(A) Rates established. All users of the system, including, but not limited to, institutional and governmental users, shall be charged a monthly usage charge for each month of the year. The following are hereby fixed as the fair, proportional and reasonable rates for sewer service charges, based on the water supplied to each user by the municipal waterworks system as shown by the water meter readings for the month of January for each calendar year. If a user does not receive water from the municipal waterworks system or otherwise lacks a water meter, that user’s charges shall be based upon readings shown by a sewage flow meter acceptable to the Director of Public Safety and Service. If a user directly or indirectly discharges industrial waste into the system, and the Director of Public Safety and Service finds it impractical to measure such waste by meter, then such waste shall be determined in accordance with accepted engineering practice and in conditions and attendant circumstances of the case. The rates hereinafter set forth shall be effective on February 1, 2017.
(1) The minimum monthly sewer service charge shall be based upon the rate schedule in § 51.08. The monthly charges shall apply to each separate dwelling unit in a multi-unit complex, such as an apartment building, mobile home park or condominium, whether or not separate meters are installed for each such dwelling unit.
(2) Each user shall be notified at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate and that portion of the sewer service charge which is attributable to OM&R costs of wastewater treatment services.
(B) Monthly charges. Charges for sewerage service shall be imposed each month for the calendar year. All bills shall be rendered as of the tenth day of the month next following the month for which charges are imposed, and shall be due and payable on the date of rendition thereof. The sewer charges imposed herein are gross charges. If a bill is paid within ten days after the date of billing, a net rate, which is the gross rate less 10% thereof, shall apply.
(C) Per diem. Any user whose premises are connected to the system and initially using it after the first day of any month, shall be charged at a per diem rate from the time the use of the system begins until the beginning of the next following month. The per diem rate shall be obtained by dividing the monthly minimum charge by 30 days. However, if the measured service exceeds the per diem charge, then the rate applicable to the measured service shall be charged.
(D) Separate metering. If it can be shown to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Safety and Service, with respect to any premises, that a portion of the water from any source consumed on such premises does not and cannot enter the system, then in each such case the owner or other interested party may, at his or her expense, install and maintain separate metering devices to the extent necessary to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Director the portion of the water consumed on the premises which is discharged into the system, which portion shall constitute the basis for measuring the sewerage service charge for such premises under this section, or the owner or other interested party, at his or her option, may request the Director to determine the amount of water that does not and cannot enter the system from such premises. Such determination shall be made in accordance with accepted engineering practices, shall be conclusive on the owner or other interested party and shall constitute the basis for measuring the sewerage service charge.
(E) Surcharges. When the Director of Public Safely and Service or his or her designee determines that either the total suspended solids or the BOD of a water or waste accepted for admission to the system exceeds the values allowed for normal sewage, the excess concentration in either or both, as the case may be, shall be subject to a surcharge of $0.17 for each pound of excess suspended solids per day, and $0.24 for each pound of excess BOD per day. In addition, the city may surcharge any user for the discharge of any other pollutant into the system, but this shall not obligate the city to accept any such pollutant.
(2003 Code, § 51.02) (Ord. 4160, passed 1-17-2013; Ord. 2016-142, passed 1-5-2017)