(A) The power to fix rates for furnishing city services, including water, sewer and sanitation services, both residential and commercial, shall be vested in the City Council and such utility rates will be presumed lawful unless clearly shown to be confiscatory.
(B) Each residential and commercial account will be charged at such rate as may be adopted by the City Council from time to time for refuse collection, commencing 1-1-1993. The established rate will be included as an integral part of the city utility bill and will be collected in the same manner as the water and sewer use fees. The City Council may bill the user in monthly or bimonthly increments and may be billed in advance or in arrears. The City Council may establish rate classification guidelines to distinguish commercial and residential accounts and may establish and amend from time to time such rules and regulations as may be needed to comply with state or federal solid waste management requirements or regulations.
(C) The City Council shall be authorized to establish and amend, from time to time, a utility deposit fee to be collected by the City Clerk and credited to any residential or commercial account to ensure the payment of all utility rates, including water service, sewer service and sanitation services. The City Council hereby initially establishes the following utility deposit fee: $75 per utility subscriber for all users first commencing such use on or after 1-1-1994.
(D) The City Council shall also be authorized to establish and amend, from time to time, a procedure for termination of utility services to delinquent accounts and to impose a charge for late payment or reinstatement of utility services.
(E) The City Council hereby establishes the following rates and charges to be paid to it for such sanitation services by each person whose premises are to be served. If the service charge is not paid when due, the city may utilize, in addition to any other remedies, all remedies and liens provided for by the state’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Act, being Neb. RS 13-2001 through 13-2043, and as otherwise provided for by state statute or city ordinance:
(1) Thirteen dollars and twenty-five cents per month for regular residential customers; and
(2) Ten dollars and seventy-five cents per month for senior citizens (65 and older).
(F) Such utility accounts, when delinquent, shall be a lien on the premises or real estate upon which or for which the same is used or supplied. Any delinquent utility accounts which remain unpaid for a period of one month after it becomes due, and following notice by regular United States mail to the last known address of the property owner of record and an opportunity for hearing, may be, by resolution of the City Council, assessed against said real estate as a special assessment, which special assessment shall be certified by the City Clerk to the County Treasurer. Said County Treasurer shall, thereupon, place the same on the tax rolls for collection, subject to the same penalties and to be collected in like manner as other city tax; provided that, the City Clerk shall notify in writing non-occupying owners of premises or their agents, whenever their tenants or lessees are 30 days delinquent in the payment of any utility account. Thereafter, if the owner of said real estate or his, her or their agent shall notify the City Clerk in writing to discontinue utility service to said real estate or the occupants thereof, it shall be the duty of the officer in charge of the city utility department promptly to discontinue said service; and amounts due for any services furnished to the occupants of said real estate in violation of said notice shall not be a lien thereon.
(Prior Code, § 4-302) (Ord. 438, passed 12-10-1987; Ord. 15-93, passed 12-6-1993; Ord. 99-3, passed 4-5-1999; Ord. 10-4, passed - -2010; Ord. 12-1, passed 4-2-2012)