(A) Water and sewer accounts are payable to the City Water Department, 146 North Church Street, Asheboro, North Carolina. All bills are due and payable on receipt, and, subject to division (C) of this section, all accounts for which payment is not received by the Water Department within 15 days from the billing date indicated on the bill shall be considered delinquent. Once an account becomes delinquent, a $10 fee shall be assessed against the account as a first tier late fee. If an account remains in a state of delinquency as of the twenty- fifth day from the billing date indicated on the bill, an additional $20 fee shall be assessed against the account as a second tier late fee. Upon assessment, any and all late fees shall be immediately due and payable. For all delinquent accounts that are in a state of delinquency of 25 days or more, a cut-off notice shall be mailed which shall specify a final date by which payment must be remitted or service will be discontinued pursuant to and in accordance with § 50.007. The cut-off notice shall also provide notice that customers may submit disputed bills to the Water and Sewer Billing and Collections Department supervisor for review; the supervisor or his or her deputy shall be authorized to make adjustments to the billing amount in accordance with § 50.021 if such is deemed proper following the review. The notice shall specify the hours during which a customer may call or come by for a review of disputed unpaid bills. After the review process, any customer who does not pay or make arrangements to pay the amount determined by the review process to be owed to the city shall be entered on a list of delinquent customers whose services are to be terminated pursuant to and in accordance with § 50.007.
(B) If notification is received that a check has not been honored and has been returned due to insufficient funds or for any other reason, a charge of $25 shall be added to the customer's current bill, and such charge shall become immediately due and payable. Additionally, if payment in full with good funds has not been received within 15 days from the billing date indicated on the customer's bill, the account shall be considered delinquent. In the event an account becomes delinquent due to a financial institution not honoring a check, a $10 late fee shall be assessed against the account as a first tier late fee. If the account is or remains in a state of delinquency as of the twenty- fifth day from the billing date, an additional $20 fee shall be assessed against the account as a second tier late fee. A customer shall have five business days from the date of notification to the city that the customer's check has not been honored to make payment in full, including any assessed fees, with good funds to the City Water Department. If the outstanding balance is not paid in full with good funds within the time period specified in the preceding sentence or by the twenty-fifth day of the month in which the bill is first due and payable, whichever is later, the customer's water service will be discontinued without further notice pursuant to and in accordance with § 50.007. Whenever within any 12-month period the city is notified on two separate occasions that a customer's check has been returned due to insufficient funds in the account or for any other reason, such a customer shall be required to make payment in good funds for 12 consecutive billing periods before such a customer is eligible to make payments in any other form.
(C) As with all other customers, water and sewer accounts that are paid by means of automatic draft are payable to the City Water Department, 146 North Church Street, Asheboro, North Carolina. Customers who choose to make payments on their water and sewer accounts by means of automatic draft may make arrangements with the City Water Department to have an appropriate account at a financial institution drafted for payment in full of a regular billing on the tenth day, fifteenth day, twentieth day, or twenty-fifth day of the month in which a bill is due and payable. If notification is received that an attempted automatic draft of a payment has failed due to insufficient funds in a customer's designated account or for any other reason, a charge of $25 shall be added to the customer's current bill, and such charge shall become immediately due and payable. Additionally, if any attempted automatic draft of a customer's account fails and payment in full with good funds has not been received within 15 days from the billing date indicated on the customer's bill, the account shall be considered delinquent. In the event an account becomes delinquent, a $10 late fee shall be assessed against the account as a first tier late fee. If the account is or remains in a state of delinquency as of the twenty-fifth day from the billing date, an additional $20 fee shall be assessed against the account as a second tier late fee. A customer shall have five business days from the date of notification to the City Water Department that an automatic draft of the customer's designated account has not been honored to make payment in full, including any assessed fees, with good funds to the City Water Department. If the outstanding balance is not paid in full with good funds within the time period specified in the preceding sentence or by the twenty-fifth day of the month in which the bill is first due and payable, whichever is later, the customer's water service will be discontinued without further notice pursuant to and in accordance with § 50.007. Whenever within any 12-month period the City Water Department is notified on two separate occasions that an attempt to automatically draft a customer's designated account for payment has failed due to insufficient funds in the account or for any other reason, such a customer shall be required to make payment in good funds only for 12 consecutive billing periods before such a customer is eligible to make payments to the city in any form other than good funds.
(D) Payments will be applied to a customer's bill in the following order:
(1) Solid waste services user fees and charges, inclusive of any and all fees and charges found in Chapter 51 of the Code of Asheboro other than recycling services user fees and charges;
(2) Recycling services user fees and charges;
(3) Installment payments made in compliance with a payment plan established in response to gubernatorial executive orders or local state of emergency declarations that modify utility collection practices;
(4) Sampling fees;
(5) Surcharge fees;
(6) Miscellaneous fees and charges found in Chapter 50 of the Code of Asheboro and not otherwise addressed by this division, including without limitation any and all late fees and disconnection fees;
(7) Sewer service charges; and
(8) Water service charges.
(‘69 Code, § 23-5) (Ord. passed 5-9-74; Am. Ord. passed 12-6-74; Am. Ord. passed 4-5-90; Am. Ord. 59-03, passed 6-5-03; Am. Ord. 22-04, passed 6-24-04; Am. Ord. passed 6-9-05; Am. Ord. 39 ORD 06-08, passed 6-24-08; Am. Ord. 06 ORD 2-09, passed 2-5-09; Am. Ord. 08 ORD 2-09, passed 2-19-09; Am. Ord. 17 ORD 6-15, passed 6-29-15; Am. Ord. 15 ORD 6-20, passed 6-4-20)