This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Waterford
Sewer Assessment Law."
The Town Board has the responsibility and power under the Town
Law to determine the method of computing and to impose annually benefit
assessments for the principal and interest charges and capital costs
attributed to and incurred by Waterford Sewer District No. 1. This
article is intended to specify the method by which the annual benefit
assessments for the Waterford Sewer District No. 1 shall be computed.
Each year the amount of the annual benefit assessments will differ.
This article is intended to ensure that the method of computing the
amount of the annual benefit assessments is consistent over the years.
As used herein, the following terms shall have the following
meanings:
ANNUAL ASSESSMENT
The annual amount assessed against property as a benefit
assessment as the result of computing the totaling the general benefit
charge, the basic benefit charge and the supplement benefit charge
provided for in this article.
ANNUAL COST
The total amount to be raised each year by way of the annual
benefit assessment.
ASSESSMENT ROLL
The roll to be prepared in accord with § 237 of
the Town Law.
BASIC BENEFIT CHARGE
An amount which shall be levied against all property in the
district having access to an operating sanitary sewer line, which
basic benefit charge shall be computed as follows:
A.
For residential property, there shall be one charge for each
family dwelling unit.
B.
For nonresidential property, there shall be one charge for each
estimated sewage flow equivalent of a single-family dwelling unit.
The ordinary measure of an estimated sewage flow equivalent of a single-family
dwelling unit shall be water consumption, in the 12 months preceding
computation, of 80,000 gallons or any portion thereof; provided, however,
that, in its discretion, the Town Board, in computing assessments,
may use an alternative estimated sewage flow equivalent of a single-family
dwelling unit if, in its judgment, the user's ratio of sewage contribution
to water consumption is substantially different from that of a domestic
household or the user has not been a consumer of public water for
the entire twelve-month period preceding the assessment, it being
understood that any such alternative measure shall be one calculated
to equitably reflect the user's benefit in relation to the benefit
to a single-family dwelling unit.
SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFIT CHARGE
An amount which shall be levied on all property in the district
which is subject to the basic benefit charge and which did not have
access to an operating municipal sewer collection pipe or main prior
to October 1, 1971, such "supplemental benefit charges" to be levied
on the basis of one "supplemental benefit charge" for each basic benefit
charge.
There shall annually be assessed against properties within the
sewer district annual benefit assessments sufficient in total to meet,
for the year, the total of principal and interest on bonds and indebtedness
for the sewer district and any other permissible capital costs for
such district.
Each year's annual cost shall be determined by the Town Board,
and that amount shall be assessed on the properties in the district
benefited by sewer improvement, in accord with the laws governing
such assessments. The assessment roll for Sewer District No. 1 shall
be comprised of an assessment for each year, for each property, based
on a combination of a so-called "general benefit charge," a so-called
"basic benefit charge" and a so-called "supplemental charge."
The annual amounts of the general benefit charge and of the basic benefit charge shall be specified for each year by the Town Board not later than September 1 of the preceding year. They shall be in amounts sufficient, together with the supplemental benefit charge, if any, provided in §
126-3 hereof, to meet the annual cost.
This article shall be implemented in accord with the provisions
of the Town Law covering financing of improvements such as the improvements
in Town of Waterford Sewer District No. 1. The assessment roll each
year for Town of Waterford Sewer District No. 1 shall be prepared
in accord with § 237 of the Town Law and any applicable
successor statutes.
This article shall apply to all benefit assessments for Town
of Waterford Sewer District No. 1 for the years 1979 and following.