(a) Water bills based on the schedules contained in this chapter are due on and after the first day of each and every calendar month for water service for the preceding month and are delinquent if not paid by 5:00 p.m. on or before the fifteenth day of each month. It shall be the duty of the Supervisor of City Maintenance to have bills rendered to the users each month, but failure to render does not excuse the user from making prompt payment of the bill. If a water bill is delinquent, a penalty of ten percent of the amount due shall be added for the purpose of taking care of the additional bookkeeping thus necessitated. The Supervisor shall discontinue service without further notice if the charges for services are not paid within sixty days after the bill for such services has been rendered. Such services shall not be reinstated until all claims are settled. A fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) shall be charged for disconnection of any water service because of delinquency. There shall be a fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) for reinstating such service. If both water and sewer bills are delinquent, there shall be only a single charge for disconnection and/or reinstating such service.
(b) Whenever a monthly bill for water service remains unpaid for ninety days after it has been rendered, the City Attorney shall, at the direction of Council, file with the County Recorder of Deeds a statement of lien claim. This statement shall contain the legal description of the premises served, the amount of the unpaid bill and a notice that the City claims a lien for this amount as well as for all charges subsequent to the period covered by the bill.
If the user whose bill is unpaid is not the owner of the premises and the Supervisor has notice of this, notice shall be mailed to the owner of the premises, if his or her address is known to the Supervisor, whenever such bill remains unpaid for forty-five days after it has been rendered.
The failure of the City Attorney to record such lien, the failure of the Supervisor to mail such notice or the failure of the owner to receive such notice shall not affect the right to foreclose the lien for unpaid bills.
(Ord. 570. Passed 11-14-88; Ord. 619. Passed 11-9-92; Ord. 801. Passed 1-12-04.)