902.01 Definitions.
902.02 Necessity for charges.
902.03 Wastewater disposal system charges.
902.04 Rates and charges.
902.05 Meter readings.
902.06 Industrial pretreatment fees.
902.07 Bills.
902.08 Nonpayment of bills.
902.09 Shut-off for nonpayment.
902.10 Wastewater Improvement Fund; Wastewater Collections System Fund; and Wastewater Treatment Fund.
902.11 Interpretation.
902.12 Homestead exemption.
902.13 Summer sprinkling program.
Schedule A Capital and user charges for residential and commercial units of service.
Schedule B Capital and user charge for industrial units of service.
Schedule C Lakewood industrial pretreatment charge.
CROSS REFERENCES
Sewerage rates - see Ohio R.C. 729.49
Funds from sewerage rates - see Ohio R.C. 729.52
Withdrawing funds - see ADM. 129.26
Wastewater disposal - see S.U. & P.S. Ch. 913
Certain terms used in this chapter shall have the meanings given them in this section unless a different meaning is indicated by the context in which the particular term is used.
(a) "Apartment/Condominium Property" is considered to be a lot or parcel of real estate on which is situated a building containing four or more dwelling units.
(b) "Capital charge" means a fee imposed by Section 915.03 hereof upon all units of service of the wastewater disposal system in a total amount sufficient to pay the costs of principal and of interest obligations issued to finance acquisition and construction of the wastewater disposal system.
(c) "Capital costs" means payments of principal and of interest or obligations issued to finance the costs of acquisition and construction of the wastewater disposal system.
(d) "Connection" means a residential, commercial or industrial establishment served by a water or wastewater meter, public or private, the metered flow of which is subsequently discharged to the wastewater disposal system. Establishments with more than one meter, the metered flow of which is subsequently discharged to the wastewater disposal system, are hereby determined to have one connection for each such meter.
(e) "Commercial unit of service" means, for purposes of system charges, any aggregation of space or area occupied for a distinct purpose such as retail store, office, laundry, restaurant or other like units, which is equipped with one or more water fixtures draining into the wastewater disposal system, separate and distinct from other units of service. In office buildings or other premises containing more than one tenant, only those tenants shall be classified as users of service who occupy space which are equipped with a distinct opening or fixture or set of fixtures for the use ofwater separately from other tenants and with waste draining into the wastewater disposal system.
(f) "Commercial wastewater" means normal domestic wastewater discharged by a nonresident or nonindustrial unit of service into the wastewater disposal system.
(g) "Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU)" is a value, equal to 2,800 square feet of measured impervious area and is equal to the average amount of impervious area of residential properties within the City of Lakewood.
(h) "Impervious area" means areas that have been paved and/or covered with buildings and materials that do not allow natural infiltration, which include, but are not, limited to, concrete, asphalt, rooftop, and blacktop.
(i) "Impervious surface fee" means a charge based upon the Equivalent Residential Unit to recover costs of construction of projects necessary to meet the requirements of consent orders that mandate elimination of wet weather flow from combined sewer overflows. This charge recovers debt service costs and other expense of all projects related to correcting wet weather overflows.
(j) "Industrial unit of service" means, for purposes of system charges, any aggregation of space or area occupied for a distinct purpose such as manufacturing which results in the discharge of industrial wastewater as defined in Section 915.02(h) into the wastewater disposal system.
(k) "Industrial unit of service" means, for the purposes of industrial cost recovery, any nongovernmental user of the wastewater disposal system which discharges industrial wastewater and which is identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented under the following divisions as contained therein:
(1) Division A. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing.
(2) Division B. Mining.
(3) Division D. Manufacturing.
(4) Division E. Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services.
(5) Division I. Services.
(l) "Industrial wastewater" means trade, process or nondomestic waste discharged from a unit of service which exceeds twenty-five gallons per employee per day or whose wastewater characteristics exceed 250 milligrams per liter BOD5, 200 milligrams per liter total suspended solids or whose wastewater contains toxic pollutants or poisonous solids, liquids or gasses in sufficient quantity to contaminate the sludge, to interfere with any sewage treatment process or which constitutes a hazard to humans or animals, creates a public nuisance or creates a hazard to the receiving waters of the wastewater disposal system.
(m) "Infiltration" is defined as a complex process of allowing runoff to penetrate the ground surface and flow through the upper soil surface.
(n) "General Property Tax" means that tax used to partially defray capital costs.
(o) "Non-residential properties" are all properties not encompassed by the definition of Residential and shall be defined as Non-residential. Non-residential properties will include:
(1) Apartment and condominiums properties;
(2) Commercial property;
(3) Industrial property;
(4) Institutional property;
(5) Governmental property;
(6) Churches;
(7) Schools;
(8) Federal, state, and local properties; and
(9) Any other property not mentioned in this or the list of residential properties below.
(p) "Normal domestic wastewater" means wastewater characterized by wastes created in the preparation of foods, bathing, laundry facilities and sanitary facilities, i.e., resulting from normal living functions.
(q) "Operation and maintenance costs" means the current, reasonable and necessary costs of operation and maintenance of the wastewater disposal system, paid or incurred, determined in accordance with general accepted accounting principles, including replacement costs, but excluding payments of principal of and interest on obligations issued to finance the cost of acquisition and construction of the wastewater disposal system.
(r) "Owner" The owner of a property shall be defined as the person who holds actual, not merely equitable, title to the property. Executors, administrators of estates, and persons who hold property in trust shall be considered owners.
(s) "Industrial pretreatment" means a regulatory program administered by the City for the purpose of permitting and monitoring the discharge of industrial wastewater into the wastewater disposal system.
(t) "Recovery period" means the thirty-year period during which the industrial cost recovery charge shall be imposed upon industrial units of service of the wastewater disposal system.
(u) "Replacement costs" means those costs incurred in obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances which are necessary during the service life of the wastewater disposal system to maintain the capacity and performance for which the wastewater disposal system was designed and constructed.
(v) "Residential property" means all single-family properties, two-family, and three-family properties within the City of Lakewood.
(w) "Residential unit of service" means, for purposes of system charges, any aggregation of space or area occupied as a single residence, and any apartment or flat which is equipped with one or more fixtures for supplying sewer service separate and distinct from the other users on the premises. In multi-unit dwellings, only those divisions of the building shall be considered as units of service where the suite or apartment has facilities for cooking.
(x) "Square footage of impervious area" means, for the purpose of assigning an appropriate number of ERUs to a parcel of real property, the square footage of all impervious area using the outside boundary dimensions of the impervious area to include the total enclosed square footage, without regard for topographic features of the enclosed surface.
(y) "Stormwater" means stormwater runoff, snowmelt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.
(z) "Treatment plant" means the facility forming a part of the wastewater disposal system which is utilized primarily to treat wastewater flows.
(aa) "User charge" means the fee imposed by Section 902.03 upon all units of service of the treatment works in a total amount sufficient to pay the costs of operation and maintenance, including costs of replacement of the wastewater disposal system.
(bb) "Wastewater" means the water and water-borne wastes discharged into the wastewater disposal system from premises on which any structure has been erected.
(cc) "Wastewater disposal system" includes all lateral, main and intercepting sewers, lift stations, pumps, sewage treatment and disposal plant or system, and structures and other appurtenances for the collections, transportation, treatment and disposition of wastewater and stormwater. This shall not include plumbing inside or in connection with buildings services or service sewers from a building to the street lateral.
(Ord. 24-2021. Passed 7-19-21.)
It is hereby determined necessary for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare and to conform with federal, state and local laws and regulations that a system of charges for wastewater disposal service be established which allocates the cost of providing wastewater disposal service to each user in such a manner that the allocated costs are proportionate to the cost of providing wastewater disposal service to that user, insofar as those costs can reasonably be determined.
(Ord. 24-2021. Passed 7-19-21.)
System charges are hereby imposed upon all units of service in a total amount sufficient to pay the costs of the treatment system. System charges consist of general property tax, variable charges, industrial pretreatment charge, and impervious surface fee charge.
(a) A general property tax of two mills shall be used solely for payment of capital costs.
(b) Variable charges consist of a capital charge and a user charge. The capital and user charges for residential and commercial connections shall be based upon the flow and loan characteristics of wastewater discharged by each user, as estimated by water meter or wastewater meter readings, and shall be collected in a total amount sufficient to recover the capital costs and annual operation and maintenance costs, respectively, of the treatment plant and disposal system. The capital and user charges for such residential and commercial connections are contained in Schedule A. Each industrial unit of service shall be subject to appropriate metering and monitoring of water or wastewater flows. The capital charge and user charge for each industrial connection are contained in Schedule B. Under no circumstances shall variable charge rates to an industrial connection be less than the variable charge rates imposed under Schedule A for residential and commercial connections.
(c) An industrial pretreatment charge is hereby imposed upon all industrial units of service subject to national and local industrial pretreatment standards. The industrial pretreatment charge shall be in the amount necessary to recover the administrative and equipment costs associated with permitting and monitoring the discharge of industrial wastewater into the treatment system. The costs of laboratory analysis of wastewater constituents shall be borne by each individual unit of service, respectively. Annual charges for participation in the industrial pretreatment program are contained in Schedule C.
(d) All properties having impervious area within the City of Lakewood will be assigned an Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) or a multiple thereof, with all properties having any impervious area receiving at least one ERU as follows:
(1) All residential properties, as defined in Section 902.02(v), will be assigned one ERU. A flat rate will apply to all residential properties.
(2) All non-residential properties, as defined in Section 902.02(0), will be assigned an ERU multiple based upon the properties' individually measured impervious area (in square feet) divided by 2,800 square feet (one ERU) but in no event less than one ERU. This division will be calculated to the first decimal place and rounded according to mathematical convention.
(Ord. 24-2021. Passed 7-19-21.)
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