(A) Termination of service procedures.
(1) Pursuant to I.C. 36-9-25, the town, by and through its Town Council, may order the termination of water service to a sewer service address on account of non-payment of a delinquent amount, which is not less than 30 days delinquent. When so ordered, the water utility shall terminate the service in accordance with the terms of its agreement with the town.
(2) The fee for terminating services shall be a minimum of $45, and shall not exceed $490, based on the size of the water meter and as set forth in the town’s contract with Citizens Energy Group, which shall include charges assessed against the town by the water utility for effecting the termination. The fee for terminating commercial and industrial services shall be determined in an agreement between the town and the water company. These disconnect fees shall be assessed against the customer and added to the sewer delinquent bill.
(3) The town may not terminate water service under this section, if the County Health Department has found and certified to the town that the termination of water service will endanger the health of the user and others in the municipality.
(4) (a) Prior to the termination of water service because of sewer user fee delinquency, the town, or its designated representative, must first give notice of the delinquency and impending termination at least 10 calendar days prior to the proposed termination, by first class mail, addressed to the user to whom the service is billed, which notice shall contain the following:
1. The delinquent amount due, together with any penalty and fees;
2. The date of the notice of termination;
3. The date on or after which termination shall be made;
4. Notice that water service may be disconnected if, prior to the earliest possible date of termination given in the notice, the user does not pay the delinquency, together with any penalty and fees, or disputes the amount, or makes other provisions for payment pursuant to this section; and
5. A procedure, as provided in division (A)(4)(b) below for resolving a disputed bill.
(b) The town Clerk-Treasurer shall serve as the account review officer (ARO) to review and resolve disputes. Before the earliest possible date of termination of water service as specified in the notice, a user may request a hearing before the ARO to dispute the correctness of all or part of the amount(s) shown in accordance with the provisions of this division (A). A user shall not be entitled to dispute the correctness of all or part of an amount(s) if all or part of the amount(s) was the subject of a previous dispute under this division (A).
(5) The procedure for a hearing on a user dispute shall be as follows.
(a) Before the earliest possible date of termination as specified on the notice of termination, the user shall notify the ARO in writing that he or she requests a hearing to dispute the correctness of all or part of the amounts shown on the notice of termination, stating as completely as possible the basis for the dispute.
(b) An informal hearing before the ARO shall be held within 15 days of the ARO’s receipt of the user’s written request for a hearing on a disputed bill.
(c) At the hearing, the user shall be entitled to present all evidence that is, in the ARO’s view, relevant and material to the dispute.
(d) Based on the evidence presented at the hearing, the ARO, within ten days of the completion of the hearing, shall issue a written decision formally resolving the dispute.
(6) The ARO shall be authorized to resolve any disputed sewage bill and shall be authorized to order the termination of water service under appropriate circumstances.
(a) Upon approval by the ARO, the user may enter into an agreement to amortize the unpaid balance of his or her account over a reasonable period of time, not to exceed six months.
(b) No termination shall be effected for any user complying with any amortization agreement, provided the user also keeps current his or her account for sewer service as charges accrue in each subsequent billing period.
(c) If a user fails to comply with an amortization agreement, the ARO may terminate water service, provided written notice is given to the user at least 48 hours prior to the termination, and the notice includes conditions the user is required to meet to avoid termination.
(7) Utilization of this hearing procedure shall not relieve a user of the obligation to timely and completely pay all other undisputed water and sewer bills or charges. Failure to timely and completely pay all the undisputed amounts shall subject the user to termination of service in accordance with the provisions of this division (A).
(8) Until the date of the ARO’s decision, the town shall not terminate water service of the user. If the ARO determines that the customer must pay some or all of disputed amount(s), the Department, or ARO in his or her written decision, shall notify the user of the following:
(a) The amount to be paid;
(b) The date on or after which services will be terminated; and
(c) Notice that unless the town receives complete payment of the amount shown prior to the earliest possible date of termination given in the notice, water service shall be terminated.
(9) A
USER, for the purpose of this section, is defined as:
(a) A person who requests, either orally or in writing, water and/or sewage service from the town or water utilities; and/or
(b) A person in whose name water and/or sewage service is billed for the rendering of the service.
(B) Termination of services not exclusive remedy. The remedy provided herein for the collection of delinquent sewer user charges or benefits shall not be construed to abridge or in any manner interfere with the right and power of the town to enforce a collection thereof by any other action or as otherwise provided by statute.
(C) Procedure.
(1) As used in this section, the term
FINAL ACCOUNT shall have the following meaning: a closed account for which sewer service is no longer being provided to the customer at that service location.
(2) The town shall prepare a annual schedule of sewer user final accounts which it has determined to be uncollectible. The schedule shall consist of the following:
(a) For bills becoming due prior to July 1, 2001, a certified list of all sewer user final accounts for which the outstanding fees and penalties together are $200 or less and which are at least 120 days delinquent and which are not subject to liens under I.C. 36-9-23-31 or I.C. 36-9-25-11 and which the town has determined to be uncollectible;
(b) For bills becoming due after July 1, 2001, a certified list of all sewer user final accounts for which the fees and penalties together are $200 or less and which are at least 120 days delinquent and which are not subject to liens under I.C. 36-9-23-31 or I.C. 36-9-25-11 and which the town has determined to be uncollectible;
(c) A statement setting forth the efforts that have been made to collect the accounts and a statement that all those efforts have been unsuccessful; and
(d) A statement, including the reasons therefor, that the town believes it is economically not feasible to pursue collection measures on the accounts.
(3) The annual schedule shall be submitted to the Town Council, which by resolution may declare accounts listed in the schedule as uncollectible and may authorize the town to cease further collection procedures and expense the amounts outstanding on the accounts as bad debts.
(4) The annual schedule shall be prepared by the town and approved by the resolution of the Sewer Board prior to being forwarded to the Town Council for final approval. A sewer user account may be deemed uncollectible only if approved by the Council and the Board.
(D) Conformance. The Sewer Board for the town shall enter into agreements with all utilities providing water service to the citizens of the town in conformance with the terms of this section.
(Ord. 071001B, passed 9-11-2001; Ord. 121316C, passed 1-10-2017; Ord. 050917B, passed 5-9-2017)