(A) The Commission shall provide by ordinance for the collection of rates and charges for public utility services furnished by the City. Except as provided by law, when any person fails or refuses to pay the City any sums due on utility bills, the service for which the delinquency exists may be discontinued and a suit may be brought for the collection of the sums due.
(B) Except as otherwise provided by law, the City shall have a lien upon the property to which utility services were supplied as a security for the collection of all charges for utility services furnished by the City. The lien shall become effective immediately on the distribution or supplying of utilities to such property.
(C) Except as otherwise provided by law, all unpaid charges for utility services to any such property, which on March 1st of each year have been unpaid for a period of three (3) months or more, shall be reported to the Commission by the City Manager at the first meeting in March. The Commission thereupon shall order the publication in a local newspaper of general circulation in the City of a notice that all unpaid utility charges not paid by April 15th will be assessed upon the City tax roll against the property to which the utility services were supplied or furnished. Thereafter, if these charges remain unpaid by April 15th, they shall be spread upon the City tax roll and shall be collected in the same manner as the summer taxes. In other words, unpaid charges for utility services provided by the City, if they remain unpaid, will become a lien on the property until paid, even if title to the property is transferred.
(Charter effective 1-1-77; Amendment effective 11-5-02)