(A) Any person violating any provision of this chapter for which no specific penalty is prescribed shall be subject to § 10.99 of this code of ordinances.
(B) As is provided by statute, all rates and charges not paid when due are hereby declared to be delinquent and a penalty of 10% of the rates or charges shall thereupon attach thereto. The time at which such rates or charges shall be paid is now fixed at 20 days after the date of mailing of the bill.
(Prior Code, §§ 10-2-4, 10-6-1)
(C) (1) Any discharger who is found to have violated an order of the Town Council or who has failed to comply with any provision of §§ 52.15 through 52.37 of this code, and the regulations or rules of the Town Council, or orders of any court of competent jurisdiction may be subjected to the imposition of a civil penalty. Permit violations will trigger civil penalties. The civil penalties can amount to as much as $1,000 per day per each violation by IUs of pretreatment standards and requirements.
(2) Any discharger violating any of the provisions of §§ 52.15 through 52.37 of this code or who discharges or causes a discharge producing a deposit or obstruction, or causes damage to or impairs the town’s or the authority’s wastewater disposal system shall be liable to the authority and the town for any expense, loss or damage caused by such violation or discharge. The authority and the town shall bill the discharger for the costs incurred by the authority and the town for any cleaning, repair or replacement work caused by the violation or discharge. Refusal to pay the assessed costs shall constitute a violation of §§ 52.15 through 52.37 of this code enforceable under the provisions of this penalty section. Civil/criminal penalties may be assessed in the amount of $1,000 per day per violation.
(3) Any person who knowingly makes any false statement, representation or certification in any application, record, plan or other document filed or required to be maintained pursuant to §§ 52.15 through 52.37 of this code, or who falsified, tampers with or knowingly renders inaccurate any monitoring device or method required under §§ 52.15 through 52.37 of this code shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 per violation per day or imprisonment for not more than one year or both.
(4) (a) In addition to divisions (C)(1), (C)(2) and (C)(3) above, as well as any other legal proceeding detailed in §§ 52.15 through 52.37 of this code a surcharge and/or daily violation charges may be imposed when in the opinion of the Town Council the violation is a reoccurring problem that for inadequate reasons are not being reduced or stopped by the discharger. These surcharges and/or daily violation charges may be imposed separately or together or including any other violation measure imposed on the discharger depending on the severity of the violation as indicated from the discharger’s wastestream.
(b) The following table gives the surcharge levels for any constituent found that is regulated by EPA, state or local limitations, and the charge shall be based on the excess pounds over the limitation set by the discharger’s permit:
Parameter | Charge/Pound |
Parameter | Charge/Pound |
Ammonia: N | $0.83 |
Biological oxygen demand | $0.260 |
Chemical oxygen demand | $0.124 |
Metals | $0.34 |
Organics | $0.45 |
Phosphorus: P | $1.22 |
Suspended solids | $0.132 |
All other | $0.113 |
(c) It shall be at the discretion of the authority as to how the surcharge be imposed either against daily maximum limits or monthly average limits.
(d) The daily violation charge shall be imposed when in the opinion of the authority the violation is severe enough to cause the POTW to be in violation of its own permit or any extreme condition that may cause a threat to life, property or the environment. The charge shall be set according to the concentration of the constituent that is greater than the limitation either on a daily maximum or monthly average. The calculation will be the tested concentration divided by the limit concentration times $100. The daily violation charge shall be limited to no less than $100 per day per violation and no more than $1,000 per day per violation.
(5) In addition to the penalty in division (C)(2) above, any costs incurred by the town through fines from the local, state or federal agencies will be prorated back to the involved industries. The pretreatment office will determine the prorated cost to those industries that indicated violations of their own permit, for the metals or organics that caused the POTW violation of its NPDES permit. The POTW violations caused by interference, pass through or process upset will be considered in the prorated determination. The total violation cost for each industry will be billed along with the regular pretreatment/sewer collection billing methods.
(Ord. 148, passed 5-6-1977; Ord. 2015-6-1, passed 7-13-2015)