City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: FEBRUARY 7, 2018
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance to Amend and reordain Article A (Solicitation for Charitable Purposes) of Chapter 10 (Solicitations) of Title 9 (Licensing and Regulations) of the Code of the City of Alexandria, Virginia, 1981, as amended.
BODY
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ISSUE: Consideration of an ordinance to delete the redundant requirement for non-profit charitable organizations to register with the City.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council pass the proposed ordinance (Attachment 2) on first reading and schedule it for public hearing, second reading and final passage on February 24, 2018.
DISCUSSION: Sections 9-10-2 to 9-10-4 of the City Code have long required charitable organizations to register with the City of Alexandria by providing certain information, such as the name, location, purpose, IRS status, all of which is duplicative of registration requirements already imposed by the Commonwealth.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs already administers the Virginia Solicitation of Contributions law, Section 57-48 of the Code of Virginia. This Department has a thorough regulatory scheme regarding charitable organizations, including a publicly accessible searchable data base, required forms, and enforcement mechanisms.
Inasmuch as the local ordinance simply duplicates the existing state process and presents no added value, the proposed ordinance repeals the portion of the Article that is redundant with the state requirement.
This ordinance amendment is part of an ongoing comprehensive effort to update and modernize the City Code.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact as a result of this ordinance amendment. Local registration has not been uniformly enforced over the years, principally due to the redundancy, and because non-profit entities are already subject to registration for Business License purposes. Repeal of this ordinance requirement also relieves the non-profit community from an unnecessary local filing.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 - Proposed Ordinance Cover
Attachment 2 - Proposed Ordinance Amendment
STAFF:
Laura Triggs, Deputy City Manager
Kendel Taylor, Director of Finance
Kevin C. Greenlief, Assistant Director, Revenue Division, Finance
Adrienne Sakyi, Assistant City Attorney