[Ord. No. 419 § 28, 3-6-1950; Ord.
No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987; Ord. No. 2184 § 3, 12-17-2001; Ord. No. 2205 § 1, 7-15-2002; Ord. No. 2867 § 2, 9-19-2016]
All electric and water meters in service in this City and vicinity and which are a part of the City's electric, water or sewerage systems shall be read on a monthly interval; except that when weather or other circumstances shall make this impractical, water and/or electricity usage may be estimated by the historic usage at the same location and an appropriate adjustment made for actual usage on the first bill after the meter reading is possible. At the end of each month the City Administrator or his designated representative shall render a statement and bill and mail or deliver it to each customer on or about the first business day of the succeeding month. Except for a customer of electric, water or sewer service who authorizes automatic payment withdrawals from the customer's bank account to pay for utility service as provided in Section 26-111.1, each customer of electric, water or sewer service is hereby required to deliver by mail or in person payment in full for the electric, water and sewer service rendered up to the last previous meter reading as per bill rendered. Such payment shall be made by the 15th day of the month the statement is delivered. Partial payments shall not be accepted except by prior arrangement with the City Administrator and under extraordinary circumstances, or unless payment is made electronically and the payment exceeds an amount established by policy resolution adopted by the Board of Alderman of the City of Centralia, Missouri.
[Ord. No. 2205 § 2, 7-15-2002; Ord. No. 2208 § 1, 8-19-2002; Ord. No. 2488 § 7, 10-05-2007]
A.
Any City utility customer which meets the requirements in this Section
may make application to the City by written authorization agreement
to authorize the City and the utility customer's bank to automatically
withdraw the customer's City utility bill amount from the customer's
bank account monthly on the tenth (10th) day of each month, to be
known as the automatic payment withdrawal program. If the tenth (10th)
day of the month is on a weekend or holiday, the automatic payment
withdrawal shall occur on the next bank business day following the
tenth (10th) day of the month. Except as provided below, the utility
customer shall have had an active utility account with the City for
at least six (6) consecutive months prior to the date of the application
without having utilities disconnected from service for non-payment
two (2) or more times within the preceding twelve (12) month period
or having a check returned for any reason including insufficient fund
within the preceding twelve (12) month period. As an alternative to
complying with the above requirement for an active utility account
with the City meeting certain conditions, the utility customer may
qualify by:
[Ord. No. 3068, 8-17-2020]
1.
Obtaining a letter of credit-worthiness from the customer's most
recent utility provider of electricity, water and sewer service, and
2.
Obtaining a credit rating for the previous twelve (12) months from
the customer's bank that is satisfactory to the City.
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At least one (1) of the authorized signers of the bank account
from which the automatic payment withdrawals are to be made shall
sign an authorization agreement, whether or not such bank account
owner is a utility customer. If completing the application for auto
payment authorization online, the customer’s submittal through
the City’s online customer account system shall be the accepted
official authorization from that customer. After the utility customer
and all at least one (1) of the bank account owners have signed written
authorization agreements and upon approval by the City Administrator
after all requirements have been met, the automatic payment withdrawals
may begin. Authorization for automatic payment withdrawals of the
customer's City utility bill amount from a bank account may be terminated
in writing at any time by the utility customer, the City, the financial
institution where the bank account is located, or any bank account
owner. The City Administrator may set additional procedures where
appropriate to implement this Section.
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B.
If an automatic payment withdrawal is returned for any reason including because of insufficient funds, the utility customer shall be notified and required to pay the monthly bill in cash or by bank check or money order. In addition, the utility customer shall pay a twenty dollar ($20.00) fee plus an amount equal to the actual charge by the financial institution to the City for the return of said unpaid automatic payment withdrawal. Further, an automatic payment withdrawal returned unpaid for any reason as specified above shall be considered a failure to pay for utility service by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month and the provisions of Section 26-112 shall be followed if payment in cash, by bank check or money order is not made by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month, including the charges provided for in this Subsection. If the utility customer's utility bill is not paid by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month, then the utility customer also shall be required to pay an additional sum amounting to five percent (5%) of the original total monthly account or charge as a penalty. The penalty amount shall be credited to the Water Fund.
C.
A utility customer which twice within a twelve (12) month period
has automatic payment withdrawals returned unpaid for any reason including
because of insufficient funds shall be removed from the automatic
payment withdrawal program for one (1) year. A utility customer which
has been removed from the automatic withdrawal program may make a
written request to be reinstated in the program beginning at least
one (1) year after removal provided that the City has received no
checks from the utility customer that have been returned for any reason
within one (1) year from the date the utility customer has requested
to be reinstated in the program.
[Ord. No. 419 § 29, 3-6-1950; Ord.
No. 934 § 2, 5-11-1970; Ord. No. 1153 § 2, 9-10-1979; Ord.
No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987; Ord. No. 2184 § 4, 12-17-2001; Ord. No. 2205 § 3, 7-15-2002; Ord. No. 3032, 11-18-2019; Ord. No. 3048, 3-16-2020]
A.
If any consumer of electric, water or sewer service shall fail, neglect
or refuse to pay, on or before the fifteenth (15th) day of the month,
the amount or charge due for such water, sewer or electrical service,
the City shall give notice of the City's intention to terminate service
in the following manner:
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"NOTICE OF POTENTIAL TERMINATION OF WATER AND/OR ELECTRIC
SERVICE"
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"You are hereby notified that your electric, water and sewer
service will be terminated if the bill amount listed on the reverse
side of this notice remains unpaid after the 24th day of the month.
If you believe the amount is not correct, you may meet with the City
Administrator or his or her designee who is available at the City
Hall of the City of Centralia, Missouri, located at 114 S. Rollins,
during regular business hours from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. each working
day, Monday through Friday, and such City Administrator or designee
is empowered to adjust customer bills in case of error. You may also
call the City Administrator at (573) 682-2139 or deliver a letter
setting forth your reasons for requesting a corrected bill to the
depository next to the front door of the City Hall. Such a request
for correction of a bill does not have any effect on the deadline
for payment set forth above."
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B.
The notice herein provided may be served on the original bill that is sent at the beginning of each month by either mailing or emailing the same to the customer at the customer's last known physical address or customer provided email address, which provides at least twenty (20) days notice before termination of service(s). If the charges due are not paid by the termination date, the City shall apply any deposit to the payment of the bill and direct the City employees to disconnect such delinquent customer's services, and such services shall be then discontinued until such customer shall have paid all bills in arrears, if any, shall have replaced the amount of the required deposit, shall have paid a disconnection fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for electric service, a disconnection fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for water service, the penalty provided in Section 26-113 of five percent (5%) of the original monthly account or charge, and the bad check liability provided in Section 26-114 (if any), and for accounts paid by automatic withdrawal payments, the fees provided for in Section 26-111.1.
[Ord. No. 419 § 22, 3-6-1950; Ord.
No. 1207 § 1, 3-28-1983; Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987; Ord.
No. 2001 § 1, 3-16-1998]
Except as provided below, every consumer of electric, water,
sewer or refuse collection service who shall fail, neglect or refuse
to pay on or before the fifteenth (15th) day of the month the account
or charge due for such electric, water, sewer or refuse collection
service shall be required to pay an additional sum amounting to five
percent (5%) of such original total monthly account or charge. The
total penalty shall be credited to the Water Fund. When the fifteenth
(15th) day of a month falls on a Sunday or a designated City holiday,
no penalty shall be assessed on any account for which the payment
is received by close of business of the next business day. No penalty
shall be assessed on any account for which payment is mailed using
the United States Postal Service and is postmarked on or before the
fifteenth (15th) of the month payment is due.
[Ord. No. 1356 § 1, 3-30-1987; Ord. No. 1820 § 1, 10-17-1994; Ord. No. 2007 § 1, 3-16-1998; Ord. No. 2032 § 1, 9-21-1998]
Any person who makes, draws, delivers or tenders to the City any check, draft or order for the payment of money upon any bank, savings and loan association, credit union or other financial institution for any purpose, including for utility service, which is dishonored or returned unpaid for any reason, including lack of funds or credit to pay or because of not having any account with the drawee, shall be charged by the City the amount of twenty dollars ($20.00), plus an amount equal to the actual charge by the depository institution to the City for the return of said unpaid or dishonored instrument. Further, a check, draft or order for utility service dishonored or returned unpaid for any reason as specified above shall be considered a failure to pay for utility service by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month and the provisions of Section 26-112 shall be followed if payment in cash is not made within two (2) days after the check, draft or order was dishonored.
