(A) Findings. The County Council finds that numerous fees and charges due Greenville County go unpaid and uncollected and that the county expends resources and monies to collect these fees and charges. Furthermore, it is unfair to the law abiding and honest citizens of Greenville County for them to bear this additional burden to recover lawfully due accounts.
(B) Collection fee. Unless otherwise established by a specific ordinance which establishes a higher collection fee, all past due accounts, exclusive of taxes, shall be charged a $15 collection fee in addition to those amounts already due.
(C) Unlawful failure to pay. It shall be unlawful for any individual, company, corporation or other entity to fail to pay any fee or charge which is due Greenville County. It shall be, furthermore, unlawful to fail to pay any collection fees which shall have occurred because of a failure to timely pay those amounts.
(D) Penalties. Any individual, company, corporation or other entity who shall willfully fail to pay any fee, charge or collection fee due Greenville County for a period of 6 months shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to penalties not to exceed those within the jurisdictional limit of magistrate’s court. This remedy is not exclusive and the county may pursue such other and further relief necessary to collect the accounts.
(E) Exclusions. The provisions of this section shall only apply to fees and charges created by the ordinances of Greenville County and shall not apply to taxes, contracts or other debts that have not been created by an ordinance of Greenville County.
(1976 Code, § 2-5) (Ord. 2113, passed 5-1-1990)