(A) Any bill not paid four weeks after date of billing shall be declared delinquent and a past-due notice shall be issued to the billed party. The past-due notice shall contain an additional charge to cover the costs of the rebilling. Additional delinquent notices including their respective charges shall be sent at eight and 12 weeks after the billing date.
(B) Should a bill still be delinquent after 120 days, the city may elect to take the following actions.
(1) Delinquent bills. Whenever wastewater service charge bills become delinquent, the amount due shall be certified to the County Auditor for inclusion with the following year’s tax statement.
(2) Lien. Whenever wastewater treatment bills become delinquent the same shall become and constitute a lien upon the real estate to which sewer service is supplied. Statements rendered for this charge shall be deemed notice to all parties, whether or not the person charged with the statement is the property served. The claim for lien shall be made in the form of a sworn statement setting forth:
(a) A description of the real estate, sufficient for the identification thereof, upon or for which the sewage service was supplied;
(b) The amount of money due for sewage service; and
(c) The date or dates when the amount or amounts became delinquent. If all amounts shown due remain unpaid after recording as provided by state statutes, the city may foreclose the lien in the same manner and with the same effect as the foreclosing of mortgages on real estate.
(3) Civil action. In the alternative of levying a lien, the city may, at its discretion, file suit in a civil action to collect the amounts as are delinquent and due against the occupant or user of the real estate and shall collect, as well, all attorney’s fees incurred by the city in filing the civil action. The attorney’s fees shall be fixed by order of the court.
(Prior Code, § 12-2236) (Ord. 02-2009, passed 4-21-2009; Ord. 04-2015, passed 9-15-2015)