A. Water Connection Procedures:
1. Deposit Required: A deposit shall be required as provided in Section 8-5-1 of this Title.
2. Separate Connections: No two (2) or more lots may use the same water connection, and if there are more than two (2) houses, structures or buildings situated on any one lot, occupied by different families, each must have a separate connection and meter.
3. Vacancy: In the event a user shall leave the City, notice shall be given to the City Secretary who shall order a disconnect. In the event a consumer does not notify the City Secretary, it shall be considered that the consumer desires the water and a charge shall be made accordingly.
4. Mandatory Use: All future subdivisions within the City shall be connected to City water facilities. All existing structures on unsubdivided property which use water shall be connected to City-owned water facilities. No free service nor free use of the City water facility will be permitted.
5. Services In Flood Plain Prohibited: The City is prohibited from providing water services to any structure which did not exist in a designated flood plain area on the date of public environmental notification of said designated flood plain.
B. Meter Change: In the event a consumer desires a meter changed from one use, structure, building or lot to another, he/she shall make a request, preferably in writing, to the Water Billing Department and, after full payment of all the associated costs of such change is made, inclusive of paying for the increased number of water meters, saddles, projected boring cost, paving cost to repair an open cut, and including other service related matters, then the Water Billing Department shall notify the Public Works Department of the work order generated. The Public Works Department will then schedule the work order to be complied with. No work order shall be performed on any property or under any circumstances without first having the associated costs fully paid for first. It is further declared that should any water line or similar utility infrastructure be damaged by a lot owner, a contractor/subcontractor, or any other representative from the property owner, such repair shall be performed immediately by the private party; however, should the City’s Public Works Department need to repair or fix the damaged utility based on a semi-emergency nature of the disrepair, e.g., plugging a leaking water line, then the lot owner, contractor/subcontractor or other representative, shall be responsible to reimburse the City of Alamo for the work performed, inclusive of the city using its equipment and associated products, plus any needful use of overtime wages. Should the demand for reimbursement not be paid within 30-calendar days, this provision authorizes the Public Works Department, the Building Official, and/or the Code Enforcement Officer to impose reasonable measures to induce payment including, but not limited to, issuing a ‘Stop Work’ order, or withholding the structure’s ‘Final Approval’ or its ‘Final Occupancy’; the city may also induce the procedural protocol in activating the Municipal Court process, as well.
C. Disputes: In the event that there should arise any disputes with water consumers in connection with service, connections, etc., which cannot be settled by the Director of Public Works, such shall be submitted to the Board of Commissioners at a regular meeting.
D. Change In Ownership Of Property:
1. Notice To City: In the event that any person shall sell, rent, lease or otherwise dispose of his property, such person must, within three (3) days after such disposition of his property, so notify the city secretary. After the payment of all bills which may be due by such person, he shall be entitled to a return of his deposit. Should such person fail to do so, he shall be considered as responsible for the water bill thereafter accruing.
E. Right Of Entry: The employees of the city shall have the right to enter upon any premises for the purpose of inspecting, repairing, installing any fixtures, pipe, etc., that may be required, to read meters and to do any other matters that may be necessary to operate an efficient, economical water department.
F. Utility Billing Procedures/Late Payment Penalty: Bills are sent out biweekly, consisting of two (2) billing cycles, with payment due fifteen (15) calendar days after the reading date.
All services including water, sewer, refuse and brush will be billed together under a customer account and be paid in a timely manner as established by these regulations to be current.
As per ordinance requirements, all services will be billed if a livable house exists and the water service is being provided and in the case of a vacant house or lot, sewer, water and brush will be billed with no exceptions being made as long as the water service is being provided.
Brush service will be provided only if a utility account is established and location is within the corporate city limits.
A vacated premises rate is available that will remove only the garbage service charge during a period of time in which the customer has vacated their premises for a period greater than thirty (30) days and has notified customer billing in advance requesting such fee waiver.
The customer must also provide a return date upon which garbage service fees will automatically be reassessed. The date of reassessment shall be subject to audit with a prorated fee adjustment charged if audit determines that customer returned prior to the date provided.
G. Termination Notices/Disconnects: Termination notices for accounts with a total outstanding balance of sixty dollars ($60.00) or more are sent out fifteen (15) days after the original bill notifying the customer of disconnect on the determined final disconnect date. Customers will be provided a period of no less than ten (10) calendar days before disconnection of services.
H. Payment Extension: Payment extensions beyond the final due date will be allowed for a period of no more than five (5) total additional days starting from the day after the final due date for a five dollar ($5.00) extension arrangements fee. Disconnection of services will take effect on the sixth day with a disconnect processing fee of twenty five dollars ($25.00) being automatically assessed for nonpayment.
In cases where the customer's bill is three (3) times greater than normal due to a leak on the customer's side, customer oversight or in any way for reasons that are not the responsibility or fault of the city, the customer may request installment payment arrangements of up to three (3) months for the portion of the bill above the prior three (3) month average for an installment arrangements fee of five dollars ($5.00).
I. Disconnect Processing Fee: Accounts that are not paid by the final due date or final extension date must pay a disconnect processing fee of twenty five dollars ($25.00) and must pay the entire delinquent balance in order to have water services restored if they have already been disconnected, or to avoid disconnection.
J. Transfer Fees: Customers transferring to another address can transfer their current deposit, but will have to pay a twenty five dollar ($25.00) reconnect charge for the new location. Any past due balance on the old account must be paid in full prior to the transfer. The old location can be left open for a period of no longer than seven (7) calendar days from the date of request. This is allowed in cases where customers move out from one location and need water services for cleaning purposes. No customer can have two (2) accounts open without the proper connect fee and deposit for more than seven (7) calendar days.
K. Return Checks: Any utility payment that has been returned unpaid by the financial institution will be reversed on the customer's account and a thirty five dollar ($35.00) returned check fee will be applied to the balance. All checks will be processed through the financial institution only once. Any customer with a total of three (3) returned checks at any time during the course of their account with the city, will be required to pay in cash or money order for future services and no further checks will be accepted. In addition, checks will not be accepted for returned checks, only cash, cashier checks, and/or money orders.
L. After Hour Reconnect: Weekend and/or after hour services, for delinquent accounts will be provided at a thirty five dollar ($35.00) reconnect fee. The employee to conduct reconnection must get direct verbal authorization from a member of the city commission or city manager. The employee must turn in written documentation of reconnect to the utility billing office by eight thirty o'clock (8:30) A.M. on the next regular business day. If payment from customer is not received by five o'clock (5:00) P.M. on the next regular business day from the reconnect date, water services will be disconnected and an additional reconnect charge will apply with no further reconnection of water services made until full and complete payment is received.
M. Straight Connections: Whenever the situation involves straight connections the matter will be immediately reported and turned over to the Alamo police department for investigation. In relation, the city of Alamo will resort to every available legal recourse to obtain a conviction for theft of city services and any applicable fines will be assessed if appropriate.
N. Tampering With Meter: Water meters disconnected for nonpayment regardless of the nature of the disconnection, will be secured with a locking device or will be plugged at the water line. Any tampering with locking devices and/or water meter will result in a fifty dollars ($50.00) tampering fee. Additionally, the city of Alamo does maintain the right to file a complaint with the municipal court judge for violations of an established city ordinance and assess applicable fines if deemed appropriate and pursue every legal remedy available.
O. Adjustment To Account: If a meter is found to be registering beyond three percent (3%) fast the account will be granted an adjustment. This adjustment will be determined by calculating the last six (6) months' usage and arriving at an average. This type of adjustment will be calculated by the utility billing supervisor, reviewed by the finance director and approved by the city manager.
In the event of a bill error due to a misread, the utility billing supervisor will process an adjustment using the bill reversal option in the utility billing software which will calculate a new and correct bill for the customer and create an audit trail in the billing history. This adjustment will be reviewed by the finance director and approved by the city manager.
Any adjustment may not be granted solely upon request but until all avenues to determine cause and responsibility have been exhausted such as rereads, meter tests and detection of water leaks. All adjustments will be calculated by the utility billing supervisor, reviewed by the finance director and approved or disapproved by the city manager.
P. Water Meter Connections: On the effective passage date hereof, no utility accounts will be established under renters. The city of Alamo utility billing department will only accept utility deposits from the property owner of the location needing the utility service. Property owners must submit ownership documents that match property tax records in order to open water service.
(Ord. 199, 9-9-1957; amd. 1994 Code; Ord. 1-6-98, 1-6-1998; Ord. 17-09-14, 9-2-2014; Ord. 40-08-21, 8-3-2021; Ord. 67-11-23; 11-6-2023)