[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Dunellen 10-5-1981; amended in its entirety 12-17-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-17. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
Commencing January 1, 1981, and thereafter, an annual sewer user charge will be paid by all users of the facilities provided by the Borough of Dunellen, the Plainfield Area Regional Sewerage Authority (hereinafter referred to as "PARSA"), and the Middlesex County Utilities Authority (hereinafter referred to as "MCUA") in accordance with the terms and provisions of this chapter.
[Amended 12-19-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-19]
User classes shall be as follows:
A. 
Tax exempt: includes institutions which pay no ad valorem taxes or receive substantial credits in paying such taxes, except publicly owned facilities performing local government functions which discharge solely domestic wastes.
B. 
Industrial and commercial: includes all nonresidential users, multifamily residences with five or more units served by a single connection, and mixed residential/commercial properties that are served by a single connection.
C. 
Residential — single-family: includes all single-family dwellings.
D. 
Residential — multifamily: includes all dwellings with two, three or four residential units tied into a single house connection.
All users shall be invoiced directly for their use of the sewage treatment system by the Dunellen Borough Sanitary Sewer Utility.
A. 
At least once each year, the Borough Sewer Utility shall review and revise, as necessary, sewer use and sewer user charges and shall establish a schedule of charges by flow, biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, chlorine demand and such other criteria as the Borough Sewer Utility shall deem appropriate. Any charges so established shall provide for the equitable distribution of:
(1) 
PARSA operations, maintenance, and treatment charges.
(2) 
PARSA debt service charges.
(3) 
Sewer system maintenance and operations charges incurred by the Borough of Dunellen.
(4) 
Borough of Dunellen debt service related to the sewer system.
B. 
The schedule of user charges shall provide for revenue in an amount equal to the total of the above costs. The schedule of charges, amended yearly, at the time of adoption of the Borough's annual budget or at such other times as the Borough Sewer Utility may determine, shall reflect changes and/or adjustments in the charges.
Wherever actual readings of sewage flow are available, those readings shall be used in determining flow charges. All industrial users shall be monitored for actual flow. Where actual readings of sewage flow are unavailable, flow will be estimated by any of the following ways:
A. 
For commercial and industrial and tax exempt users, by taking 100% of the average water flow and/or other meter reading for the year. Credit for water not discharged into the sanitary sewer may be given to the user by the Borough if the user presents proof satisfactory to the Borough which establishes the amount of water not discharged.
B. 
The volume of sewage and/or industrial waste from each industrial establishment may be determined by meters paid for and installed by users and records combined with municipal and/or private company water records or from estimates or measurements made by representatives of the municipality.
Wherever actual readings of biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids and chlorine demand of a user are available, those readings shall be used in determining charges for the strength of sewage. All industrial users shall be monitored or their sewage sampled periodically to determine the biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids and chlorine demand characteristics of the sewage. The industrial or commercial user shall, at its own expense, sample the biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids and chlorine demand characteristics of its sewage at the frequency assigned and according to the method prescribed by the Borough and shall report the results of such sampling to the Borough timely.
A. 
Any flows or strengths which are not chargeable to a particular user, whether by reason of the user being exempted from charges or by reason of the flow entering the system by infiltration or inflow, shall be charged to all users equally.
[Amended 4-18-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]
B. 
No roof drainage, cellar drainage, unpolluted industrial process water, surface water, waste from hydrants or groundwater from underground drainage fields shall be admitted or be permitted to drain into the sewage system. The sewer system is intended to convey sanitary sewage and industrial wastes only.
Any user objecting to any estimate of flow or strength hereunder shall have the option, at its own expense and cost of installing metering equipment on its discharge lines, to record actual flow and strength readings. The metering equipment used, its installation and the location of installation and method of sampling shall all be subject to review and approval by the Borough of Dunellen or its designated representative.
Any user who discharges into the system toxic pollutants which cause an increase in the cost of managing the effluent or the sludge of the treatment works shall pay for the increased costs.
Any user who connects to the system during any calendar month shall pay a pro rata user charge based upon the user charge assessed for the current quarter.
The user charges established and provided for herein shall be due and payable semi-annually on March 1 and September 1 of each year.
Public buildings, which are defined as those used solely for local municipal purposes, are excluded from the user charges called for in this chapter. The usage of said public buildings shall be treated as extraneous flow, as defined in § 230-7 hereinabove.