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The town shall establish, maintain and periodically revise a Water, Sewage, Trash, and Stormwater Rate Ordinance. Said ordinances shall contain all the various fees, rates, and charges that the municipal utility will charge to its customers. All municipal utility charges shall be calculated in accordance with the current rate ordinances applicable to each municipal utility or utility service rendered to a customer.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
Any person, firm or corporation desiring to establish any municipal utility service or combination thereof shall make application for said service. The application shall be on such form(s) as may now or hereinafter be prescribed by the town. The application shall include the applicant's name, spouse name, service address, mailing address, telephone number, and personal identification number (e.g., social security number, drivers license number and date of birth), or federal identification number (businesses), and signature of the party responsible for payment. Additionally, the deeded property owner's name, mailing address, and phone number is to be provided, if different than the applicant. Persons applying on behalf of others or acting as an agent for others may provide the required information, provided such agent agrees to assume responsibility for the person, firm, or corporation upon whose behalf they are applying. Each service location shall be considered a separate account. The town may request to make a copy of the applicant's drivers license or other government issued identification in order to confirm identity.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
(A) The utility billing section of the town shall provide each municipal utility customer with a monthly water, a monthly sewage, a monthly trash, and a monthly stormwater bill which shall include the charge incurred by the customer for each monthly utility service charge. These bills may be combined into one billing statement and/or mailing. The customer is responsible for paying each monthly bill on or before the bill due date. Bills for municipal utility services shall be rendered and paid monthly.
(B) The monthly utililty bill shall be sent to the billing address of record. In most cases, this will be the address of the property. If the customer requests in writing to change the billing address to another location, the Billing Clerk will send all future bills to that designated location.
(C) As defined in § 53.01, a customer is the deeded owner of the property, and is by default the defined customer for sewer and storm service. The monthly bill is the responsibility of the customer. The utility will accept payment for the monthly bill from renters, tenants, family members, and other persons seeking to pay the monthly bill, but all town utility bills, current or delinquent, are the responsibility of the customer. In cases of delinquency, the town will seek collection of all delinquent bills and related charges from the customer.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
(A) The town's Water, Sewage, Trash, and Stormwater Rate Ordinances contain the provisions for both monthly flat rates and monthly metered rates.
(B) All residential use customers will be billed a monthly rate for water service, sanitary sewage service, trash service, and stormwater service in accordance with the Water, Sewage, Trash, and Stormwater Rate Ordinances. The water and sewage rate charges will be determined by the water use characteristics of the customer, except in cases where no water connection is present (i.e. well water), in which case flat rate billing applies.
(C) All non-residential use customers will be billed a monthly rate for water service, sanitary sewage service, trash service, and stormwater service in accordance with the Water, Sewage, Trash, and Stormwater Rate Ordinances. The water and sewage rate charges will be determined by the water use characteristics of the non-residential customer, except in cases where no water connection is present (i.e. well water), in which case flat rate billing applies.
(D) The town and its agents have the power, right, and ability to investigate the water and sewage use characteristics of any customer at any time, and modify the customer's bill amount based on that investigation, in accordance with the Water, Sewage, Trash, and Stormwater Rate Ordinances.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
The town may bill out various utility services on one monthly unified bill, and customers may pay for the various utility services in one payment. Any customer payments that are received for less than the full amount of the billing due for any individual month shall be applied first to the current billing, and second to any delinquent or outstanding charges. Partial payments will be applied in the following manner:
(A) First, to the current water portion of the monthly bill, with any remainder being applied;
(B) Second, to the current trash portion of the monthly bill, with any remainder being applied;
(C) Third, to the current sewage portion of the monthly bill, with any remainder being applied;
(D) Fourth, to the current stormwater portion of the monthly bill, with any remainder being applied;
(E) Fifth, to any delinquent or outstanding or otherwise non-current portion of the monthly billing (in the same utility order as described above).
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
(A) Usage period. The usage period is the month or any part of the month during which utility service is provided or is available to be provided to a customer of the utility, or the month or part of the month that a customer's property is physically connected to the town's water, sanitary sewage, or stormwater systems, and the part of the month in which trash service is provided.
(B) Bill date. The bill date shall be the first day of the month following the month that service is provided or available to be provided.
(C) Billing period. The billing period is the time between the bill date and the delinquent date. Billings will be distributed by the town to each customer of the town on a monthly basis through the issuance of a monthly bill. Each monthly bill will state the date that the bill is due, and the date after which the bill is considered delinquent and delinquent fees will be added. The total bill shall be due and payable by the close of business no later than the 15th day of the month after the billing date. The 15th day of the month following the billing date shall be known as the due date. If the due date falls on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, the due date shall be on the first business day following the holiday or weekend.
(D) Delinquent date. If a bill is not paid on or before the close of business of the due date, a late charge equal to 10% of the current utility bill amount shall be added to the charges. The first business day following the due date shall be known as the delinquent date. If the delinquent date falls on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, the bill shall then become delinquent at 8:00 a.m. on the first business day following the holiday or weekend.
(E) Lien notification date. If a bill is not paid on or before the close of business on the 60th business day following the due date, the town will send an "intention to file lien" letter to the property address. In cases of a non-owner occupied property, a copy of the "intention to file lien" letter will also be sent to the deeded owner's mailing address. If the lien notification date falls on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, the "intention to file lien" letter shall then be distributed on the first business day following the holiday or weekend.
(F) Lien file date. If a bill is not paid on or before ten business days following the lien notification date, the town or the Town Attorney shall file a lien on the property at their earliest convenience. The date ten business days following the lien notification date shall be known as the lien file date. If the lien file date falls on a holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, then the first date that liens will be filed shall then occur on the first business day following the holiday or the weekend.
(G) Water service disconnection date. If a water bill is not paid on or before the close of business on the 25th of the month, the water service of the customer is subject to disconnection without additional notice. All water bills subject to disconnection shall be disconnected by the town utility personnel on the same day, in an order determined to be most practical and efficient by town utility personnel, without discrimination or prejudice.
(H) (1) Clerk-Treasurer as Hearing Officer on application for service extension. A person owing an unpaid utility bill may appeal in writing to the Clerk-Treasurer for a 15 day extension of the date when utility service would be subject to discontinuation, setting forth in detail the extraordinary hardship or other unavoidable circumstances whereby the delinquent bill cannot be paid within the allowed period. The Clerk-Treasurer, acting as the Hearing Officer for the extension request may grant or deny such request, in whole or in part. The Hearing Officer may require partial payment of the delinquent bill in return for granting an extension. If the extension is granted and payment is not made within the extension period, the account will be subject to immediate disconnection.
(2) Appeal of Hearing Officer's denial of disconnection extension. A person owing an unpaid utility bill may appeal the determination of the Clerk-Treasurer acting as Hearing Officer in division (H)(1) above. The appeal will be in writing to the Town Council, which shall act on the appeal in its capacity as the governing board of the municipal corporation. The written appeal request shall set forth in detail: (1) the extraordinary hardship or other unavoidable circumstances whereby the delinquent bill cannot be fully paid within the allowed period; (2) the specific relief requested; and (3) the reason(s) that the person owing an unpaid bill believes that the adverse determination of the Clerk-Treasurer acting as Hearing Officer was arbitrary or capricious. The Town Council shall consider such appeal at its next scheduled Town Council meeting. Any contemplated discontinuation of utility service shall be deferred pending the determination of the appeal by the Town Council. The Town Council in its appeal determination may: (1) deny the appeal; (2) grant the appeal in whole or in part; and/or (3) may require partial payment of the delinquent bill in return for granting the extension. Upon denial of the appeal, the delinquent user shall be given 48 hours notice of the appeal denial prior to the discontinuation of service.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
(A) Any customer whose bill remains unpaid at 5:00 p.m. on the 15th day of the month after the billing date shall be considered delinquent. Any customer who is delinquent may be contacted by the town in an attempt to collect payment for the delinquent bill.
(B) After the 25th day of the month, the town may refer any delinquent customers to a collection agency or attorney for collection. Delinquent accounts are also subject to the filing of liens in accordance with the town's billing procedure.
(C) Delinquent accounts that have been filed as liens can no longer be paid in the normal manner, but must be paid to the county in the manner prescribed by the county for lien payments. Lien filings will include reasonable collection and attorney fees.
(D) In the case of a non-owner occupied property, the deeded owner will be notified of any utility bills related to their property that remain outstanding beyond the 25th day of the month that the bill is due.
(E) The Town Council hereby grants authority to the Clerk-Treasurer to offer to delinquent customers one bill workout plan not more often than once each 12 month period (beginning on a month that the customer is current on all of its town utility bills). This bill workout procedure will be that the customer must pay monthly a payment consisting of two parts. The first part is the entire balance of the current monthly bill after the workout plan begins. The second part is one-third of the amount that was due before the bill workout plan began. This workout procedure is intended to allow the delinquent customer to become current within a three month period. No additional late fees will accrue to the delinquent portion of the bill starting with the date the workout is approved and continuing during the three month period of the workout. If the delinquent customer defaults on this agreement by paying less than the calculated amount due, the bill workout agreement terminates immediately, and without further notice, and the town's normal and customary bill collection procedures begin. This would include water service disconnection, sewage and stormwater lien filing, and other bill collection procedures.
(F) After a bill workout plan terminates, the Clerk-Treasurer cannot offer another bill workout plan to that customer for 12 months from the last current payment.
(G) The above described bill workout procedure in no way limits the powers or the authority of the Town Council to modify or adjust a bill, or offer a different or additional workout procedure for delinquent customers.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
(A) A customer may request a face-to-face conference regarding any dispute over a disputed utility bill or other service matter before the Town Council, or its designee, to hear such matters.
(B) Only the Town Council has the ability to modify, change, adjust, mitigate, or otherwise alter a utility bill.
(Ord. 2020-01-01, passed 1-14-2020)
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