(A) User classes.
(1) Users of the city wastewater treatment works shall be identified as belonging to one of the following user classes:
(a) Residential/commercial/institutional; or
(b) Significant industrial user (SIU).
(2) The allocation of users to these categories for the purpose of assessing user charges and debt service charges shall be the responsibility of the Director of Finance and City Administrator. Allocation of users to user classes shall be based on the substantive intent of the definitions of these classes contained herein.
(B) Operation, maintenance, debt service, capital equipment, and replacement costs. The user shall pay operation, maintenance, and replacement costs in proportion to the user's proportionate contribution of wastewater flows and loadings to the treatment plant. The Director of Finance will recommend sanitary sewer base rates and flow rates on an annual basis to City Council giving consideration to the Sanitary Sewer Fund's operating, capital, debt service, and forecasted capital improvement plan. The Sanitary Sewer Fund is to be entirely self-supporting through the payment of base rates and flow rates. Base rates will cover all capital costs, debt service, and forecasted capital improvement plan. Flow rates will be set to recover annual operating costs for the sanitary sewer system.
(C) User charges for normal domestic strength users. Calculating billable flows and loadings.
(1) The billable amount of flow will be calculated from the volume of metered water usage. The monthly billable flow shall be equal to monthly metered water usage rounded to the nearest 1,000 gallon mark.
(2) For users discharging NDSW but not connected to the city water system, the billable amount of flow will be calculated from the volume of their well's metered water usage or, at the discretion of the city, from the measurement of effluent flow at the user's point of discharge. Measurements shall be according to a regular program prescribed by the city. The city may require a flow meter to be installed to measure the sanitary sewer flow for accurate billing.
(D) Meters. The city may, at its discretion, require nonresidential users to install wastewater flow meters or such additional water meters as may be necessary to determine wastewater volume. The city may require residential connections to install water meters for the purpose of determining wastewater volume. When so required, such meters shall be of a type approved by the city, equipped with remote registering recorders and located at an accessible site on the owner's property.
(Ord. 297, passed 3-1-2022)