[Ord. No. 05-029 Art. I, 10-5-2005]
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 from all users who contribute wastewater
to the City'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.
[Ord. No. 05-029 Art. II, 10-5-2005]
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning
of terms used in this Article shall be as follows:
BOD (DENOTING BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5)
days at twenty degrees (20°C), expressed in milligrams per liter
(mg/l).
NORMAL DOMESTIC WASTEWATER
Wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than
250 mg/l and a suspended solids concentration of not more than 300
mg/l.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
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.
REPLACEMENT
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. The term "operation
and maintenance" includes replacement.
RESIDENTIAL CONTRIBUTOR
Any contributor to the City's treatment works whose lot,
parcel of real estate or building is used for domestic dwelling purposes
only.
SHALL
Is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
SS (Denoting suspended solids)
Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension
in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory
filtering.
TREATMENT WORKS
Any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling
and reclamation of municipal sewage, domestic sewage or liquid industrial
wastes. These include interceptor sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection
systems, individual systems, pumping, power and other equipment and
their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions
and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable
recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities;
and any works, including site acquisition of land that will be an
integral part of the treatment process or is used for ultimate disposal
of residues resulting from such treatment (including land for composting
sludge, temporary storage of such compost and land used for storage
of treated wastewater in land treatment systems before land application;
or any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing,
treating, separating or disposing of municipal waste or industrial
waste, including waste in combined stormwater and sanitary sewer systems.
USEFUL LIFE
The estimated period during which the treatment works will
be operated.
USER CHARGE
That portion of the total wastewater service charge which
is levied in a proportional and adequate manner to pay the cost of
operation and maintenance and replacement of the wastewater treatment
works.
WATER METER
A water volume measuring and recording device, furnished
and/or installed by the City of Herculaneum or furnished and/or installed
by a user and approved by the City of Herculaneum.
[Ord. No. 625 §§1
— 3, 11-10-1997; Ord. No. 98-002, 4-13-1998; Ord. No. 02-017 §1, 6-10-2002]
A. Whenever
any premises within the City of Herculaneum shall hereafter be connected
with the sewage system, a charge shall be made for each such connection
in the amount of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00).
B. Payment
of the above charge shall be made prior to connection to the City
sewerage system.
C. No
connection shall be made until the same is approved by either the
City Building Inspector, the Public Works Coordinator or such other
person as may be designated by the Mayor or Board of Aldermen to inspect
such connections.
D. In
those instances where a majority of the Board of Aldermen present
at a duly-called meeting of the City of Herculaneum vote affirmatively
to do so, the Board of Aldermen is authorized to reduce or eliminate
all or any portion of the sewer tap-on fee for any resident within
the City of Herculaneum who had a home in existence at the time of
passage of this Article. The Board of Aldermen, by the vote set forth
above, is also authorized to reduce or eliminate any sewer tap-on
fees when, within the discretion of the Board of Aldermen, the homeowner
makes a contribution to the extension of the existing sewage system
such that to require payment of the above tap-on fee would be unfair
and unjust.
[Ord. No. 05-029 Art. III, 10-5-2005]
A. The
user charge system shall generate adequate annual revenues to pay
the costs of annual operation and maintenance including replacement
and cost 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. That portion of the
total user charge which is designated for operation and maintenance
including replacement of the treatment works shall be established
by this Article.
B. That portion of the total user charge collected which is designated for the operation and maintenance including replacement purposes as established in Section
240.090 shall be deposited in a separate non-lapsing fund know as the Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Fund and will be kept in two (2) primary accounts as follows:
1. The Operation and Maintenance Account shall be an account designated
for the specific purpose of defraying operation and maintenance costs
of the treatment works. Deposits in the Operation and Maintenance
Account shall be made annually from the operation and maintenance
revenue in the amount of four hundred forty-seven thousand dollars
($447,000.00) annually.
2. The Replacement Account shall be an account designated for the purpose
of ensuring replacement needs over the useful life of the treatment
works. Deposits in the Replacement Account shall be made annually
from the replacement revenue in the amount of forty-five thousand
dollars ($45,000.00) annually. (See Appendix B which is on file in
the City offices for calculations.)
C. Fiscal
year-end balances in the Operation and Maintenance Account and the
Replacement Account shall be carried over to the same accounts in
the subsequent fiscal year and 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 rate(s) shall be adjusted
such that the transferred monies will be returned to their respective
accounts within the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which
the monies were borrowed.
[Ord. No. 05-029 Art. IV, 10-5-2005; Ord. No. 001-2007 §1, 1-22-2007; Ord.
No. 15-2010 §§1 — 2, 6-29-2010; Ord. No. 19-2011 §1, 6-27-2011]
A. Each
user shall pay for the services provided by the City in the manner
as set forth in Appendix A, the same being incorporated herein by
reference as if fully set forth herein. Any such user that is paying
based on their actual usage will be determined by water meters acceptable
to the City.
B. For
residential contributors, the monthly user charges shall be twenty-six
dollars fifty cents ($26.50) per month unless changed at a later date
by the Board of Aldermen. This charge shall cover all charges including,
but not limited to, operation and maintenance, including replacement
and payment for debt service.
C. For
industrial and commercial contributors, user charges shall be based
on water used during the current month. If a commercial or industrial
contributor has a consumptive use of water, or in some other manner
uses water which is not returned to the wastewater collection system,
the user charge for that contributor may be based on wastewater meter(s)
or separate water meter(s) installed and maintained at the contributor's
expense and in a manner acceptable to the City.
D. The charge per month for residential use shall be a flat charge of
thirty-eight dollars forty cents ($38.40). This amount is subject
to change.
[Ord. No. 022-2012 §1, 6-25-2012; Ord. No. 22-2013 §1, 7-22-2013; Ord. No. 22-2018, 6-18-2018; Ord. No. 24-2019, 6-27-2019]
E. For
those contributors who contribute wastewater, the strength of which
is greater than normal domestic sewage, whether said users be residential,
light commercial/institutional, heavy commercial or heavy institutional
users, a surcharge in addition to the normal user charge will be collected.
The surcharge for operation and maintenance including replacement
is:
$0.25 per pound BOD; and
$0.20 per pound SS.
F. Any
user which discharges any toxic pollutants which cause an increase
in the cost of managing the effluent or the sludge from the City's
treatment works, or any user which discharges any substance which
singly or by interaction with other substances causes identifiable
increases in the cost of operation, maintenance or replacement of
the treatment works, shall pay for such increased costs. The charge
to each such user shall be as determined by the responsible plant
operating personnel and approved by the Board of Aldermen.
G. The charge for light commercial/institutional, heavy commercial and
heavy institutional users shall be based on actual usage. The minimum
charge for light commercial/ institutional, heavy commercial and heavy
institutional users shall be seventy-two dollars forty-seven cents
($72.47) per month; however, such minimum charge shall not apply to
any light commercial/ institutional, heavy commercial and heavy institutional
user that has only (1) employee. The term "only one (1) employee"
is intended to be a sole proprietorship or any other business entity,
including, but not limited to, a corporation or limited liability
company wherein the owner participates in any fashion in the business.
This shall include, but not be limited to, working at any point in
time at the business or supervising at the business or managing the
finances of the business. If there is only one (1) employee as described
above, the charge shall be thirty-eight dollars forty cents ($38.40)
per month. The minimum charge for any other light commercial/institutional,
heavy commercial and heavy institutional users shall be seventy-two
dollars forty-seven cents ($72.47) per month. Additional usage shall
be charged at the rate of two dollars sixty-eight cents ($2.68) per
one thousand (1,000) gallons of water for all usage above seven thousand
(7,000) gallons of water per month.
[Ord. No. 022-2012 §1, 6-25-2012; Ord. No. 22-2013 §1, 7-22-2013; Ord. No. 22-2018, 6-18-2018; Ord. No. 24-2019, 6-27-2019]
H. The
user charge rates established in this Section apply to all users of
the City's treatment works, regardless of the user's location.
[Ord. No. 05-029 Art. V, 10-5-2005]
A. All
users shall be billed monthly. Billings for each month shall be made
within thirty (30) days after the end of that month. Payments are
due when billings are made. Any payment not received within thirty
(30) days after the billing is made shall be delinquent.
B. A late
payment penalty of ten percent (10%) of the user charge bill will
be added to each delinquent bill for each thirty (30) days of delinquency.
When any bill is thirty (30) days in default, rendition of water and/or
sewer service to such premises shall be discontinued until such bill
is paid following due notice and opportunity of hearing.
[Ord. No. 05-029 Art. VI, 10-5-2005; Ord. No. 19-2011 §2, 6-27-2011]
A. The
City shall review the user charge system annually and revise user
charge rates as necessary to insure that the system generates adequate
revenues to pay the costs of operation and maintenance, including
replacement, and that the system continues to provide the proportional
distribution of operation and maintenance including replacement costs
among users and user classes.
B. The
City may adjust, at least annually, the rate being charged for operation
and maintenance including replacement of the sanitary sewer system.