[Adopted 12-16-2004 by Ord. No. 1735 (Ch. 1, Part 13, of the
1986 Code of Ordinances)]
The cost to mail a notice of delinquency, as required by Act
20 of 2003, will be added to the City's claim for each account
as an administrative charge.
The following collection procedures are hereby established in
accordance with the Act:
A. At least 30 days prior to assessing or imposing attorneys' fees in
connection with the collection of an account, the City shall mail
or cause to be mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested,
a notice of such intention to the taxpayer or other entity liable
for the account (the "property owner").
B. If the certified mail notice is undelivered, then, at least 30 days
prior to the assessing or imposing of such attorneys' fees, the City
shall mail or cause to be mailed by first class mail a second notice
to the property owner.
C. All notices required by this article shall be mailed to the property
owner's last known post office address as recorded in the records
or other information of the City, or such other address as it may
be able to obtain after a reasonable investigation, as provided by
law.
D. Each notice as described above shall include the following:
(1) The type of tax or other charge, the date it became due and the amount
owed, including penalty and interest;
(2) A statement of the City's intent to impose or assess attorneys'
fees within 30 days after the mailing of the first notice or within
30 days after the mailing of the second notice;
(3) The manner in which the assessment or imposition of attorneys' fees
may be avoided by payment of the account; and
(4) The place of payment of accounts and the name and telephone number
of the City representative designated as responsible for collection
matters.
E. In addition, notwithstanding any provision herein to the contrary,
no fees or costs shall be assessed to the City, delinquent taxpayer
or otherwise in the event that any claim or account is determined
at any time by the City to be a hardship case, as determined by the
Mayor and Council of the City or its authorized designee.
[Amended 5-8-2008 by Ord.
No. 1799]
A. The City
hereby appoints Michelle R. Portnoff, Esquire, as the City's Solicitor
for the purpose of collecting delinquent real estate taxes and/or
municipal claims and hereby authorizes her, and attorneys under her
supervision, to sign any and all documents related to the collection
of delinquent real estate claims, municipal claims, penalties, interest,
fees and costs, including real estate tax claims and municipal claims,
as Solicitor of the City of Washington.
B. Interest
shall be assessed upon all taxes, tax claims and municipal claims
at a rate of 10% per annum added to the tax and municipal claim.
C. An administrative
fee, not to exceed $50, as well as all costs incurred in mailing a
notice of delinquency, shall be added to the unpaid claim.
The Mayor, Councilperson serving as the Director of Accounts
and Finance, and the City Treasurer are hereby authorized and empowered
to take all necessary action to implement this article.
[Adopted 5-3-2012 by Ord. No. 1844]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ACTOR
Any person, entity or business violating any ordinance of
the City of Washington and/or laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
which shall include, but certainly not be limited to, those laws,
rules, regulations designated as the Pennsylvania Crimes Code, Title
18 Pa.C.S.A., and The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic
Act, Title 35 Pa.C.S.A. Chapter 6, in their entirety.
EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES
Those expenses and those related costs and fees that are
incurred by the City, local, state or federal department or agency,
emergency services organization and from the private sector for actual
costs or charges for labor, material, permits/inspections, and any
other and all costs of any nature whatsoever arising from or associated
with:
A.
The use, removal and disposal of specialized extinguishing or
abatement agent, chemical neutralizer or similar equipment or material
that is employed to monitor, extinguish, continue, neutralize, contain,
clean or remove any hazardous material that is or may be involved
in a fire or released into the air, ground or water or the potential
threat of any release or fire and any and all activities associated
with the implementation of a protective action (i.e., evacuation)
to protect the public health, safety and welfare;
B.
Any other costs associated with the use of labor, material,
supplies, and/or equipment of any and all nature whatsoever as a result
of a traffic accident, fire calls, police calls, request for response
or other incident which requires service, regardless of the circumstances.
C.
"Extraordinary service" is a service performed by any City department
or employee, or any public or private sector organization, agency
or company, directly associated with mitigating the hazard or potential
hazard or involved in providing services to implement a protective
action. Extraordinary services include, but are not limited to, the
abatement and disposition of hazardous materials, spills, releases,
or the threat of spills or releases of hazardous materials, utility
line breaks or leakages, cleanup and removal of nonhazardous materials
and other imminent or perceived or potential threats to the health,
safety and welfare of the public that may be detailed or contemplated
in the definition of "actor" above and the attendance at any hearing,
proceeding, trial, interview, investigative meeting, inquest by a
City fireman and/or policemen.
D.
"Extraordinary occurrence(s)" include but are not limited to
a traffic accident, a release of hazardous materials or any type of
occurrence involving the utilization of police, fire, rescue personnel,
ambulance, materials, equipment and/or hazardous material equipment
and/or personnel, and/or any event requiring the removal, extinguishment,
cleanup of any hazardous material, fighting of a fire or a release
into the air, ground or water of any potential pollution threat and
any and all activities in response thereto necessary to protect the
public health, safety and welfare, or in connection with any fire
or police response call received by the City of Washington. This definition
shall also include any actor or perpetrator who it has been determined
by the Court of Common Pleas after trial or hearing has violated the
ordinances of the City of Washington, laws of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, or through the agreement by the actor to a guilty plea
or a plea of nolo contendere or "no contest" in said court and/or
the determination or agreement of an actor a plea or agreement with
said court without verdict and/or any adjudication, determination
or agreement regarding a juvenile under the Pennsylvania Juvenile
Laws, as well as any requestor who makes a request for response which
causes a response and subsequently results in the withdrawing of charges
initiated as a result of the response of any requestor who unreasonably
makes multiple requests for response.
REQUEST FOR RESPONSE
Any communication to the City Police Department or Washington
County 911 dispatch center, or other similar entity, indicating the
possibility or existence of the occurrence of a crime or other emergency
situation warranting immediate police, fire or similar emergency response
or response from a City agency or department.
REQUESTOR
Any person, tenant, resident, business organization, nonprofit
organization, charitable institution or organization, agent, servant
or employee who makes a request for response.
RESPONSE
Any request for response which causes the City of Washington
Police Department to utilize communications systems, motor vehicles
and/or personnel to arrive at any place designated by the requestor
or court of law having jurisdiction over the matter in which the requestor
is involved.
The City Clerk of the City of Washington shall collect any and
all fees and costs, as defined herein, as follows:
A. "Fees and costs" include, but are not limited to, any and all engineering
fees, permit fees, evaluation and reevaluation costs or fees by personnel
performing those evaluations, any and all labor, personnel, equipment,
inventory, materials, supplies and/or maintenance expenses, cost of
officers or City personnel responding to a response incurred as a
result of providing extraordinary services for extraordinary occurrences.
B. The City Clerk shall keep a record of any and all such fees and costs
and present an itemized statement of the same to the City Council
for approval of the aforesaid fees and costs to be collected. Upon
presentation of the amount or supplemental amounts, the City Council
shall pass a resolution authorizing the City Clerk to collect the
aforesaid fees and expenses. The City Council and/or City shall not
be required to set forth in this article or elsewhere a specific cost
or fee schedule, as the approval of the article constitutes authorization
for the City to collect all such fees and costs. In the case of a
response by the City Fire or Police Department, once approved by Council
as set forth herein, each department shall provide an invoice to the
City Clerk, who shall then invoice the actor(s) creating the requirement
of a police response and/or any actor or perpetrator. The amount of
the fee collected shall not and cannot be more than the hourly rate
of time expended by the City in responding to the response, plus any
incidental costs, fees or expenses.
C. Within 30 days of the date of the extraordinary or dangerous occurrence
giving rise to the extraordinary service, the affected public agencies,
departments or private companies shall submit bills for all extraordinary
expenses incurred; within 60 days of the City Clerk's receipt
of the extraordinary expenses, the City Clerk shall present the initially
determined amount of the extraordinary expenses to City Council for
review and approval. City Council, within 45 days of receipt of the
aforesaid, shall review and approve the amount to be collected and
by resolution authorize the City Clerk to submit bills for all extraordinary
expenses, fees, charges, and other expenses incurred by the City to
the requestor or perpetrator, or the owner of the property affected
(either personal or real property), and/or the authorized agent of
the owner, and/or the manager of the property, and/or the insurance
company insuring the property and/or the event which required the
need for the extraordinary services, with a demand that full remittance
be made within 30 days of receipt.
D. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing contained herein or hereinabove
shall limit the City from continuing to collect extraordinary expenses
information after the initial determination. Should additional extraordinary
expenses be determined to be due, the same procedure set forth above
shall be followed by the City Clerk in obtaining the approval from
City Council to collect the additional extraordinary expenses.
Nothing in this article shall authorize any City bureau, department
or personnel or staff members to refuse or delay an emergency service
to any person, firm, organization or corporation that has not reimbursed
the City for those municipal services that are normally provided to
the City for residents and others as a matter of the City's general
operating procedure and for which the levying of taxes or the demand
for reimbursement is normally made.