(a) Surcharge. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, there is hereby imposed a monthly sanitation surcharge per active utility billing account for all residential and nonresidential uses, to be collected monthly. Such surcharge shall be in an amount established by City Council in the City's Fee Schedule, Appendix A
to the City Government Code.
(b) Purpose. All surcharges imposed and collected shall be used for sanitation items that benefit the City as a whole including, but not limited to, landfill monitoring and maintenance, abatement of nuisances, and the securing and/or demolition of dilapidated or unsafe structures.
(c) Annual Increase.
(1) Beginning January 1, 2026, the sanitation surcharge shall be subject to an annual increase equal to the percentage obtained by averaging the national inflation rates from the United States Labor Department, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the previous three (3) years. This increase shall be referred to as the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). The new sanitation surcharge will be established annually by adding the COLA to the existing sanitation surcharge rate. The Finance Director is hereby authorized to update the City's Fee Schedule, Appendix A of the City Government Code, to reflect the yearly COLA increase.
(2) The Finance Director may, no later than February 1st, recommend to City Council the waiver of all or any part of the yearly COLA increase, and such recommendation may be for one year or multiple years. Upon such recommendation by the Finance Director, City Council may, by resolution, waive all or any part of the proposed COLA increase for one year or multiple years.
(3) If City Council takes no action to waive all or any part of the proposed COLA increase, in accordance with division (c)(2) of this section, the yearly COLA increase shall be implemented by the Finance Director no later than March 1st of that year.
(d) Joint and Several Liability. In the event the owner and occupants of a particular commercial or industrial property are not the same, the liability for each owner and occupant for the sanitation surcharge attributable to that property shall be joint and several.
(Ord. 89-86. Adopted 09/23/89; Ord. 16-32. Adopted 06/23/16; Ord. 2023-38. Adopted 12/28/23; Em. Ord. 2024-01. Adopted 02/08/24; Ord. 2024-02. Adopted 02/22/24)