92.03 RATES OUTSIDE THE CITY.

Water service shall be provided to any customer located outside the corporate limits of the City which the City has agreed to serve at the same rates provided in Section 92.02. No such customer, however, will be served unless the customer shall have signed a service contract agreeing to be bound by the ordinances, rules and regulations applying to water service established by the Council.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 364.4 & 384.84)

92.04 BILLING FOR WATER SERVICE.

Water service shall be billed as part of a combined service account, payable in accordance with the following:

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 384.84)

1.   Bills Issued. The Clerk shall prepare and issue bills for combined service accounts on or before the first day of each month.

2.   Bills Payable. Bills for combined service accounts shall be due and payable at the office of the Clerk by the fifteenth (15th) day of each month.

3.   Administrative Charge. Bills not paid when due shall be considered delinquent. An administrative charge of ten dollars ($10.00) shall be added to each delinquent bill. The administrative charge shall be waived one time per year for each customer.

4.   Adjustments. No adjustments shall be made for any discrepancies found in any utility billing after one year from the date of billing.

92.05 DISCONTINUANCE OF SERVICE.

1.   If the delinquent bill is not paid by the twentieth (20th) of the month in which due, a final reminder notice will be issued to the customer in whose name the delinquent charges were incurred. The reminder notice shall specify that the date of discontinuance of service will be the tenth (10th) of the following month and afford the customer an opportunity to request a hearing within four (4) days from the date of the notice.

   On the 7th day of the month following a final reminder notice as provided for herein, the City of Mt. Vernon may, in its sole discretion, place a door hanger or other reminder in similar form at the address of any customer with a delinquent water service bill. A charge of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) will be assessed against the customer for the second occurrence in any calendar year and any subsequent occurrence in that year. The reminder will remind the customer that water service will be discontinued on the 10th of that same month if the water service bill is not paid. The charge will be added to the following month's water service bill and shall be a lien on the property if not paid per Section 92.06. The door hanger or other similar reminder is not required as a condition to discontinue service and the failure of the City to provide a door hanger or other similar reminder is not a defense to discontinuance of service.

2.   A fifty dollar ($50.00) administrative fee shall be charged for turning water back on after a disconnect. The administrative fee shall apply to reconnects during normal business hours, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). If the reconnect is asked for after these hours, or during a holiday, an additional administrative fee shall be charged commensurate with the hourly rate paid to the City employee for overtime hour charges incurred.

3.   A hearing on discontinuance of service will be conducted in accordance with procedures established by the City Administrator.

4.   In addition to discontinuance of service, the City may initiate outside collection efforts of delinquent accounts and reserves the right to use all other legal remedies for collection of delinquent accounts.

5.   IIf a delinquent amount is owed by an account holder for a utility service associated with a prior property or premises, the City may withhold service from such account holder at any new property or premises until such time as the account holder pays the delinquent amount owed.

92.06 LIEN FOR NONPAYMENT.

The owner of the premises served and any lessee or tenant thereof shall be jointly and severally liable for water service charges to the premises.

1.    Water service charges remaining unpaid and delinquent shall constitute a lien upon the premises served and shall be certified by the Clerk to the County Treasurer for collection in the same manner as property taxes.

2.    For the purposes of this chapter, a buyer of property as equitable title holder on contract shall be considered the owner of the premises. When the contract seller as legal title holder forecloses on the contract, the contract seller and the contract buyer are both considered owners of the premises and shall be jointly and severally liable for water service charges to the premises incurred prior to the foreclosure.

92.07 LIEN EXEMPTION.

The lien for nonpayment shall not apply to a residential rental property where water service is separately metered and the rates or charges for the water service are paid directly to the City by the tenant, if the landlord gives written notice to the City that the property is residential rental property and that the tenant is liable for the rates or charges. The City may require a deposit not exceeding the usual cost of ninety (90) days of water service be paid to the City. The landlord's written notice shall contain the name of the tenant responsible for charges, the address of the rental property and the date of occupancy. A change in tenant shall require a new written notice to be given to the City within thirty (30) business days of the change in tenant. When the tenant moves from the rental property, the City shall refund the deposit if the water service charges are paid in full. A change in the ownership of the residential rental property shall require written notice of such change to be given to the City within ten (10) business days of the completion of the change of ownership. The lien exemption does not apply to delinquent charges for repairs to a water service.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 384.84)

92.08 LIEN NOTICE.

A lien for delinquent water service charges shall not be certified to the County Treasurer unless prior written notice of intent to certify a lien is given to the customer in whose name the delinquent charges were incurred. If the customer is a tenant and if the owner or landlord of the property has made a written request for notice, the notice shall also be given to the owner or landlord. The notice shall be sent to the appropriate persons by ordinary mail not less than thirty (30) days prior to certification of the lien to the County Treasurer.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 384.84)

92.09 CUSTOMER DEPOSITS.

There shall be required from every customer not the owner of the premises served a one hundred dollar ($100.00) deposit intended to guarantee the payment of bills for service. The original amount of the deposit will be refunded to the customer or credited to the customer's account after twenty-four (24) months of continued service so long as during this twenty-four (24) month period there has been no notice of delinquency sent to the customer. This requirement shall not be enforced against prior owners of homes in Mount Vernon who move from their homes (in Mount Vernon) to an apartment or other residence that would normally require a deposit, as long as during the previous twenty-four (24) months of continuous service there had been no notice of delinquency sent.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 384.84)

92.10 FEE FOR REQUESTED SHUT OFF.

Except in the event of an emergency, or during normal working hours, there shall be a fee charged, in an amount to be determined by the City, for turning off water at the curb stop at the customer’s request.