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(Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(a) The collection of the charges imposed under this article shall be under the direction, supervision, and control of the Director of Finance.
(b) The Director of Finance shall arrange for the billing and collection of, and accounting for, the charges imposed under this article through and by available facilities of the Department of Water and Power insofar as possible. The Director of the Office of Administrative and Research Services shall arrange for the payment to the Department of Water and Power of its costs of such services. To the extent the billing and collection by the Department of Water and Power is not deemed possible or practical by the Director of Finance, separate billing and collection services at reason- able intervals shall be provided by the Director of Finance.
(c) The charges imposed under this article shall be billed to and paid by the customer in whose name the electric meter serving each dwelling unit is listed upon the records of the Department of Water and Power, or, in the absence of such listing, as may be determined by the Director of Finance with the assistance of the Department of Public Works.
(d) The duty to collect the charges imposed under this article from each customer billed by the Department of Water and Power shall commence with the first billing submitted by said Department to each customer on or after the operative date of this article or as soon thereafter as administratively possible.
(e) The charges imposed under this article shall be billed by the Department of Water and Power in accordance with its regular billing practices, shall be added to and included on each applicable electric bill, as the case may be, and shall be due and payable to the City of Los Angeles through the Department of Water and Power at the time and in the manner of payment of said electric bill, and other charges made thereon.
(f) Where the Department of Water and Power does not supply electricity to a individual dwelling unit to which the City furnishes household refuse collection services, the customer liable for payment of the charges, as provided for in this article, shall be billed separately by the Director of Finance with the assistance of the Department of Public Works.
(g) All bills for the charges imposed under this article are due and payable upon presentation. Bills not paid within sixty (60) days after the date of presentation shall be deemed delinquent.
(h) Whenever the Director of Finance determines that a customer billed has deliberately withheld, failed or refused to pay all or any part or portion of the charges imposed under this article billed to said customer, or has failed to pay charges, or whenever the Director of Finance deems it to be in the best interest of the City, the Director of Finance shall serve notice on the customer billed of the customer’s delinquency.
Whenever the Director of Finance determines that a customer billed as provided for in this article has deliberately withheld, failed or refused to pay all or any part or portion of the charges imposed under this article billed to said customer by the Department of Water and Power, or has failed to pay said charges, or whenever the Director of Finance deems it to be in the best interest of the City, the Director of Finance may relieve the Department of Water and Power of any obligation it may have to bill or collect, or both, said charges from said customer billed, and assume the billing or collection, or both, thereof for the periods involved. If the Director of Finance, for whatever reason, assumes from the Department of Water and Power the direct billing or collection, or both, of the charges imposed under this article the Director of Finance may at said time so notify the customer billed and notify the customer of the customer’s delinquency, if such be the case.
The notice in either event shall be served on the customer billed by handing it to the customer personally, or by deposit in the United States mail, postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the customer billed at the address to which billing was made by the Department of Water and Power, or, if said address has been changed or the customer was not billed by the Department of Water and Power, then to the customer’s last known address. If the customer billed is delinquent and fails to pay the Director of Finance within fifteen (15) days from the date of service of the notice upon the customer which shall be the date of mailing if service is not accomplished by personal delivery, a penalty of twenty- five percent (25%) of the amount of the delinquent charges imposed under this article, but not less than $5.00, shall thereupon be imposed. The penalty shall be required to be paid in addition to all billings for the sanitation equipment charge.
(i) Whenever a payment mailed to the City is received after the time prescribed in this article for the receipt thereof, the Director of Finance or the Department of Water and Power, as the case may be, may accept proof that there had been a timely deposit thereof in the United States mail and that the no delinquency or penalty is applicable thereto.
(Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(a) The Director of Finance shall have the power and duty, and is hereby directed, to enforce all of the provisions of this article, and may make such rules and regulations as are consistent with the provisions of this article as may be necessary or desirable to aid in the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this article.
(b) For the purpose of determining the number of dwelling units contained in any building the Bureau of Sanitation may estimate the number of dwelling units contained in said building, after full consideration of all information within the Bureau’s knowledge.
(c) The Director of Finance, on behalf of and in the name of the City of Los Angeles, may enter into a written agreement, in a form approved by the City Attorney, with any customer indebted to the City pursuant to the terms of this article, obligating said customer to pay such indebtedness to the Director of Finance in monthly or more frequent installments, but in no event over a period greater than one year. In any such agreement such customer shall acknowledge the obligation owed to the City and the customer’s indebtedness thereon, shall agree that in the event of the customer’s failure to make timely payment of any installment thereof that the whole amount unpaid may be determined by the Director of Finance to be immediately due and payable, and shall agree to pay all costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred by or on behalf of the City in the collection thereof or for any legal proceeding commenced for that purpose.
(d) Whenever the amount of charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, is determined by the Department of Water and Power or by the Director of Finance to have been overpaid, paid more than once, or to have been erroneously collected or received by the City in whole or in part, the Department of Water and Power or the Director of Finance, as the case may be, may provide for correction thereof either by refund or by credit on future bills in their discretion. Any claim for such a refund or credit shall be filed with the Director of Finance by the person paying the alleged overpayment within six months of such payment.
(e) Where there is a dispute with respect to the charges or penalty imposed under this article, or both, the Director of Finance, with the written approval of the City Attorney and subject to the provisions of the Charter of the City of Los Angeles, may compromise the City’s claim for said charges or penalty, or both, where the portion of the claim proposed to be released is less than $5,000.00; and, with the approval of the City Attorney and the City Council, may compromise such a claim where the portion proposed to be released is $5,000.00 or more.
The charges imposed under this article, and any penalty thereon, shall be a civil debt owing to the City of Los Angeles from the occupants or owner, or both, of each dwelling unit receiving City household refuse collection services, or from any other customer billed as provided in this article. Any customer owing money to the City under the provisions of this article shall be liable in an action brought in the name of the City of Los Angeles in any court of competent jurisdiction for the recovery of such amount, including any penalty imposed under this article.
(Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
If the Director of Finance cannot collect the charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, or that efforts to collect any such amount would be disproportionately costly with relation to the probable outcome of the collection efforts, the Director of Finance may prepare a report setting forth their finding and the reasons therefor, and submit it to a Board of Review which shall be composed of the City Controller, the Director of Finance and the City Attorney, or the duly appointed representative of each. The Board of Review may call for additional evidence which it may deem relevant. Upon unanimous approval of a finding by the Board of Review, the Director of Finance may remove from the Director’s active accounts receivable said unpaid charges and penalty, or either of them. If the Board of Review does not unanimously recommend approval of the finding, the matter shall be returned to the Director of Finance. The Director of Finance may include in a single report their findings and supporting reasons regarding the charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, due from more than one customer. The removal from the active accounts receivable of the Director of Finance of any unpaid charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, shall not preclude the City from collecting or attempting to collect any such charges and penalty, or either of them.
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