(A) Customer accepts service. The rates, rules and regulations contained in this chapter shall constitute and be considered a part of the contract with every person, company or corporation who is supplied with water and sewer services from the waterworks and sewerage system and every person, company or corporation, hereinafter called a “customer,” who accepts and uses village water and sewer services shall be held to have consented to be bound thereby.
(B) Not liable for interrupted service. The Department shall endeavor, at all times, to provide a regular and uninterrupted supply of service, but in case the supply of service shall be interrupted or irregular or defective, or fail from causes beyond its control, or through ordinary negligence of employees, servants or agents, the Department shall not be liable therefor.
(C) Using services without paying. Any person using utility services from the village without paying therefor or who shall be found guilty of breaking the seal of any meter or appurtenances or bypass any meter, shall be guilty of violating this code and, upon conviction, shall be fined a sum as provided in § 10.99.
(D) Destroying property. No person shall access a meter pit other than Village of Maryville personnel. Any person found guilty of defacing, tampering, injuring or destroying, or in any manner limiting the use or availability of any meter or any property of the waterworks system and sewerage system, or erecting signs on the property of the Department without permission shall, upon conviction for the act, be find as provided in § 10.99.
(E) Service obtained by fraud. All contracts for water and sewer services must be made in the name of the head of the household, firm or corporation using the established spelling of that person’s or firm’s name. Attempts to obtain service by the use of other names, different spellings or by substituting other persons or firms will be considered a subterfuge and service will be denied. If service has been discontinued because of nonpayment of bills or any unpaid obligation and service has again been obtained through subterfuge, misrepresentation or fraud, that service will be promptly disconnected and the whole or the part of the advanced payment as may be necessary to satisfy the unpaid obligation shall be retained by the village and credited to the appropriate account.
(F) Failure to receive bill. Failure to receive a bill shall not excuse a customer from his or her obligation to pay within the time specified. Should the Department be unable to bill a customer for services used during any month, the following billing shall include the charges for services used during the unbilled month.
(G) Request to discontinue services. Services shall have been deemed to have been supplied to any property connected to the water and sewer systems during a month unless the customer notifies the village prior to the first day of the new billing month in which the services are to be discontinued.
(H) Billing; utility shut-off.
(1) (a) All bills for utility services shall be due and payable upon presentation. If a bill is not paid by the fifteenth day of the month, it shall be deemed delinquent and a penalty equal to 10% of the amount due on the current bill cycle shall be added thereto. This penalty shall be in addition to the charge heretofore established for the utility services.
(b) In the event that any check, online payment, automatic deduction, or other method of payment presented for payment of utility service is rejected or returned not paid to the village (such as for insufficient funds, account closed and the like), a charge in the amount of $20 for each check so delivered or rejected payment shall be assessed to help defray the processing costs incurred by the village.
(c) This charge will not preclude the village from pursuing any other civil or criminal remedies available by law.
(Ord. 95-13, passed 2-1-95)
(2) Any customer who fails to pay the utility bills within 20 days of presentation shall be mailed notice by the Village Water Clerk of its delinquency. The notice of delinquency shall include an amount of delinquent fees due and a calendar date that the utility services will be disconnected if the bill has not been paid. If the utility bill has not been paid within 30 days of presentation, the utility services shall be disconnected without further notice to the customer.
(3) Once utility services have been disconnected, the same shall not be again connected or used until all delinquent accounts and bills of services are paid in full, including a fee of $50 for each connection of the utility services, plus expenses incurred in the reconnecting of the utility services.
(I) Lien notice.
(1) Whenever a bill for utility services remains unpaid for 30 days after it has been rendered, the Treasurer shall file with the County Recorder of Deeds a statement of lien claim. This statement shall contain the legal description of the premises served, the amount of the unpaid bill and a notice that the municipality claims a lien for this amount to the period covered by the bill.
(2) If the consumer of utility services whose bill is unpaid is not the owner of the premises and the Treasurer has notice of this, then the notice shall be mailed to the owner of the premises if his or her address is known to the Treasurer whenever the bill remains unpaid for a period of 30 days after it has been rendered.
(3) The failure of the Treasurer to record the lien or to mail the notice or the failure of the owner to receive the notice shall not affect the right to foreclose the line for unpaid utility bills as mentioned herein.
(J) Foreclosure of lien.
(1) Property subject to a lien for unpaid utility charges shall be sold for non-payment of the same and the proceeds of the sale shall be applied to pay the charges, after deducting costs, as is the case in the foreclosure of statutory liens. The foreclosure shall be by bill-in-equity in the name of the village.
(2) The Village Attorney is hereby authorized to institute the proceedings in the name of the village in any court having jurisdiction over such matters against any property for which the bill for utility services has remained unpaid 60 days after it has been rendered.
(`92 Code, § 38-2-1) (Ord. 90-21, passed 5-16-90; Am. Ord. 2013-11, passed 6-5-13; Am. Ord. 2023-66, passed 12-6-23)