Rates and charges shall be prepared and billed and collected by the town in the manner provided by law and ordinance.
(A) The rates and charges for all users shall be prepared and billed monthly. The town bills four to eight weeks behind the water company.
(1) Residential users.
(a) The rates and charges shall be billed to the owner of each residential property and shall be mailed to the address on the tax duplicate maintained by the Clark County Auditor and used by the Clark County Treasurer for tax bill mailings. Ownership will be determined using Clark County Indiana Assessor Records. If the owner wishes to change the mailing address, a request must be submitted in writing to the Billing Office. The town will not allow an owner to assign the bill to a tenant.
(b) This policy goes into effect with billings for usage after July 1, 2018.
(2) Commercial, governmental, institutional and industrial users.
(a) The rates and charges for the services rendered by the sewage works to all nonresidential properties may be by the person occupying the property if one of the following conditions is satisfied:
1. Either the property owner or the person occupying the property gives to the Wastewater Billing Office written notice that indicates that the person occupying the property is responsible for paying the fees with respect to the property and requests that the account or other customer or billing records maintained for the property be in the name of the person occupying the property. In order to relieve the owner of responsibility for payment of all billings for services provided to the property, the written request must:
A. Be executed by the property owner and the person occupying the property;
B. Identify the person occupying the property by name; and
C. Indicate that the person occupying the property is responsible for paying the fees assessed by the utility with respect to the property; or
2. The account or other customer or billing records maintained by the utility for the property otherwise indicate that:
A. The property is occupied by someone other than the owner; and
B. The person occupying the property is responsible for paying the fees.
(3) Nothing in this section shall operate to prevent the assessment of liens for delinquent sewer use charges against the property in accordance with the provisions of IC 36-9-23-32, provided the utility provides written notice of delinquency to the owner in accordance with IC 36-9-23-32(c).
(4) The owners of the properties served, which are occupied by a tenant or tenants, shall have the right to examine the collection records of the town for the purpose of determining whether bills have been paid by the tenant or tenants, provided that the examination shall be made at the office at which the records are kept and during the hours that the office is open for business.
(B) As is provided by IC 36-9-23-32, all rates and charges not paid when due are declared to be delinquent, and a penalty of 10% of the amount of the rates or charges shall thereupon attach thereto. The time at which the rates or charges shall be paid is now fixed at 15 days after the date of mailing of the bill, and payments subsequent to such date shall be deemed delinquent.
(Ord. 89-S-01, passed 7-31-89; Am. Ord. 99-W-01, passed 12-9-99; Am. Ord. 2017-G-13, passed 11-21-17; Am. Ord. 2018-SW-01, passed 9-18-18)