[Ord. No. 346 Art. I, 4-5-2001]
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. 346 Art. II, 4-5-2001]
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning
of terms used in this Chapter 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 Centigrade (20° C), expressed in milligrams
per liter (mg/l).
NORMAL DOMESTIC WASTEWATER
Wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than
two hundred fifty (250) mg/l and a suspended solids concentration
of not more than three hundred (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 the 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 for the cost of operation,
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 Rogersville or furnished and/or installed
by a user and approved by the City of Rogersville.
[Ord. No. 346 Art. III, 4-5-2001]
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 Chapter.
B. That portion of the total user charge collected which is designated for operation and maintenance purposes of the combined waterworks and sewerage system, as established in Chapters
705 and
715 of the Municipal Code, shall be deposited in a separate non-lapsing fund known as the "Water Sewer Operation and Maintenance Fund" and shall be kept in a primary account as follows:
[Ord. No. 840 §1, 5-18-2015]
1. The Water Sewer Operation and Maintenance Account shall be an account
designated for the specific purpose of defraying operations and maintenance
costs of the combined waterworks and sewerage system. Deposits in
the Water Sewer Operation and Maintenance Account shall be made as
payments for billings as received.
C. Fiscal
year-end balances in the Operation and Maintenance Account and the
Replacement Account shall be carried over to the same accounts in
each 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. 346 Art. IV, 4-5-2001]
A. Each
user shall pay for the services provided by the City based on their
use of the treatment works as determined by water meter(s) acceptable
to the City.
B. For residential contributors, monthly user charges will be based on average monthly water usage during the months of January, February, and March. (Water usage for these months includes little use for such activities as lawn watering, car washing and other seasonal consumptive uses.) If a residential contributor has not established a January, February, and March average, see Section
710.090.
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.
C. The
minimum charge per month shall be thirteen dollars ninety-nine cents
($13.99). In addition each contributor shall pay a user charge for
operation and maintenance, including replacement, of four dollars
thirty-seven cents ($4.37) per one thousand (1,000) gallons of water
(or wastewater) as determined in the preceding Section.
[Ord. No. 840 §2, 5-18-2015; Ord. No. 866 § 1, 8-15-2016]
D. For
those contributors which contribute wastewater, the strength of which
is 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:
$.3321 — per pound BOD
$.4217 — per pound SS
$ N/A — per pound ___________ other pollutant(s) (specify)
E. 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.
F. 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. 346 Art. V, 4-5-2001]
A. All
users shall be billed monthly. Readings for each billing period will
be made during the middle of each month. Billing will be sent on the
first (1st) of each month. Billing will be due on the fifteenth (15th)
of each month and delinquent on the twenty-sixth (26th).
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 for hearing.
[Ord. No. 346 Art. VI, 4-5-2001]
A. The
City shall review the user charge system annually 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.
B. The
City will make notice at public meeting, at least once per year, of
the rate being charged for operation, and maintenance including replacement
of the treatment works.