[Added 6-18-1997 by Ord. No. 998[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided
for the repeal of former §§ 192-12 through 192-18,
consisting of specific rate provisions for residential accounts and
nonresidential accounts, as amended.
[Amended 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003]
Sewer rental or use charges shall be segregated
into three classes: residential, industrial and commercial. A residential
account shall be defined as a dwelling unit within a house, in a double
house or in a row of connecting houses. Any room, group of rooms,
mobile home, enclosure, etc., occupied or intended for occupancy as
separate living quarters for a family or other group of persons living
together or by persons living alone shall be charged as a separate
entity and included within the definition of a residential account.
Dwelling units used for purposes other than exclusively residential
purposes shall be classified as commercial accounts. An industrial
account shall be defined as an account applicable to facilities and
structures in which products or goods are manufactured or constructed
or otherwise treated or processed in order to modify the characteristics
of such products or goods. Commercial accounts shall be defined as
all accounts not otherwise classified herein as residential accounts
or industrial accounts.
[Amended 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003; 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1164]
Except as otherwise herein provided, all property
owners having a residential account shall pay a base rate of $30 per
billing cycle for up to 2,000 gallons of water used per billing cycle,
plus a surcharge of $4 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed
in excess of 2,000 gallons per billing cycle. For multiunit structures
having two to five dwelling units, inclusive, serviced by one water
meter, the owner shall pay a base rate of $52 per billing cycle for
up to 5,000 gallons of water used per billing cycle, plus a surcharge
of $4 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed in excess
of 5,000 gallons per billing cycle. For multiunit structures with
six to nine dwelling units, inclusive, serviced by one water meter,
the owner shall pay a base rate of $77 per billing cycle, plus a surcharge
of $4 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed in excess
of 5,000 gallons per billing cycle. For multiunit structures with
10 or more dwelling units, the owner shall pay a base rate of $77
plus $ 17 for each unit in excess of nine per billing cycle, plus
a surcharge of $4 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed
in excess of 5,000 gallons per billing cycle.
[Amended 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003; 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1164]
All property owners with commercial accounts
shall pay sewer rental or use charges as follows: a base rate of $52
per billing cycle for usage or consumption up to a total of 5,000
gallons of water per billing cycle; plus a surcharge of $4 per thousand
gallons or any part thereof consumed in excess of 5,000 gallons up
to 30,000 gallons per billing cycle; plus an additional surcharge
of $3.50 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed between
30,001 and 83,333 gallons per billing cycle; plus an additional surcharge
of $2.30 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed between
83,334 and 333,333 gallons per billing cycle; plus an additional surcharge
of $1.10 per thousand gallons or any part thereof for all water consumption
in excess of 333,333 gallons per billing cycle.
[Added 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003; amended 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1164]
All property owners with industrial accounts
shall pay sewer rental or use charges as follows: a base rate of $44
per billing cycle for usage or consumption up to a total of 5,000
gallons of water per billing cycle; plus a surcharge of $4 per thousand
gallons or any part thereof consumed in excess of 5,000 gallons up
to 30,000 gallons per billing cycle; plus an additional surcharge
of $3.50 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed between
30,001 and 83,333 gallons per billing cycle; plus an additional surcharge
of $2.30 per thousand gallons or any part thereof consumed between
83,334 and 333,333 gallons per billing cycle; plus an additional surcharge
of $1.10 per thousand gallons or any part thereof for all water consumption
in excess of 333,333 gallons per billing cycle.
[Amended 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1164]
Sewer rental or use rates payable by the Punxsutawney
Area School District and other educational institutions shall be $16
per capita for the nine-month school term, to be invoiced monthly
on a pro rata basis, and during the three-month summer break, the
rate payable by the school district and other educational institutions
shall conform to the commercial rates set forth herein.
[Added 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1164]
Sewer rental or use rates payable by Bell Township and Young
Township shall be $22.42 per equivalent dwelling unit ("EDU"), to
be invoiced monthly.
[Amended 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003]
A billing cycle shall be defined as a period
of time, usually approximating one month, between the customary reading
of meters or the calculation of consumption estimates. Invoices for
sewer rental or use charges shall be mailed each billing cycle based
upon water consumption as meter readings are made available to the
Borough by Pennsylvania American Water Company or otherwise. In the
event that such readings are provided on other than a monthly basis,
the Borough will invoice based upon an estimated flow in the same
manner as utilities would invoice for water, electric or natural gas
consumption, and adjustments will thereafter be made on a subsequent
billing-cycle invoice to reflect actual consumption based upon actual
readings provided to the Borough.
[Added 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003; amended 11-8-2021 by Ord. No. 1164]
Should a structure otherwise connected or required
to be connected to the Borough's sanitary sewer system reflect no
consumption or less than 100 gallons of consumption during any given
billing cycle, the owner of that property shall pay a base rate for
that billing cycle of $17, any other part or provision of this chapter
to the contrary notwithstanding.
[Amended 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003]
All sewer accounts shall be due and payable
at the face amount of the invoice on or before the due date printed
on each invoice, and payments not received within said time shall
earn interest at the maximum legal rate permitted by statute, from
time to time, together with all costs of collection. Enforcement or
collection of delinquent accounts shall be as otherwise set forth
in this part. Enforcement as to delinquent sewer accounts shall commence
when any account is 60 days past due. Enforcement shall be commenced
by means of a written notice mailed to the account holder by first
class mail, postage prepaid, at the holder's last known address. If
any account becomes 90 days delinquent, then further enforcement proceedings,
including, but not necessarily limited to, water service termination,
civil collection proceedings before the District Justice and/or the
filing of a municipal claim or lien against the premises shall be
instituted. In determining which of the available enforcement remedies
are to be utilized, consideration shall be given to cost-effectiveness
and the likelihood of prompt collection, and enforcement shall be
undertaken in accordance with the then-current requirements of law.
Should the Borough resort to the filing of a municipal claim as provided
in the Act of May 16, 1923, P.L. 207, No. 153,[1] as amended and supplemented, in addition to charges, expenses
and fees incurred, reasonable attorney fees shall be added thereto
for failure to pay promptly, and said attorney fees shall be payable
at the rate of $100 per hour for all services rendered by the Borough
Solicitor in pursuing the collection of such delinquent account.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 7106.
The owner of any building or structure which would require a connection to the public sanitary sewer system pursuant to the provisions of § 192-2 of the Code of ordinances of the Borough of Punxsutawney or similar successor legislation, water to which buildings or structures is provided by sources other than by a water utility provider such as Pennsylvania American Water Company, shall, at his own cost and expense, install a meter or similar device to measure the flow of water. The owner of any such buildings or structures shall submit meter readings to personnel of the Borough's sewer office as requested, and the Borough of Punxsutawney, through its duly authorized agents, expressly reserves the right to take readings from such meter or similar measuring device at any reasonable time and upon reasonable prior notice.
[Amended 8-10-1998 by Ord. No. 1003]
In the event that any structure otherwise required
to be connected to the Borough's sanitary sewer system is or becomes
uninhabitable, the owner of such property, following notification
to the Borough and inspection and approval by the Borough through
its designated agents, shall be permitted to disconnect such structure
from the Borough's sanitary sewer system, in which event no sewer
user or service charges shall thereafter accrue. Likewise, should
a garage, outbuilding or similar structure receive water service but
not be required to have any discharge to the Borough's sanitary sewer
system, such property shall not be subject to sewer user or service
charges. Should the owner of property permitted to be disconnected
from the system, following inspection and approval as set forth above,
thereafter desire to reconnect any structure to the Borough's sanitary
sewer system, said property owner shall, as a precondition of reconnection,
apply for a sewer permit and pay any tap-in fee as heretofore or hereafter
established in accordance with the requirements of law.
Tap-in fees shall be increased for all tapping
permits within the physical boundaries of the Borough of Punxsutawney
to the sum of $500 per tap, whether residential or commercial, and
tap-in fees for all connections outside the physical boundaries of
the Borough of Punxsutawney shall be $1,200, whether residential or
commercial.
[Amended 3-14-2022 by Ord. No. 1166]
Mobile homes in mobile home parks will be classified
as residential accounts, and mobile home park owners shall pay for
sewer rental or use at the residential rates set forth herein. Mobile
home park owners shall be invoiced at individual residential rates.
In the event that a consumer installs, at his
own cost and expense, a separate meter and establishes to the satisfaction
of the Borough, through its duly authorized agents, that water being
consumed is being used solely for cooling or other purposes and is
not being discharged into the public sewer system, such water usage
may, at the discretion of the Borough, through its duly authorized
agents, be excluded from the volume of water otherwise consumed for
the purpose of imposing charges in accordance with the provisions
of this Part 2.
