(A) (1) The City Council has the power and authority to fix the rates to be paid by the water consumers for the use of water from the Water Department. All such fees shall be on file for public inspection at the office of the Municipal Clerk/Treasurer.
(2) The City Clerk/Treasurer shall receive all payments from water applicants for water or water related services provided by the city. However, the owner of the property, even if not the applicant, has the ultimate responsibility for payment of water charges including payment of any arrearage still owed by tenant for any water bill.
(B) The following monthly rates or use charges or fees shall be levied against and collected from each consumer and each property served directly or indirectly by the water system of the city.
(1) Deposit. A security deposit in the amount of $100 shall be required to commence water service to any new location, whether residential, commercial, or any other specified location, where the applicant is not the owner. Said deposit shall be kept on file by the Municipal Clerk and shall be returned to the renter or tenant after one year of service if the customer is current with their account, otherwise it shall be applied against any unpaid balance owed by the renter or tenant.
(2) Single-unit residential meter; multiple-unit residential meter commercial and industrial meters; mobile home courts. Where each of the preceding units is serviced by one separate meter, the following schedule or rates or use charges or fees for consumption of municipal water is hereby set and established:
(a) A minimum base rate for all users is $26 per month. In addition to the minimum base rate, each user shall pay $1.60 for each 1,000 gallons used.
(b) Usage in excess of 100,000 gallons shall be at a rate of $1.30 for each 1,000 gallons used.
(c) Minimum charge; discounts. In no case shall the minimum charge for water service based upon the above schedule of rates, on a monthly basis as stated above, be less than $26. No discounts will be allowed.
(`77 Code, § 3-109)
(C) (1) Water bills shall be due and payable monthly at the office of the Municipal Clerk/Treasurer. The Public Works Department shall read, or cause to be read, water meters monthly between the twenty-fifth day and the thirtieth day of the month following the end of the month during which service was used.
(2) To facilitate billing and to minimize the cost of reading such meters, the Public Works Director, at his or her discretion, may order, establish, and implement an alternate system whereby one half of all meters of customers of the municipal water system would be read and billed each month, with the water usage of the remaining one half of the meters to be estimated and billed for such month based on prior usage. Those meters in which water usage was estimated in any one month would be read the following month, with appropriate adjustment or additional charge to be made to the customer’s billing for the subsequent month, based upon actual water usage for such two-month period as shown by the water meter reading.
(3) It shall be the duty of the customers of the Water Department to pay their bills in net cash. The Public Works Director shall direct the Municipal Clerk/Treasurer to charge and collect from each customer for the amount of water consumed since the last examination, together with any other credits for payment made on estimated billings as provided herein. Bills shall be billed out by the first of each month and due by the fifteenth of each month.
(4) Bills not paid by the fifteenth of each month shall be deemed late and have a late fee in the amount of $5 assessed. Bills not paid by the fifteenth, shall be deemed to be delinquent.
(5) Upon being deemed to be delinquent, as herein defined, the Municipal Clerk/Treasurer shall give a written notice to the customer of such delinquency and service may be discontinued, in accordance with the procedure set forth in § 50.03. In the event that the bill is not paid within seven days after the notice, the Municipal Clerk/Treasurer shall assess an additional fee of $50, known as a delinquent fee, to compensate the municipality for the time and energy required by city personnel to collect these accounts.
(6) In the event the water is shut off for nonpayment of any water bill, the Public Works Director may assess an additional fee, besides the above-noted late fee, hookup which will be due before water services are restored. The late fees and hookup fees shall be set by the governing body by resolution.
(`77 Code, § 3-110) (Ord. 2001-O-03, passed 2-5-01; Am. Ord. 2002-O-001, passed 2-4-02; Am. Ord. 2002-O-014, passed 7-1-2002; Am. Ord. 2004-O-010, passed 6-7-04; Am. Ord. 2009-O-008, passed 6- 1-09; Am. Ord. 2011-O-027, passed 12-5-11; Am. Ord. 2012-O-022, passed 12-5-12; Am. Ord. 2015-O-031, passed 9-14-15; Am. Ord. 2017-O-006, passed 5-1-17; Am. Ord. 2018-O-013, passed 9-10-18; Am. Ord. 2019-O-005, passed 5-6-19; Am. Ord. 2022-O-012, passed 10-3-22)