(a) Monthly Payments for Service Rendered.
(1) Any residential customer desiring to pay their utility bill in monthly installments may do so providing they fill out a form requesting such payment plan. This form must be filled out in advance of payment and must be submitted to the Utilities Office no later than five days after the first date of the collection period to allow the Utilities Clerk time to process the request. Requests made after this time period will be denied. This form must be filled out each quarter the customer desires to take advantage of this program.
(2) The customer will agree to pay not less than one-third of the amount of the bill in the first month the bill is due; not less than one-half the amount due in the second month; and any outstanding balance in the third month. Any amounts less than these amounts will be construed as outstanding balances. Due dates will be by the fifteenth of the month, or by the first normal working day after the fifteenth which may fall on a weekend or legal holiday.
(3) There will be no fee assessed for the first month of this privilege, there will be three dollar ($3.00) fee for each of the second and third month payments. Payments under this plan are for water used and service rendered according to the schedule of the billing date. Such fee covers the additional labor costs of processing the bills on a monthly basis.
(4) The Utilities Office will not be responsible to the customer for the monthly payment program; it will be the customers' responsibility to insure the monthly payments are made in a timely fashion. Under this plan the Utilities Office will not send out monthly notices.
(5) Customers who are delinquent in their monthly payments will be assessed a ten percent (10%) penalty on any outstanding balance. Service will be terminated if the bill is not paid in full by the closing date of the collection period. Service will not be resumed until the entire outstanding balance is paid in full.
(6) Customers who are delinquent in their quarterly bill will be required to make monthly payments as per this section and shall be assessed a ten percent (10%) penalty on any outstanding balance. Customers with a history of delinquency will be required to be on the monthly payment program. History of delinquency will be construed as those accounts that have been delinquent for at least two quarters in the previous four quarters.
(7) For purposes of accounting, when each one-third of the bill is paid, the appropriate portion of the bill will be deposited into each fund as designated on the entire bill; with each fund receiving its proportional share. The three dollar ($3.00) service fee will be deposited into the Water Department Fund number 43.
(8) The Waterworks Clerk is hereby authorized to act as the City's agent in the processing and handling of this program; as outlined above.
(b) Monthly Payments in Advance of Service Rendered.
(1) Customers desiring to make monthly payments in advance shall be permitted to do so. Payment in advance shall be computed on the average of the last four quarters and payable in three monthly installments where the third payment will be for any outstanding balance due. Payments made under this program will not be charged a monthly service fee as a trade-off between the assessed interest of the credit balance against the added cost of processing the bill.
(2) Customers desiring this method of payment will be required to fill out a form requesting this option. This form must be filled out in advance of payment and must be submitted to the Utilities Office no later than five days after the first date of the collection period to allow the Utilities Clerk time to process the request. This service will not be granted if the request is made after the deadline date of the quarter in effect at the time. This form must be filled out each quarter the customer desires to take advantage of this program.
(3) Failure to make monthly payments in the prescribed amount when due will not be cause for delinquent fees to be assessed, however, the customer may be denied this option in subsequent quarters.
(c) Responsibility for Payment. Under the aforementioned options, the City of Delphos takes no responsibility in the payment of the customers' utilities bill. The customer retains the ultimate responsibility to insure that the bill is paid in a timely fashion.
(Ord. 1992-21. Passed 5-26-92. )
(e) Administrative Fee. There shall be an administrative fee of one dollar and sixteen cents ($1.16) per monthly active utility service for processing utility bills from the May 2022 billing through the April 2023 billing.
(Ord. 2022-7. Passed 3-7-22.)