[Adopted 6-30-1986 by Ord. No. 94]
Unless the context specifically and clearly
indicates otherwise, the meanings of terms used in this article shall
be as follows:
Any room, group of rooms, house trailer or other enclosure
occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters by
a family or other group of persons living together or by persons living
alone.
Any property upon which there is erected a structure intended
for continuous or periodic cohabitation, occupancy or use by human
beings or animals and from which structure sanitary sewage shall or
may be discharged.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any improved property.
Any individual, partnership, company, association, society,
corporation or other group or entity.
Normal water-carried household and toilet waste from any
improved property.
All facilities, as of any particular time, for collecting,
pumping and disposing of sanitary sewage owned by the Township in
those areas of Worcester Township where improved properties are connected
to the sewer system.
Uniform sewer rates and charges are hereby imposed
upon and shall be collected from the owner of each improved property
which shall be connected to the sewer system for the use of the sewer
system whether such use shall be direct or indirect, and for services
rendered by Worcester Township in connection therewith, which sewer
rates and charges shall commence and shall be effective as of the
date of this article, or the date of connection of each new improved
property to the sewer system, and shall be payable as provided herein,
in accordance with the following uniform schedule of rates and classification.
A.
The rate for each private dwelling unit shall be $418
per annum payable at a rate of $104.50 per quarter effective January
1, 2014; $459.80 per annum payable at a rate of $114.95 per quarter
effective January 1, 2015; and $505.80 per annum payable at a rate
of $126.45 per quarter effective January 1, 2016. Each dwelling unit
in a double house or a row of connecting houses or in an apartment
building shall be billed as a separate entity. If two or more families
use separate cooking and/or toilet facilities in an improved property,
the sewer rate payable hereunder shall be computed as though each
such family was a separate use with a separate connection to the sewer.
If two or more dwelling units are connected to the sewer system through
a single lateral, the sewer rates and charges payable hereunder shall
be computed as though each such dwelling unit were a separate improved
property or user with a separate connection to the sewer system.
[Amended 8-21-1991 by Ord. No. 121; 12-21-2011 by Ord. No.
233; 12-19-2012 by Ord. No. 240; 12-18-2013 by Ord. No. 247]
B.
Additional classifications and sewer rates and charges
or modifications of the rates and charges specified herein may be
established by the Township from time to time as deemed necessary.
C.
Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prohibit
the Township from entering into separate agreements with owners with
respect to sewer rates and charges to be imposed in those cases where,
due to unusual circumstances, the sewer rates and charges set forth
herein shall be deemed by the Township to be unfair or inequitable.
In addition, the Township may assess a fee for the actual volume discharge
to the sewer system for properties at which stormwater infiltrates
sewer system, and after giving the property owner written notice to
correct the condition, and after the property owner has failed to
correct the condition within 90 days of said notice.
[Amended 5-19-2021 by Ord. No. 284]
A.
Bills for the sewer rates and charges specified herein
shall be rendered in calendar quarters on the first days of January,
April, July and October, respectively, in each year, or on such other
dates as the Township shall specify, and shall cover a quarterly billing
period consisting of the immediately preceding three complete calendar
months. Owners of improved properties connected to the sewer system
during any calendar quarter shall pay pro rata sewer rates and charges
for the balance of the calendar quarter.
B.
The sewer rates and charges authorized hereby shall be due and payable on the applicable billing date as provided in Subsection A of this section, and the appropriate amount computed in accordance with this article shall constitute the net bill. If sewer rates and charges are not paid within 30 calendar days after each billing date, an additional sum of 10% shall be added to such net bill, which net bill, plus such additional sum, shall constitute the gross bill. Payment made or mailed and postmarked on or before the first day of the end of such thirty-calendar-day period shall constitute payment within such period. If the end of such thirty-calendar-day period shall fall on a legal holiday or a Saturday or Sunday, payment made or mailed and postmarked on the next succeeding day which is not a legal holiday shall constitute payment within such period. Any bill not paid within said thirty-calendar-day period shall be deemed delinquent.
C.
Every owner of improved property which is connected
to the sewer system shall provide the Township with and thereafter
keep the Township advised of its correct address. Failure of any person
to receive bills for sewer rates and charges shall not be considered
an excuse for nonpayment, nor shall such failure result in an extension
of the period of time during which the net bill shall be payable.
A.
The sewer rates and charges imposed by this article
shall be a lien upon the improved property connected to and served
by the sewer system; and any such sewer rates and charges which are
delinquent shall be filed as a lien against the improved property
so connected to and served by the sewer system, which lien shall be
filed in the office of the Prothonotary of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania,
and shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the filing
and collecting of municipal claims.
The Township reserves the right to adopt, from
time to time, such additional rules and regulations as it shall deem
necessary and proper in connection with the use and operation of the
sewer system, which rules and regulation shall be, shall become and
shall be construed as part of this article.
