(A) The purpose of this policy is to establish a process whereby a customer can make application for a credit adjustment to their water account when a situation has been experienced involving the loss of metered water as a result of conditions beyond normal and reasonable control of the customer or the customer's agent. Such a situation may include broken or frozen pipes, water line leak, pipe or fitting leak, vandalism, tampering, or other circumstances when an accidental water release cannot be reasonably prevented.
(B) It is the customer's responsibility to promptly discover and stop the loss of water. In addition, the customer is responsible for making arrangements to repair or have repaired the equipment or plumbing causing the water loss.
(C) The town is under no obligation to provide a billing adjustment, and adjustments will only be granted for a maximum period as outlined in the table below. No adjustment shall be made for water lost after it passes through the meter, except as authorized by the Town Manager, provided that:
(1) The customer shall provide information, in writing describing the emergency situation or circumstances that resulted in the loss of water, including the cause of the water loss, when the problem was discovered, what action was taken to stop the loss of water, and the arrangements made for repairs, if necessary. If the loss was due to faulty or broken equipment or plumbing, the customer must provide proper documentation that all repairs for leaks have been completed. If the loss of water was due to vandalism or tampering to plumbing, it must be documented with a police report;
(2) The customer shall pay the full minimum applicable and that minimum shall be subtracted from the total water billing;
(3) The customer's bill will then be averaged for four quarters using the same billing period for the immediate preceding four years or a portion thereof if service has been in place for less than a four-year period, and the customer will pay the then existing commodity rate for that average usage and that amount will also be subtracted from the total billing;
(4) The remaining quantity will then be payable by the customer at 75% of the commodity rate for the average gallonage for the quarter as determined in division (C)(3) above;
(5) The customer may schedule payments to cover the lost water costs (adjusted bill amount) as prescribed by the Utilities Division in the table below without penalty. All subsequent bills shall be due and payable upon receipt.
Billing Adjustments
| |
Adjusted bill amount | Payment period |
< $500 | 6 months |
$500-$1,000 | 12 months |
> $1,000 | 24 months |
(D) Payment plans shall be subject to the following:
(1) The customer shall execute a written agreement setting out the terms of repayment and providing that upon any default in payment or sale of the property the entire balance shall be due and payable.
(2) The customer/owner selling property shall notify the closing attorney/agent of any outstanding balance at the time of closing. Any outstanding balance shall be paid to the town by the closing attorney or agent in full at the time of closing.
(E) Water service customers that are also serviced by the town's wastewater treatment facility will be subject to divisions (C)(1) through (4) above and:
(1) If a water loss is identified as above and the above procedures are followed, and the water loss is determined not to have entered the wastewater system, the wastewater bill is averaged as above and the overage not calculated for billing purposes.
(2) If the water loss is determined to have entered the wastewater system through the customer's connection, no adjustment will be applied to the wastewater billing.
(Ord. passed - -; Am. Ord. 05-11, passed 7-11-05; Am. Ord. 08-34, passed 11-19-08; Am. Ord. 10-24, passed 11-10-10; Am. Ord. 12-14, passed 5-23-12; Am. Ord. 14-01, passed 1-13-14; Am. Ord. 14-13, passed 6-25-14)