(A) Fees. Except where prohibited by law and as specified in division (B) of this section, the Office of the Agricultural Commissioner and Office of the Sealer of Weights and Measures (Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer) shall charge a fee for the following services rendered by the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer:
(1) Issuance of quarantine, seed samples, certified producer and farmer’s market certificates and similar activities;
(2) Registration of licensed pesticide users and farm labor contractors;
(3) Annual commercial weighing and measuring device registration;
(4) Non-commercial and commercial weighing and measuring device testing-owner/user registration;
(5) Activities of a specialized nature and/or services provided by employees of the Agricultural Commissioner or Sealer of Weights and Measures outside their normal working hours;
(6) Annual utility meter inspection at mobile home parks, recreational vehicle parks and apartment complexes and registration at locations where utilities are submetered;
(7) Rodenticide/other pesticides sold at actual cost per formula in master schedule;
(8) Fees charged for copies of releasable information;
(9) Registration and inspection of automated point-of-sale stations (scanners); and
(10) Other activities for which the law authorizes costs to be recovered.
(B) Board authorization. The Board of Supervisors may set a fee, by resolution from time to time, for activities specified in division (A) of this section. The Board shall specify in the resolution the particular services for which a fee may be levied. The Board shall also, in the resolution, identify the amount of the costs that shall be charged.
(C) Basis for fees. The fee shall be based on the approximate cost of rendering the service. The fee may include, without limitation, an approximate allocation of overhead and the reimbursement for actual expenses incurred by the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer. The fee shall be paid by the person requesting the service or by that person’s successor in interest. The person owing the obligation shall be known as the “debtor”. The obligation to pay the fee and any other concomitant charges shall be referred to as the “debt”.
(D) Payment due; consequences for failure to pay. The fee for services rendered shall be due and payable at the time the services are rendered. If the fees are not paid within 30 days, the account shall be considered in arrears. If an account is in arrears, the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer shall charge the debtor interest at the legal rate. If any action is required to collect any fee in arrears, the county shall be entitled to the reasonable costs of collection of the debt owed. These costs include, without limitation, court costs and the reasonable value of legal services rendered, until such time that the debt has been paid.
(E) Definitions; interpretations. Unless this section specifies otherwise, or unless the context requires otherwise, this section shall be interpreted as consistent with the Food and Agriculture Code and the Business and Professions Code in so far as both the codes relate to the functions of the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer. The interpretation of this section as consistent the state codes includes, without limitation, resort to the state statutes for definitions of key terms used herein.
(1966 Code, § 2-8.1) (Ord. 544, § A; Ord. 777, § 2)