[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 1]
This Part shall be known and may be cited as the Elizabethtown
Borough Sewer Tapping Fee Ordinance.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 2]
In the interpretation of this Part, the singular shall include
the plural, and the masculine shall include the feminine and neuter.
The following terms shall have the meanings indicated.
The Borough of Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
A fee based upon the actual cost of the connection of the
improved property extending from the Borough's main to the property
line of the improved property so connected, including reasonable costs
for inspection and restoration.
Any room, group of rooms, mobile home, building or other
enclosure connected, directly or indirectly, to the sewer system and
occupied or intended for occupancy as a separate living quarters,
apartment, office or suite of offices or any other residential, commercial,
institutional or industrial use.
An equivalent dwelling unit; when computing the tapping fee,
the amount of wastewater discharged by an average dwelling or commercial,
industrial or institutional user in a day which is estimated to be
239 gallons per day (gpd). When computing the tapping fee, nonresidential
users shall be assigned a number of EDUs based upon the estimated
or actual discharge and each 239 gpd shall be considered one EDU.
Any property upon which there is erected a structure intended
for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings
or animals and from which structure wastewater shall or may be discharged.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any improved property.
Any individual, entity, partnership, estate, trust, firm,
association, corporation, municipality, municipal authority, school
district, or any other group or legally recognized entity, and the
members of such partnership or association and the officers of such
corporation.
The public wastewater collection and treatment system owned
and operated by the Borough.
A fee imposed to enable the recovery in the equity in the
sewer system composed of a capacity part and a distribution part and
may, in the future, if warranted, include for some customers a special
purpose part and/or a reimbursement part.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 3]
No person shall connect any improved property with any part
of the sewer system without first making application for and securing
a permit, in writing, from the Borough. The application shall be made
on a form provided by the Borough, and no application shall be considered
complete until all fees imposed in this Part have been paid in full.
A permit shall be valid for a period of one year and is for a specific
property. Permits are not transferable without the express written
consent of the Borough.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 4]
1.
The owner of each improved property who or which shall be physically
connect such improved property to the sewer system shall pay a connection
fee to reimburse the Borough for the costs of making such connection
to the sewer system. The amount of the connection fee for each connection
to the sewer system shall be the actual cost incurred by the Borough,
including the cost of inspection and restoration. The connection fee
is the total of the:
2.
The owner of the improved property shall deposit with the Borough
the connection fee sum in order to ensure reimbursement of the Borough's
actual costs in connecting the improved property to the sewer system.
In the event the actual expenses incurred by the Borough in the owner's
improved property connected to the sewer system exceed the paid amount,
the owner shall pay such excess amount within 30 days of receipt of
the Borough's invoice for such expenses.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 5]
A tapping fee as set forth in § 306 of this Part is
imposed upon and shall be collected by the Borough from the owner
of each improved property who or which shall physically connect such
improved property to the sewer system or who or which shall expand,
change or intensify the use of an improved property previously connected
to the sewer system, for the use of the sewer system, whether such
use or the expansion, change or intensification of such uses shall
be direct or indirect. A tapping fee is charged for each dwelling
unit as set forth in § 306.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 6]
Each owner of improved property shall pay a tapping fee for
the use, ability or expansion of use of the sewer system calculated
as follows:
A.
Capacity Part. A fee shall be imposed to recover the cost of capacity
per dwelling unit or nonresidential unit (for each EDU or portion
thereof) — $1,227.
B.
Collection Part. A fee shall be imposed to recover the cost of collection
per dwelling unit or nonresidential unit (for each EDU or portion
thereof) — $459.
C.
In the case of a combination of two or more dwelling units, each
having use of the sewer system through one sewer connection, each
such dwelling unit shall be charged the tapping fee herein provided
as though each dwelling unit had a direct and separate connection
to the sewer system. Each dwelling unit in a duplex, row or connecting
houses, mobile home or commercial, industrial or institutional use
shall be considered as a separate entity for the purpose of calculating
the tapping fee. In the case of apartment buildings, each dwelling
unit shall be imposed a separate fee as provided herein.
D.
If an applicant for capacity in the sewer system or an owner of improved
property which will expand its use of the sewer system has submitted
or shall submit a planning module for land development to the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection or a local agency which has
been delegated to approve such planning documents in accordance with
Act 149 of 1994 which sets forth the capacity in the sewer system
serving such improved property required by the applicant or the owner
for the improved property, the amount of the tapping fee shall be
based upon the number of EDUs attributable to the use or expansion
of the use calculated using the capacity requirements set forth in
the planning module for land development. The tapping fee shall not
be reduced, regardless of actual flow, unless and until a revision
to the planning module for land development is filed with, and approved
by, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection or the
delegated local agency reducing the projected capacity required.
E.
The tapping fee shall not be charged for the re-occupancy of vacant
buildings where flows have temporarily been reduced or eliminated.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 7]
Should any owner of any improved property connected to the sewer
system expand, change or intensify the use of said improved property,
the owner shall pay a tapping fee calculated in the manner set forth
in this Part upon the expanded, changed or intensified portion of
such use of the sewer system by the improved property. Examples of
an expansion, change or intensification of the use of an improved
property shall include, but shall not be limited to, the installation
of an additional dwelling unit or units in an existing dwelling or
the commencement of a home occupation which requires use of the sewer
system such as a beauty salon or barber shop; the conversion of a
warehouse to a restaurant or manufacturing facility; or the adding
of a third work shift to an industrial processing operation. A change
in flow for an improved property of more than 239 gallons per day
on the basis of average daily flow over the prior 12 months shall
be considered an expansion of the use of the sewer system regardless
of whether the improved property has been enlarged or any new use
has been instituted. The Borough may compare current flow with flow
previously approved by means of the payment of tapping fees or the
approval of a planning module for land development or with the last
calendar year average daily flow to determine whether there has been
a change in sewer flow exceeding 239 gallons per day regardless of
whether the improved property has been expanded or any new use has
been instituted.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 8]
The connection fee and tapping fee shall be due and payable
at the time application is made to the Borough to make any such connection
to the sewer system as provided in § 303, or at the time
application is made to the Borough for a zoning permit; or when the
use of an improved property connected to the sewer system is expanded,
as the same may hereafter be amended or supplemented, whichever shall
occur earlier.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 9]
All connection fees and tapping fees shall be payable to the
Treasurer of the Borough or to such other officer or representative
of the Borough as shall be authorized, from time to time, to accept
payment thereof. Connection fees and tapping fees which are not paid
in full when due shall bear interest at a rate of 12% per annum or
at the rate of any outstanding debt incurred by the Borough, whichever
is greater.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 10]
The connection fees and tapping fees imposed hereunder shall
be in addition to any fees or charges imposed by the rate ordinance
or any other fees or charges fixed or imposed by the Borough by reason
of the reservation of capacity in the sewer system or the use, or
availability for use of the sewer system.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 11]
Upon the expiration of a connection permit and upon request
of an applicant, the Borough will refund the tapping fee, less an
administrative fee of 5%. Such refunds must be requested by the applicant
promptly, but in any event not later than six months after the expiration
of a permit.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 12]
In addition to or in lieu of any penalties which the Borough
may impose, the Borough may commence actions to collect fees which
are due and payable under this Part and/or may file a municipal claim
for the unpaid fees, plus costs of collection including the reasonable
attorney fees incurred by the Borough, against the improved property.
Any violations of this Part may be abated by proceeding against the
violator in a court of equity for relief.
[Ord. 861, 7/21/2005, § 13]
The Borough reserves the right, from time to time, to adopt
modifications of, supplements to, or amendments of this Part.
