A. Billing Schedule: Water and/or sewer bills shall be billed by the office of the comptroller according to the following schedule:
1. Eastern Illinois University shall be billed not later than the last day of the first week of each month.
2. Industrial accounts shall be billed not later than the last day of the first week of each month.
3. All other water/sewer accounts shall be billed monthly. (Ord. 06-O-19, 4-18-2006)
B. Late Charges: A late charge of ten percent (10%) shall be assessed against all delinquent water and/or sewer bills. Water and sewer bills shall be considered delinquent if not paid by their due date. (Ord. 82-O-3, 3-2-1982)
C. Disconnection Of Water Service:
1. Water service shall be disconnected for any customer whose outstanding water/sewer balance, including applicable penalties or late fees accrued, is more than ten (10) days past due. In the event payment sufficient to satisfy the outstanding balance, including applicable penalties or late fees accrued, has not been made prior to the disconnect date, disconnection or any administrative act of the water department, there shall be a twenty five dollar ($25.00) fee.
2. The customer has the right to a pretermination hearing as prescribed in this section.
a. Request for hearing must be remitted by the customer to the comptroller's office, either by mail or in person delivery.
b. The request shall be made in writing and contain the name, address and telephone number of the person disputing a charge, identify with particularity the amount or portion of the bill(s)/charge(s) in dispute, and state the specific grounds or reasons the charges billed are being disputed (the customer's ability to pay shall not be a relevant consideration or basis for dispute).
c. Upon receiving a written request for a pretermination hearing, a designee of the city shall schedule a hearing with the requestor. The termination of water service shall be delayed until after the hearing takes place unless undisputed balances are still outstanding. The requestor may be subject to an administrative adjudication hearing fee.
d. The hearing shall provide the customer an opportunity to be heard regarding any disputed portion of the bill. The hearing shall be open to the public, informal, and the hearing officer shall accept evidence only pertaining to the accuracy of the charges.
e. At the close of the hearing, the hearing officer shall enter findings, decision and order declaring the amount due and owing, if any, and a copy of the findings, decision and order shall be provided to the city's comptroller department, as well as the party(ies) requesting the hearing.
f. If the amount due is found to be different from the amount originally claimed by the city in its initial notice of water service termination, an amended notice of water service termination shall be served upon the owner and tenants of the property in the same manner as the initial notice, except that no further opportunity to request a hearing shall be provided. In such cases, the date for water service termination shall be not less than ten (10) days from the date of service of the amended notice.
g. Immediate termination shall be allowed if the customer fails to appear for the scheduled hearing or the customer is unresponsive to the city's attempt to schedule a hearing date and time.
3. When the water supply to a property is turned off, it shall be unlawful for any person other than a city employee or city designee to attempt to turn said water supply back on, or to tamper with the water meter, service connection, service pipes, valves, shutoff boxes or any other element or appurtenance of the city waterworks system. Any such act shall be considered a violation of this code, attributable to the owner and/or occupant of the subject property and a penalty shall be imposed.
4. Following termination of water service, such service shall be restored to the premises following payment in full of all outstanding charges for water/sewer services, late fees and penalties. Reconnection or resumption of service during other than normal city business hours shall require a fifty dollar ($50.00) fee.
5. There will be a twenty five dollar ($25.00) service charge for any payment returned to the city by the financial institution or depository of a customer for any reason.
6. Accounts that have been disconnected due to nonpayment for at least ten (10) days shall be padlocked or the meters pulled/removed to prevent usage until the account is paid in full. All meters shall be padlocked or pulled/removed when an account is finalized and disconnected until a new resident activates service.
7. Terminating water service for nonpayment shall not be the exclusive remedy for nonpayment. The city may also record a lien for delinquent payments and foreclose on such liens in accordance with subsection D of this section and pursue any other collection methods available to the city by law. Any and all such courses of action may be pursued simultaneously and shall not be mutually exclusive to one another. (Ord. 16-O-24, 6-7-2016)
D. Lien For Unpaid Charges: Any unpaid water and/or sewer charges shall be placed as a lien against the property as provided by law until said charges are paid in full. (Ord. 80-O-63, 12-2-1980)
E. Property Owner Responsibility; Duplicate Bills: The owner or owners of the property having city water and/or sewer service shall be responsible for unpaid water and/or sewer bills. The water department shall provide, as a service to said property owner(s), the ability to obtain duplicate billings of water usage for which they shall be responsible. Said duplicate billings shall be available by the property owner completing an application for duplicate billing in the form maintained by the water department and by the paying of a ten dollar ($10.00) annual fee, per property, for said duplicate billing service.
F. Service Activation Fee: Prior to connection of water service, there shall be paid a twenty five dollar ($25.00) activation fee. This activation fee shall be applicable for any "new service" that requires a final meter reading for billing purposes or turning water on at a meter that has been turned off by the water department. This fee is further applicable for an existing customer changing addresses of water service. (Ord. 06-O-17, 4-18-2006)
Notes
| 1 | 1. See also section 8-2-11 of this title. |