§ 1-6-7. Books to be kept - Examinations. (a) Every operator shall keep books, records, receipts, invoices, and other pertinent papers in the form the tax administrator may require, that those books, records, receipts, invoices, and other papers shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of the tax administrator and his or her agents, and that the records shall be available for inspection and examination at any time upon demand by the tax administrator or his or her authorized agent or employee and preserved for a period of two (2) years (or any longer period as the parking facility operator and the tax administrator may agree), except that the tax administrator may consent to their destruction within that period.

(b) The tax administrator and his or her agents for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of any return, report, or other statement required to be filed under this chapter or by the tax administrator under this chapter, or for the purpose of determining the amount of any fee or surcharge imposed under the provisions of this chapter, may examine any books, papers, records, or memoranda bearing upon the matters required to be included in the return, report, or other statement, and may require the attendance of the person executing the return, report, or other statement, or of any officer or employee of any operator, or the attendance of any other person, and may examine the person under penalty of perjury respecting any matter which the tax administrator or his or her agent deems pertinent or material in determining the liability of any person to a fee or surcharge imposed under the provisions of this chapter.

(c) The tax administrator may summon any operator, or officer, agent, or employee of an operator, or any other person, to appear before the tax administrator and produce records and documents at a time and place named in the summons and to give testimony and to answer interrogatories, under penalty of perjury, respecting any matter which the tax administrator deems pertinent or material to the administration of the ordinance authorized by this chapter. The summons may be sent by registered or certified mail to the operator, or officer, agent, or employee of the operator, or to any other authorized person, or may be left by any authorized agent of the tax administrator with the operator, or officer, agent, or employee of the operator, or other authorized person, or left at his or her last and usual place of abode. When the summons requires the production of records or documents, it is sufficient if those records and documents are described with reasonable certainty.

(d) When any operator, or officer, agent, or employee of the operator, or other person, summoned under the provisions of this chapter neglects or refuses to obey the summons or to give testimony or to answer interrogatories as required, the tax administrator may apply to the third division of the district court for a citation against the person or it as for a contempt. Any judge of that court may hear the application and, if satisfactory proof is made, issue a citation for the arrest of the operator, or officer, agent, or employee of the operator, or other person, and upon the operator, or officer, agent, or employee of the operator, or other person, being brought before the judge, the judge shall proceed to a hearing of the case; and upon the hearing the judge has power to make any order the judge deems proper. A party aggrieved by an order of the court may appeal the order to the supreme court in accordance with the procedures contained in the rules of appellate procedure of the supreme court.

(e) It is unlawful, except in proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction or to collect the fees or surcharges or enforce the penalties provided by this chapter, for the tax administrator or any person having an administrative duty under those authorities to make known in any manner whatever the business affairs, operations, or information obtained by an investigation of records and equipment of any parking facility operator or any other person visited or examined in the discharge of official duty, or the amount or source of receipts, or any particular, stated or disclosed in any return, or to permit any return or copy of any book containing any abstract or particulars to be seen or examined by any person. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent the disclosure or publication of statistical or other information where the identity of individual operators is not made known. An operator may waive the confidentiality established by this subsection by notifying the hearing officer at any time, and may limit the waiver at his or her own discretion. An operator may bring other persons into the hearing without waiving the confidentiality described in this subsection.

History of Section. (P.L. 2002, ch. 424, § 2.)