A. At the time the building permit is issued, the person applying for the building permit shall pay initial connection charges, capacity charges, or other similar charges as set forth in the City Consolidated Fee Schedule, as well as the applicable development impact fee, for each sanitary sewer connection, regardless of location.
B. Each user connected to the sanitary sewer system or otherwise using the city publicly owned treatment and collection works shall be charged a monthly charge as set forth in the City Consolidated Fee Schedule.
C. A commercial user shall be charged a base charge and a unit charge as established in City Consolidated Fee Schedule. The unit charge will be based upon the actual water consumption data from the water provider for the month prior to the billing month, except:
1. Commercial customers can request a credit for irrigation usage or for other non-sanitary sewer water consumption. A credit of up to 15% of usage, based on the amount of usage required by landscaping, can be provided by the finance director with appropriate proof of landscaping. A credit for alleged non-sanitary sewer water consumption or for landscaping credits greater than 15% of usage must be accompanied by a separate meter reading (with such meter to be installed at the customers expense) or an industry standard report, specifying the amount of water not entering the sanitary sewer system.
2. The city reserves the right to investigate any commercial user suspected of adding more to the sanitary sewer system than the water consumption shown in the water provider reports. If the commercial user has exceeded this figure, it shall be charged a higher fee based on the increased flow volumes.
3. In the event that monthly water consumption data set forth in subsection C.1. above is not available for use by the city for billing purposes, the finance director is authorized to use an appropriate average of prior monthly uses to set the unit charge for commercial use for any user for which such billing data is not available.
D. Customers located outside the city limits of the City of Casa Grande will be charged at a rate equal to one and one-half (1-1/2) times the rate established in the City Consolidated Fee Schedule for sewer service.
E. Connection Charges. The connection charges, if any, set out in the City Consolidated Fee Schedule shall be paid prior to any connection being made to the public sewer system of the city.
F. The fees set forth in the City Consolidated Fee Schedule, where applicable, shall apply to all sewer connections served by the city (including those accounts on which the consumer has paid more than one month in advance), and the City Consolidated Fee Schedule shall apply to all future extensions, unless and until it is amended or changed by the city.
1. All fees for sewer service shall be collected by the finance director and deposited in the city sewer revenue and reserve fund. Initial sewer connection fees shall be paid on issuance of the sewer connection permit. Monthly charges for each connection shall be due and payable at the conclusion of each month of use. The finance director is authorized and directed to use any legal means or procedures to ensure collection of sewer service fees, and to compromise, settle or dispose of such fees in the normal course of collection.
2. The finance director shall bill all known users monthly by approximately the first day of the following month for which the sewer collection is provided. Failure to receive an invoice shall not be a defense to payment for any user; provided, however, that the finance director may waive late fees or otherwise compromise amounts due and owing if the failure to receive an invoice was due to an error on the part of the city. Failure on the part of a person or entity to notify the city that a connection to the sanitary sewer and the city publicly owned collection and treatment works has been made, or failure to notify the city that appropriate monthly billings are not being received, constitute error on the part of the consumer, and not the city, for purposes of this subsection.
G. Sewer service rental shall be due and payable at the office of the financial director when the monthly statement is rendered, and shall be delinquent twenty calendar days thereafter. If the total bill for any such charge is not paid within five calendar days after the date of delinquency, a late fee of one and one- half percent of the unpaid balance (including any unpaid late fees or similar charges) shall be charged each month of delinquency to be collected, in addition to the amount then due.
H. The sewer rental fees and connection fees collected shall be used for the operation, maintenance and replacement of the treatment and collection works.
I. New industrial users that propose to introduce a significant industrial waste into the wastewater treatment facility shall be subject to an additional industrial cost recovery charge, established by the finance director and sewer department as necessary to recover the costs applicable to the treatment of such waste; provided, however, that the introduction of waste shall be subject to the approval of the regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
J. The city shall review, not less often than every two years, the wastewater contribution of users and user classes, the total costs of operation and maintenance of the treatment and collection works, and its approved user charge system.
K. The city shall notify each user, at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rent and that portion of the user charges which are attributable to wastewater treatment services.
L. The user sewer rental fee shall take precedence over any terms or conditions of agreements or contracts between the city and users which address:
1. The reservation of capacity in the treatment works;
2. The charges to be collected by the city in providing wastewater treatment services or reserving capacity.
M. The user charge system shall provide that each user which discharges any toxic pollutants which cause an increase in cost of managing the effluent or the sludge of the treatment works shall pay the increased cost.
N. The finance director shall have the authority to waive the late fees charged on past due sewer bills if a user establishes a good payment record with the city, and if the application of the fee would create an undue hardship on the user.
O. The finance director may revoke the business license of any non-residential customer that is delinquent for two billing periods.
P. The finance director may, as an accommodation to and upon the request of a property owner, bill a tenant or other party for sewer charges, in which case the property owner, as well as the user, are jointly and severally liable for such charges. All unpaid sewer charges for a property, however, remain the responsibility of the property owner. If a tenant does not pay a charge when rendered, the finance director may notify the property owner of the tenant’s nonpayment, and the property owner shall pay the amount due within seven calendar days of the notice to the property owner. If such payment is promptly made the finance director may waive applicable late fees.
(Ord. 1397.13.20 §§ 4, 6 (part), 2009; Ord. 1397.13.19 § 1 (part), 2004; Ord. 1397.13.13 § 1 (part), 1999; Ord. 1086.2 § 1, 1988; Ord. 379.16 §§ 1, 2, 1989; Ord. 379.15 §§ 1, 2 1989; Ord. 379.14 §§ 1, 2, 1989; Ord. 379.13 §§ 1, 2 1988; Ord. 379.12 §§ 1, 2, 1987; prior code § 13-2-2)