A. All new water/wastewater customers shall be required to make a deposit with the City to their utility account prior to receiving any water/wastewater service. Upon application, all new customers must indicate whether the service is requested for rental property or property owned. A new customer is defined as a person who does not have an existing utility account in good standing with the City of Chenoa or a person who has had service reconnected after disconnection due to delinquent utility bill payments.
B. The new customer deposit shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) for water/wastewater service.
C. Upon the closure of any water/wastewater account, any deposit shall be reimbursed to the then owner of the water/wastewater account within thirty (30) days of the closure of the account and upon the following conditions:
1. In event there is no unpaid balance on the account, the full amount of the deposit, with interest, shall be provided to the account holder; or
2. In the event there exists an unpaid balance on the account, existing deposit and any interest accrued will be applied to the account balance with the remainder of such deposit and interest, if any, to be provided to the account holder.
D. All utility deposits shall be held by the City in a separate interest-bearing account.
E. In the event the applicant is an existing customer in good standing with the City on other water/wastewater accounts, and has demonstrated a pattern of making the required payments on-time for other existing accounts, such applicant may petition the City Council for a waiver of the deposit requirement.
F. “Good standing” for purposes of this section means an eligible account holder who has not been late at least two times within a two-year period. (Ord. 845, 10-25-2022)