL taxes Cox owes the county is still unclear. County Attorney Paul Mahoney said in January that he was waiting to see how the dispute with the city was resolved before trying to collect BPOL taxes dating to Cox's move to the Tanglewood Mall area.
Cox collects about $640,000 in franchise fee taxes from its city customers and passes them on to the city treasurer.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB