It is determined and declared to be necessary and conducive
to the protection of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience
of the City to collect charges for all users who contribute wastewater
to the Authority'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.
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meanings
of terms used in this article and not defined in other sections of
this chapter shall be as follows:
The total principal and interest payments for a given period
on long-term debt issues.
Wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than
200 mg/l and a suspended solids concentration of not more than 250
mg/l.
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.
The term "operation and maintenance" includes replacement, as defined
below.
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.
Any contributor to the Authority's treatment works whose
lot, parcel of real estate or building is used for domestic dwelling
purposes only.
The charge which is assessed to each residential user. Residential
user unit charges are applicable only to residential contributors.
The combination of all service charges for sewer services,
including user charges and debt service charges.
The estimated period during which a treatment works will
be operated.
That portion of the total wastewater service charge which
is levied in a proportional and adequate manner for the cost of operation,
maintenance and replacement of the wastewater treatment works.
A water volume measuring and recording device, furnished
and/or installed by either the North Hudson Sewerage Authority or
by a user and approved by the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, or
by the water purveyor for the area.
A.
Establishment. A financial management system that will accurately
account for the revenues generated by the user charge system and expenditures
for the operation, maintenance and replacement of the treatment system
components shall be established. The accounting system shall include
recording of revenues, receipts and billings by individual user and
user class, report operation, maintenance and replacement cost in
total and unit process, record and report on billing and collection
activities and determine changes in assets, liabilities and fund balances.
The accounting system shall also reflect the budget and conform to
generally accepted accounting principals as set forth in the New Jersey
Local Authorities Accounting Principal and Auditing Standards Manual.
B.
Purpose of user charge system. The user charge system shall generate
adequate annual revenues to pay costs of annual operation and maintenance,
including replacement and costs associated with debt retirement of
bonded capital associated with financing the treatment works which
the City may, by ordinance, designate to be paid by the user charge
system. The user charge, that portion of the total sewer service charge
which is designated for operation and maintenance, including replacement
of the treatment works, shall be established by this article.
C.
Deposit of collected revenues. The revenues collected as a result
of the user charge levied shall be deposited in a separate nonlapsing
fund known as the "Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Fund," and
will be kept in two primary accounts as follows:
(1)
Operation and maintenance account. An account designated for the
specific purpose of defraying operation and maintenance costs, excluding
replacement of the treatment works.
(2)
Replacement account. An account designated for the specific purpose
of ensuring replacement needs are adequate to maintain the capacity
and performance over the useful life of the treatment works. Deposits
in the replacement account shall be made at least annually from the
operation, maintenance and replacement revenue fund.
D.
Fiscal year-end balance. Fiscal year-end balance in the operation
and maintenance account and the replacement account shall be used
for no other purposes than those designated for these accounts. Monies
which have been transferred from other sources to meet temporary shortages
in the operation, maintenance and replacement fund shall be returned
to their respective accounts upon appropriate adjustment of the user
charge rates for operation, maintenance and replacement. The user
charge rates shall be adjusted such that the transferred monies will
be returned to their respective accounts within six months of the
fiscal year in which the monies were borrowed.
Each user shall pay his/her proportionate share of operation,
maintenance and replacement costs for the services provided by the
Authority based on his/her proportionate contribution to the total
wastewater loading from all users as determined by water meter readings
acceptable to the Authority.
A.
Residential contributors. Quarterly user charges will be based on
average quarterly water usage.
B.
Industrial and commercial contributors. User charges shall be based
on actual water usage during the current quarter. If a commercial
or industrial contributor has a consumptive use of water, or, in some
other manner, uses water which is not discharged into the wastewater
collection system, the user charge for that contributor may be based
on readings of a wastewater meter or separate water meter installed
and maintained at the user's expense, and in a manner acceptable
to the Authority.
C.
Fixed charge.[1]
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Annual debt service cost + annual billing and collection cost
+ annual cost to treat infiltration/inflow = total annual fixed charges
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(1)
Residential user unit charge. The residential user unit charge is calculated as follows, using the pollutant concentrations defining "normal domestic wastewater" in § 342-35.
|
Residential unit charge unit flow charge + (unit BOD charge)
(BODND)(0.00834) + (unit SS charge) (SSND)(0.00834)
|
|
Where:
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|
Residential unit charge is in $/1,000 gal.
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|
Unit flow charge is in $/1,000 gal. from § 342-37D.
| ||
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Unit BOD charge is in $/lb. BOD from § 342-37D.
| ||
|
Unit SS charge is in $/lb. SS from § 342-37D.
| ||
|
BODND is the normal domestic BOD strength
in milligrams per liter (mg/l).
| ||
|
SSND is the normal domestic SS strength
in mg/l.
| ||
|
0.00834 is a unit conversion factor from mg/l to pounds.
| ||
(2)
Each user shall pay a user charge rate for operation, maintenance
and replacement. The fixed charge per customer per quarter shall be
$________[2]. In addition, each contributor shall pay a user charge
rate for operation and maintenance, including replacement of $________[3] per 1,000 gallons of water, or wastewater, as determined
in the preceding subsection, and an additional $_____[4] per 1,000 gallons of water for debt retirement.
[1]
Editor's Note: Charges to be set by Authority from time
to time.
D.
Surcharge. For those users whose wastewater has a strength greater
than normal domestic sewage, a surcharge in addition to the normal
user charge will be collected. The surcharge for operation and maintenance,
including replacement, is:[5]
|
$ per pound BOD
| |
|
$ per pound SS
|
|
Unit Costs
| |||
|
Unit cost for flow in $/gallon
|
=
|
Annual $ to treat annual flow/estimated annual hydraulic loading
| |
|
Unit cost for BOD in $/pound
|
=
|
Annual $ to treat annual BOD/estimated annual BOD loading
| |
|
Unit cost of SS in $/pound
|
=
|
Annual $ to treat annual SS/estimated annual SS loading
| |
[5]
Editor's Note: Actual costs and charges to be as set
from time to time by the Authority.
E.
Discharge of toxic pollutants. Any user which discharges any toxic
pollutants which cause an increase in the cost of managing the effluent
of the sludge from the Authority's treatment works, or any user
which discharges any substance which singly or by interaction with
other substances caused identifiable increases in the cost of operation,
maintenance or replacement of the treatment works, shall pay for such
increased costs. The charge for each such user shall be as determined
by the responsible plant operating personnel and approved by the Authority.
F.
Rates applicable to whom. The user charge rates established in this
article apply to all users of the Authority's treatment works
within the City of Union City.
A.
Billing. All users shall be billed quarterly. Billings for any particular
quarter shall be made within 30 days after the end of that quarter.
Payments are due when the billings are made. Any payment not received
within 30 days after the billing is made shall be delinquent.
B.
Late payment penalty. A late payment penalty of 10% of the user charge
bill will be added to each delinquent bill for each 30 days of delinquency.
When any bill is more than 30 days in default, rendition of sewer
service to such premises shall be discontinued until such bill is
paid following due notice and opportunity for hearing.
C.
Lien against on property. When any bill, including interest and penalty,
remains unpaid for one year after the date due, such bill shall be
recorded in the land records of the City by the Treasurer and shall
constitute a lien on the property. If such lien, including interest
and penalty, remains unpaid for a period of one year after date of
recordation, such property shall be subject to public sale by the
Treasurer.
D.
Appeal and review of user charge. Any user believing that he/she has been incorrectly assigned to a particular user class or incorrectly assigned a wastewater volume or strength or should any user believe that a portion of his/her metered flow is not discharged into the sewerage system, that user may apply for review of his/her user charge as provided in § 342-40.
E.
Users of more than 25,000 gallons per day. All users contributing
more than 25,000 gallons per day and whose waste strength is greater
than 200 mg BOD/l or 250 mg SS/l shall prepare and file with the Authority
a report that shall include pertinent data relating to the wastewater
characteristics, including the methods of sampling and measurement
to obtain the data, and the data shall be used to calculate the user
charge for that user. The Authority shall have the right to gain access
to the waste stream and take its own samples. Should the Authority
do so and should the results be substantially different as determined
by the Authority Engineer from the data submitted by the user, the
user charge for that user shall be revised accordingly and shall be
effective retroactively up to 18 months.
A.
Review and revision. The Authority will review the user charge system
at least every two years and revise user charge rates as necessary
to ensure that the system generates adequate revenues to pay the costs
of operation and maintenance, including replacement, and that the
system continues to provide for the proportional distribution of operation
and maintenance, including replacement costs, among users and user
classes. Any excess revenues collected from a class of users shall
be credited to that class for the next year, and its rates will be
adjusted accordingly. Adequate records to document compliance with
the user charge requirements, including records of biennial reviews,
will be maintained.
B.
Notification. The Authority will notify each user at least annually,
in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate being charged for
operation and maintenance, including replacement, of the treatment
works.
A.
Any sewer user who feels his/her user charge is unjust and inequitable
as applied to his/her premises within the intent of the foregoing
provisions may make written application to the Authority requesting
a review of his/her user charge. Such written request shall, where
necessary, show the actual or estimated average flow and/or strength
of his/her wastewater in comparison with the values upon which the
charge is based, including how the measurements or estimates were
made.
B.
Review of the request shall be made by the Authority and the Authority
Engineer, who shall determine if it is substantiated or not, including
recommending further study of the matter by the Authority Engineer.
C.
If the request is determined to be substantiated, the user charges
for that user shall be recomputed based on the approved revised flow
and/or strength data, and the new charges thus recomputed shall be
applicable retroactively up to 18 months, as applicable.
A.
Falsifying of information. Any person who willingly offers or presents to the North Hudson Sewerage Authority or the City of Union City a written statement containing a false statement or false information with knowledge or belief that it will be filed with, registered or recorded in, or otherwise become part of, the records of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority or the City of Union City shall be subject to the penalties set forth in Chapter 1, Article IV, General Penalty, of this Code.
B.
Damage by vandalism; penalties. Any person who willfully breaks, damages, destroys, uncovers, defaces or tampers with any structure, appurtenance or equipment which is part of the sewerage system maintained by the North Hudson Sewerage Authority or the City of Union City shall be subject to the penalties set forth in Chapter 1, Article IV, General Penalty, of this Code.
C.
Damage by discharge; penalties. When a discharge of wastes causes
an obstruction, damage or any other impairment to Authority facilities,
the Authority may assess a charge against the discharger for the work
required to clean or repair the facility and add such charge to the
user's wastewater service charges.
D.
General penalty provision. Any person who shall violate any provision
of this article for which a specific penalty is not provided, or any
rules or regulations hereunder, shall be liable to a penalty of not
more than $5,000 to be collected in a civil action by summary proceedings
under the Penalty Enforcement Law, N.J.S.A. 2A:58-10 et seq., or in
any case before a court of competent jurisdiction wherein injunctive
relief has been requested. If violation is of a continuing nature,
each day during which it continues shall constitute an additional
separate and distinct violation.
E.
Revocation of permit; termination of service. The Authority may revoke
any wastewater discharge permit, or terminate or cause to be terminated
wastewater service to any premises, if, after proper order or direction
from the Authority, a violation of any provision of this article is
found to exist; a discharge of wastewater causes or threatens to cause
a condition of contamination, pollution or nuisance, as defined in
this article; or a user fails to take the remedial steps required.
