(A) (1) Users of the city wastewater treatment works shall be identified as belonging to one of the following user classes:
(a) Residential;
(b) Commercial;
(c) Industrial;
(d) Institutional; or
(e) Governmental.
(2) The allocation of users to these categories for the purpose of assessing user charges and debt service charges shall be the responsibility of the City Clerk-Treasurer. Allocation of users to user classes shall be based on the substantive intent of the definitions of these classes contained herein.
(B) The charges assessed residential users and those users of other classes who discharge normal domestic strength wastewater shall be calculated on the basis of wastewater volume. Those industrial users who discharge normal domestic strength wastewater only, can be classified as commercial users for the purpose of rate determination.
(C) (1) For those users who discharge normal domestic strength wastewater as described in division (B) above, wastewater volume will be calculated on the basis of: equivalent residential units (ERU). Equivalent residential units, at a volume of 8,000 gallons/month, will be assigned to connections according to Tables I and II; Appendix A (at the end of this chapter).
(2) Determination of the number of ERUs assigned to a particular connection, in accordance with Tables I and II shall be the responsibility of the City Council or its authorized representative.
(D) The sewer service charge shall consist of a user charge for operation, maintenance, and replacement, and a charge for debt service. These charges will be determined as follows:
User charge rate per equivalent residential unit:
Uc = Comr
ERU Total ERUs
Where:
Uc = Annual User Charge
Comr = Total Annual OM&R Costs
ERU = Equivalent Residential Unit
Total ERUs = The total number of ERUs connected to the treatment facility.
(E) Users may appeal the number of ERUs assigned to a particular connection by installing and maintaining, at their own expense, water meters of a type approved by the city. Such meters shall be equipped with remote registering recorders located at an accessible site on the owner’s property.
(F) The city may, at its discretion, require nonresidential users to install water meters for the purpose of determining wastewater volume. The city may require residential connections to install water meters as part of a comprehensive program to install meters throughout the city’s water system. When so required, such meters shall be of a type approved by the city, equipped with remote registering recorders, and located at an accessible site on the owner’s property.
(G) Local construction costs for the wastewater treatment facility will be recovered from users according to their contribution of wastewater flows and loadings into the treatment facility as follows:
Debt Service Charge per Equivalent Residential Unit
Dc = Cd
ERU Total ERUs
Where: Dc = Annual Debt Service Charge
Cd = Annual Debt Service Cost
ERU = Equivalent Residential Unit
Total ERUs = The total number of ERUs connected to the treatment facility.
(H) The sewer service charge will consist of the total of the user charge and the debt service charge.
SSC = Uc + Dc
Where: SSC = Annual Sewer Service Charge
Uc = Annual User Charge
Dc = Annual Debt Service Charge
(I) Determination of sewer service charge to a connection.
Annual Sewer Service Charge = SSC x #ERUs
to a connection ERU
to a connection ERU
Where: SSC = Sewer Service Charge
#ERUs = Number of ERUs assigned that connection
ERU = Equivalent Residential Unit
(J) (1) The sewer service charges established in this subchapter shall not prevent the assessment of additional charges to users who discharge wastes with concentrations greater than normal domestic strength or wastes of unusual character, or contractual agreements with such users, as long as the following conditions are met:
(a) The user pays operation, maintenance, and replacement costs in proportion to the user’s proportionate contribution of wastewater flows and loadings to the treatment plant, and no user is charged at a rate less than that of normal domestic strength wastewater.
(b) The measurements of such wastes are conducted according to the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater in a manner acceptable to the city as provided for in this chapter.
(2) A study of unit costs of collection and treatment processes attributable to flow, BOD, TSS and other significant loadings shall be developed for determining the proportionate allocation of costs to flows and loadings for users discharging wastes of greater than normal domestic strength or wastes of unusual character.
(Ord. 17-3, passed 11-14-1988)