[R.O. 2009 §13.22.010; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
A. It
is determined and declared to be necessary and conductive to the protection
of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience of the City
to collect charges from all users who contribute wastewater to the
City's treatment works. The proceeds of such charges so derived will
be used for the purpose of operating, maintaining and retiring the
debt for such public wastewater treatment works.
B. This
Chapter shall have precedence over any terms or conditions of agreements
or contracts between the City and users (including industrial users,
special districts or other municipalities) which are inconsistent
with the requirements of the Clean Water Act.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.020; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning
of terms used in this Chapter shall be as follows:
BOD (DENOTING BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5)
days at twenty degrees Celsius (120°C) expressed in milligrams
per liter (mg/l).
NORMAL DOMESTIC WASTEWATER
Wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than
three hundred (300) mg/l and a suspended solids concentration of not
more than three hundred fifty (350) mg/l.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
All expenditures during the useful life of the treatment
works for materials, labor, utilities and other items which are necessary
for managing and maintaining the sewage works to achieve the capacity
and performance for which such works were designed and constructed.
REPLACEMENT
Expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories
or appurtenances which are necessary during the useful life of the
treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which
such works were designed and constructed. The term "operation
and maintenance" includes replacement.
RESIDENTIAL CONTRIBUTOR
Any contributor to the City's treatment works whose lot,
parcel of real estate or building is used for domestic dwelling purposes
only.
SHALL
Is mandatory; MAY: Is permissive.
SS (DENOTING SUSPENDED SOLIDS)
Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension
in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory
filtering.
TREATMENT WORKS
Any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling
and reclamation of municipal sewage, domestic sewage or liquid industrial
wastes. These include: intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage
collection systems, individual systems, pumping, power and other equipment
and their appurtenances, extensions improvement, remodeling, additions
and alterations thereof, elements essential to provide a reliable
recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities;
and any works, including site acquisition of the land, that will be
an integral part of the treatment process or is used for ultimate
disposal of residues resulting from such treatment or any other method
or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating
or disposing of municipal waste or industrial waste, including waste
in combined stormwater and sanitary sewer systems.
USEFUL LIFE
The estimated period during which a treatment works will
be operated.
USER CHARGE
The total wastewater service charge which is levied for all
costs of the treatment works.
WATER METER
A water volume measuring and recording device furnished and/or
installed by the Board of Municipal Utilities or furnished and/or
installed by a user and approved by the Board.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.030; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
The purpose of this Chapter is to generate adequate annual revenues
to pay costs of annual operation and maintenance including replacement
and costs associated with debt retirement of sewer revenue bonds which
the City may by ordinance designate to be paid by the user charge
system. The accounts described in this Article may be modified and
maintained in accordance with the bond ordinance, as long as the intent
of this user charge system ordinance is met.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.040; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
A. Four
(4) separate accounts shall be established by the City. The accounts
shall be referred to as:
4. Replacement Fund.
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All accounts shall be kept in a bank insured by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation.
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B. All
revenue collected as a result of this Chapter shall be deposited in
the Sewer Revenue Fund. The current expenses of the sewer system shall
be paid from month to month as a first (1st) charge against the Sewer
Revenue Fund as the expenses become due. Current expenses shall include
all reasonable and necessary costs of operating, repairing, maintaining
and insuring the sewer system, but shall exclude payments into the
Sinking Fund, Bond Reserve Fund and Replacement Fund. If a shortage
occurs in the Sewer Revenue Fund, the user charges shall be increased
to provide the revenue needed. An estimate of the annual expenses
associated with the sewer system is included in Appendix A (which
is on file in City offices). These expenses are estimates and may
change in the future.
C. Principal
and interest on the sewer revenue bond shall be paid from the Sinking
Fund. So long as any bonds thereof are outstanding, an amount equal
to one-twelfth (1/12) of the annual debt service, including principal
and interest, shall be deposited in the Sinking Fund monthly.
D. As
long as any of the principal or interest of the sewer revenue bonds
remains unpaid, at least one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per month
shall be deposited in the Bond Reserve Fund until the amount of ninety-four
thousand dollars ($94,000.00) is accumulated.
E. After
all payments and credits described above have been made and to the
extent of monies then remaining in the Sewer Revenue Fund, there will
next be paid credited to the Replacement Fund the sum of one thousand
dollars ($1,000.00) each month.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.050; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
A. Each
user shall pay for the services provided by the Board of Municipal
Utilities based on his/her use of the treatment works as determined
by water meter(s) acceptable to the Board.
1. For residential contributors, monthly user charges shall be based
on the rate per thousand gallons of metered water usage. For the billing
period consisting of meter readings taken after October first (1st)
and prior to July first (1st) the consumption as registered on the
water meter shall be the basis for determining the sewer service fee.
For the billing periods represented by the meter readings taken after
July first (1st) and prior to October first (1st), (those bills having
due dates of August twentieth (20th) and September tenth (10th) and
October tenth (10th) respectively), the sewer service fee shall be
determined by applying the applicable rate to the average water consumption
derived from the prior nine (9) months or the actual consumption whichever
is less.
a. The average water consumption shall be determined by taking the sum
of the water consumption of the number of months available and dividing
it by the number of months. The number of months available include
a maximum of the nine (9) billings prior to the July first (1st) reading
date.
b. In order for the average to be established, a consumer must be billed
for at least one (1) month's service, of which the billing period
shall not be less than thirty (30) days.
c. A consumer's average is established at each residence he/she may
occupy. An average established at one (1) residence will not be used
as a basis for billing at subsequent residences.
d. If a consumer occupies a residence during the average period (i.e.,
during the meter reading period of July first (1st) through October
first (1st), his/her sewer service fee for the first (1st) month's
billing will be based on actual water consumption for that billing
period. Any subsequent billings during the average period also will
be based on the first (1st) month's consumption.
2. For industrial and commercial contributors, user charges shall be
based on matter used during the current month. If a commercial or
industrial contributor has a consumptive use of water or in some other
manner uses water which is not returned to the wastewater collection
system, the user charge for that contributor may be based on a wastewater
meter(s) or separate water meter(s) installed and maintained at the
contributor's expense and in a manner acceptable to the Board of Municipal
Utilities.
3. Each contributor shall pay a basic user charge rate of ninety-two
cents ($0.92) per one thousand (1,000) gallons of water (or wastewater)
as determined in the preceding Section. Refer to Appendix A (which
is on file in the City offices) for details on rate and charge computations.
4. Commercial or industrial users shall be subject to an excessive strength
charge in addition to the basic sewer service charge when the BOD
or SS concentrations of a discharge exceeds three hundred (300) milligrams
per liter (mg/L). All analyses shall be performed on composite samples
collected over a twenty-four (24) hour period.
[Ord. No. 6213, 1-4-2021]
The excess strength charge shall be based upon the volume of
wastewater and a wastewater strength factor. The wastewater strength
is measured by the degree of organic pollution in the wastewater;
the higher the strength, the more treatment costs the City.
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The wastewater strength factor shall be calculated by the differential
between the actual wastewater strength in mg/L and the allowable three
hundred (300) mg/L all divided by three hundred (300) mg/L rounded
up to the nearest whole number.
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This strength factor is then multiplied by the following average
treatment costs for a final excessive strength charge:
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a. Forty-nine cents ($0.49) for each pound of excess BOD; and
b. Seven cents ($0.07) for each pound of excess SS.
These surcharge calculations may be revised annually based upon
the previous fiscal year's wastewater treatment costs.
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[R.O. 2009 §13.22.060; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
A. The
Board of Municipal Utilities shall conduct sampling and analytical
testing of the discharge from commercial and industrial wastewater
producers in the City for the purpose of determining excessive strength
charges. The monitoring shall be done on a monthly basis for those
commercial and industrial entities that have exhibited excessive strength
discharges in any of the three (3) previous months. The monitoring
frequency for users without excessive strength discharge for three
(3) months will restore the normal frequency established in the pretreatment
Chapter.
B. Extra
strength charges will be assessed at the normal billing time for water
and wastewater. The BOD and SS values used in the above formula shall
be those observed during the applicable water and wastewater billing
period.
C. In
addition to the basic sewer service charge and any excessive strength
charge, the Board of Municipal Utilities shall charge all monitored
users the actual cost incurred for composite sampling and analytical
testing of that user's discharge during the current billing period.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.070; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
Any user which discharges any toxic pollutants which cause an
increase in the cost of managing the effluent or the sludge from the
City's treatment works or any user which discharges any substance
which singly or by interaction with other substances causes identifiable
increases in the cost of operation, maintenance or replacement of
the treatment works shall pay for such increased costs. The charge
to each such user shall be as determined by the responsible plant
operating personnel and approved by the Board of Municipal Utilities.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.080; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
The user charge rates established in this Article apply to all
users, regardless of their location of the City's treatment works.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.090; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
A. All
users shall be billed monthly. Under normal circumstances all bills
shall be mailed the last working day of the month and bear a due date
of the tenth (10th) of the month following the month in which they
were mailed.
B. Twenty
(20) days after the date the bills are mailed, a five percent (5%)
late payment shall be assessed on the outstanding balance of the user
charge. Any bill not paid on or before the date the late penalty is
assessed shall have its water and/or sewer service discontinued until
such bill is paid.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.100; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
The Board of Municipal Utilities will review the user charge
system as it deems necessary and revise user charge rates as necessary
to ensure that the system generates adequate revenues to pay all costs
and that the system continues to provide for the proportional distribution
of costs among users and user classes.
[R.O. 2009 §13.22.110; Ord. No. 4719 §3, 3-6-1989]
The Board of Municipal Utilities will notify each user at least
annually in conjunction with a regular bill of the rate being charged.