A. The City shall implement and modify a fair and reasonable system of rates and charges for the municipal water system by resolution of the City Council duly adopted after a public hearing with notice thereof given as required by law.
B. Water user charges shall include a base rate charge per calendar month, according to the nominal size of water meter installed. Water service line size may be different than water meter size, and service line size or type of water service will not be the basis for the base rate charge.
C. The base rate is charged irrespective of the amount of water use recorded on the meter. The property owner, legally authorized agent, or tenant will be required to pay the base rate for water during periods of complete nonuse of premises to meet City debt obligation. For new construction, water service charges shall start on the date after initial testing is complete if curb stop is turned on, or on the date of initial occupancy when the curb stop is turned on.
D. Water user charges shall also include a varied rate charge, based on the metered amount of water used as recorded by the water meter.
E. To reduce the risk of freezing the city's mains or service lines connected to shallow mains, the city may issue written permission to water users to maintain slight flows through their service line. For users in possession of such written permission, the city will base the monthly varied rate charges during such periods on the average of the past consecutive years' historic water usage by the user for the same month, not to exceed a three (3) year average.
F. Unintentional high water usage may, at the discretion of the public works director, be adjusted. Any single adjustment or multiple adjustments for the same property over one hundred dollars ($100.00) shall be approved by the city council.
G. No base rate or varied rate water use charges shall apply to fire hydrants nor water used from such hydrants for emergency firefighting or uses otherwise authorized by the city. No water use charges shall apply to dedicated private fire protection lines used for fire suppression sprinklers or other fire protection flows, provided such lines have detector type check valves inside the structure. No water use charges shall apply to water used from such fire protection lines for emergency fire suppression or uses otherwise authorized by the city. (Ord. 216, 5-18-1999; amd. Ord. 276, 10-5-2021; Ord. 278, 12-21-2021)