(a) The city shall charge a fee for each check returned for nonpayment for any reason, including but not limited to insufficient funds, payment stopped, or closed account.
(b) The director shall, on a periodic basis, determine the city's administrative costs for processing checks returned for nonpayment, and set the dishonored check fee at the amount necessary to recover these costs; EXCEPT THAT the dishonored check fee shall not exceed the amount that may be charged and collected pursuant to A.R.S. § 44-6852 or any successor state statute. The fee set by the director shall apply to any check returned for nonpayment to the city.
(c) Interest shall accrue on the dishonored check fee at rates to be determined and applied as established by the director subject to the direction of the city manager.
(d) Notwithstanding subsection (a) above, the director shall waive the dishonored check fee authorized by this section when the director, in that officer's sole discretion, determines that any of the following circumstances exist:
(1) The financial institution of the person to whom the fee would otherwise be charged has provided the director with adequate written documentation showing that the financial institution made an error which caused the person's check to be returned for nonpayment.
(2) The city, or the city's financial institution, has made an error which caused the check to be returned for nonpayment.
(3) The person to whom the fee would otherwise be charged has been the victim of crime, as documented in a police report made at or near the time of the crime and provided by the person to the director, and has satisfactorily demonstrated that the crime resulted in, or had as a consequence, the check's return for nonpayment.
(e) The dishonored check fee authorized by this section, and any interest accruing thereon, shall be in addition to any other rights and remedies available to the city.
(Ord. 11524, § 1, 2-6-18)