(A) Upon failure of any customer to pay any part of a utility bill for any utility services by the due date on the bill, the following actions and penalties may result.
(1) A 10% penalty of all amount owing on a utility bill is added to any utility bill which is not paid by the fifteenth of the month, if the fifteenth falls on a town’s holiday or a weekend the next day will not be considered delinquent.
(2) If the bill remains unpaid as of ten days after the due date on the bill, then the following actions may result.
(a) The authorized agents of the town may disconnect or discontinue any or all utility services to the customer after mailing written notice to the customer of the intent of the town to disconnect or discontinue any or all of the utility services.
(b) The authorized agents of the town, upon direction of the town’s Board of Trustees, may discontinue to furnish water or electric to any customer refusing or neglecting to pay all or any part of a utility bill submitted after mailing written notice to the customer of the intent of the town to disconnect the water or electricity service.
(3) If any utility service is discontinued or disconnected pursuant to this section, the town, or its agents, shall not reconnect or reestablish the service until the full amount of any outstanding utility service bill is paid, plus the penalty provided in this section, plus any applicable charges or expenses in reconnecting or reestablishing the service.
(B) If town personnel goes to the premises to shut off the service and the occupant pays the town personnel prior to his, her, or their shutting off the service, there shall be added to the bill a sum for the trip made by the town personnel to shut off such services. All bills, penalties and fees collected as herein above specified shall be paid over to the Town Clerk-Treasurer. Nothing herein shall be construed as preventing the town from instituting suit for the recovery of any delinquent accounts.
(C) The Town Clerk-Treasurer may not accept payment of a water or electric bill without payment of the sewer service charge, nor shall the Clerk-Treasurer accept payment of a sewer bill without payment of the water or electric bill. The failure to pay any utility bill in accordance with divisions (A) and (B) above shall be grounds for discontinuing any or all of the utility services furnished to the customer whose bill is delinquent.
(Prior Code, § 17-103) (Ord. passed 5-17-1993)