City of Cincinnati Ordinance Franchise Fee Tax
Q. What is City of Cincinnati Franchise Fee Tax
A. On June 27, 2018, the City of Cincinnati passed its 2019 budget, which included Ordinance 165.2018, an increase in the commercial waste collection franchise fee (tax) on all commercial waste collection in the City.
In 2012, the City of Cincinnati passed an Ordinance requiring commercial buildings, mixed use buildings and buildings with five or more residential units to now contract with an approved commercial waste hauler for service. The Ordinance also established a commercial waste collection franchise system and all chosen franchisees must pay a fee for all commercial garbage collected and disposed of at a solid waste facility.
Q. What is the fee associated with the ordinance?
A. The Franchise fee tax requires all commercial waste collection franchisees to pay a percentage of all gross revenues associated with commercial garbage collected in the City and disposed of at a solid waste facility. Included, but not limited to, in gross revenues are actual pickup costs, rental of dumpsters/roll-off containers, fuel surcharges and fees associated with the franchise fee. This fee is passed onto generators and amounts to 25 percent of your total waste invoice.
Q Are churches or tax exempt organizations exempt from the ordinance fee?
A: No. Only revenues earned from residential properties are exempt from the fees.
Q: Are schools and other governments exempt from the ordinance fee?
A: No. School districts and other government agencies are not exempt. Only revenues earned from residential properties are exempt from the fees.
Q: Are revenues earned from hauling materials to be recycled subject to the ordinance fee?
A: No. Only revenues associated with commercial garbage disposed of at a solid waste facility. Materials recycled are not subject to the fee.
Q: Are revenues earned from hauling construction and demolition debris materials to a C&D site subject to the ordinance fee?
A: In 2019, the City adjusted the franchise agreement with the passage of Ordinance 337-2019, which removed “construction and demolition debris” from the material excluded from the definition of commercial waste and required all franchisees to remit the 20% commercial waste franchise fee for the collection and disposal of this material effective January 1, 2020. The City later pushed back the adoption date to May 1, 2020.
