(A) Bills: Said rates or charges for service shall be payable quarterly. The owner of the premises, the occupant thereof and the user of the service shall be jointly and severally liable to pay for the service to such premises and the service is furnished to the premises by the city only upon the condition that the owner of the premises, occupant and user of the services are jointly and severally liable therefor to the city. Bills for sewer service shall be sent out by the city clerk on the first day of the month succeeding the period for which the service is billed.
(B) Nonresidential Use: When sewage treatment service is made available to nonresident users, the rates therefor shall be based on the formula as set forth in section 7-1-15 of this chapter multiplied by 1.5.
(C) Delinquent Bills: If the charges for such services are not paid within thirty (30) days after the rendition of the bill for such services, such services shall be considered delinquent and a notice of such effect shall be mailed by the city clerk to the owner, occupant and/or user of such premises.
(D) Lien Notice Of Delinquency And Termination Of Service: Whenever a bill for sewer service remains delinquent for ten (10) days for quarterly service, the city clerk shall cause services to be discontinued without further notice and such services shall not be reinstated until all claims are settled. The city clerk may file with the county recorder of deeds a statement of lien claim. This statement shall contain the legal description of the premises served, the amount of the unpaid bill, and a notice that the city claims a lien for this amount as well as for all charges subsequent to the period covered by the bill.
The failure of the city clerk to record such lien or to mail such notice or the failure of the owner to receive such notice shall not affect the right to foreclose the lien for unpaid bills as mentioned in the foregoing item.
(E) Foreclosure Of Lien: Property subject to a lien for unpaid charges shall be sold for nonpayment of the same, and the proceeds of the sale shall be applied to pay the charges, after deducting costs, as is the case in the foreclosure of statutory liens. Such foreclosure shall be by bill-in-equity in the name of the city. The city attorney may, upon authorization of the city council, institute such proceedings in the name of the city in any court having jurisdiction over such matters against any property for which the bill has remained unpaid for ninety (90) days, after it has been rendered.
(F) Revenues: All revenues and monies derived from the operation of the sewerage system shall be deposited in the water and sewer fund of the city. All such revenues and monies shall be held by the city treasurer separate and apart from his private funds and separate and apart from all other funds of the city and all of said sum, without any deductions whatever, shall be delivered to the city treasurer not more than ten (10) days after receipt of the same, or at such more frequent intervals as may from time to time be directed by the city. Said treasurer shall administer such fund in every respect in the manner provided by statute of the "revised cities and villages act", effective January 1942.
The revenue received by the city from the sewer permit and inspection fee and the sewer expansion and extension connection fee shall be used by the city for its sewer purposes, with primary application thereof being made to the necessary expansion of the works of the sewer system to meet the requirements of new or additional users thereof. Such funds shall be placed, until they are used, into a fund which is designated as the "water and sewer fund".
(G) Accounts: The city treasurer shall establish a proper system of accounts and shall keep proper books, records, and accounts in which complete and correct entries shall be made of all transactions relative to the sewer system, and at regular annual intervals, he shall cause to be made an audit by an independent auditing concern of the books to show the receipts and disbursements of the sewer system.
The financial information to be shown in the audit report shall include the following:
1. Flow data showing total gallons received at the wastewater plant for the current fiscal year.
2. Billing data to show total number of gallons billed.
3. Debt services for the next succeeding fiscal year.
4. Number of users connected to the system.
5. Number of nonmetered users.
6. A list of users discharging nondomestic wastes (industrial users) and volume of waste discharged.
(H) Notice Of Rates: A copy of this section and section 7-1-15 of this chapter properly certified by the city treasurer, shall be filed in the office of the recorder of deeds of Mercer County, and shall be deemed notice to all owners of real estate of the charges of the sewer system of said city on their properties. (Ord. 14/88, 3-20-1989)
(I) Penalty: Any person violating any provision of this section shall be fined pursuant to title 12, "Schedule Of Fines", of this code. (Ord. 23/2016, 1-3-2017)
(J) Access To Records: The Illinois environmental protection agency, or its authorized representative, shall have access to any books, documents, papers and records of the city for the purpose of making audit, examination, excerpts and transcriptions thereof to ensure compliance with the terms of the special and general conditions to any state grant.
(K) Change In Occupancy: Any user requesting a termination of service shall give written notice to the city ten (10) days prior to the time such termination of service is desired. Responsibility for payment for sewer service prior to the date of termination shall be with the property owners as well as the user. There shall be no charge for transferring the sewer service to the subsequent user.
(L) Notification: Each user will be notified, at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate and that portion of the user charges which are attributable to wastewater treatment services.
(M) Appeals: The method of computation of rates and service charges established for user charges shall be made available to a user within seven (7) days of receipt of a written request for such. Any disagreement over the method used or in the computations thereof shall be remedies by the city within fifteen (15) days after notification of a formal written appeal outlining the discrepancies. (Ord. 14/88, 3-20-1989)