A.
Administrative Boards. The County Legislature shall be the Administrative Board for all existing, modified or newly created County Sewer Districts, including, but not limited to the Northwest Quadrant Pure Waters District, the Irondequoit Bay South Central Pure Waters District, Gates-Chili-Ogden Sewer District and the Rochester Pure Waters District. The County Legislature, acting as the Administrative Board, shall be responsible for all policy matters relating to the respective County Sewer Districts. The County Legislature, acting as the Administrative Board shall have all of the powers conferred and duties imposed upon administrative bodies of county sewer districts by §§ 262, 263, 265 and 266 of the County Law of the State of New York and any other applicable law of the State of New York, except to the extent that such powers or duties are delegated by this Part 2. The County Legislature, when acting as the Administrative Boards, shall operate under the rules of procedure then in effect for the County Legislature. The President of the County Legislature shall be the chairperson for each of the Administrative Boards.
B.
County Executive. Pursuant to the provisions of the County Charter, the County Executive shall appoint the Director of Environmental Services in connection with the performance of their duties as specifically described in Subsections C and D hereof. The County Executive shall also have the specific powers and duties delegated by Subsection E.
C.
Director of Environmental Services. In addition to the powers conferred
and duties imposed by the County Charter, the Director of Environmental
Services, under the direction of the County Executive, shall be responsible
for the administration, operation and maintenance of the County Sewer
Districts, POTW and County Storm Drainage Systems. The Director of
Environmental Services, under the direction of the County Executive,
shall be responsible for implementation and enforcement of this Part
2 and the planning, design and construction of capital projects within
the County Sewer Districts and County Storm Drainage Systems. The
Director of Environmental Services shall also be responsible for the
selection of engineers and professional consultants who shall perform
services for the County Sewer Districts and County Storm Drainage
Systems pursuant to contracts authorized in accordance with this Part
2.
D.
Delegation of powers and duties. The County Legislature, acting as
the Administrative Board of each of the County's Sewer Districts,
hereby delegates to the County Executive the following powers and
duties as may relate to the administration of the County's Sewer
Districts and Storm Drainage Systems:
(1)
The collection, accounting and custody of all County Districts'
sewer revenues.
(2)
The supervision, direction and day-to-day management of the County
Department of Environmental Services, including the hiring, dismissal,
removal, suspension or layoff of all Department personnel.
(3)
The establishment and revision of the internal organization of the
Department of Environmental Services.
(4)
The advertisement of bids and specifications and the issuance of
requests for proposals in connection with purchases and public works
projects of the County Sewer Districts.
(5)
The approval and payment of all vouchers and invoices submitted to
the County Sewer Districts.
(6)
The approval and execution of contract change orders: up to the contingency
limit provided for in the original funding authorization or for contracts
without a contingency limit, up to an amount of $70,000 or 1% of the
original contract valued, whichever is greater for each change order;
provided, however, that when the total cumulative change orders for
a contract exceeds $150,000 or 10% of the original contract value,
whichever is greater, all subsequent change orders must be approved
by the Administrative Board.
(7)
The approval and execution of routine real property easements which
do not require payment for contingent damages.
(8)
The approval and execution of engineering design contracts, capital
construction contracts, professional or engineering services agreements
or contracts for the County Sewer Districts and Storm Drainage Systems
in amounts up to $10,000.
(9)
The execution of Permits, reviews, licenses, Permit or license applications,
aid applications, grant agreements, grant applications, payment reimbursement
applications and any and all related documents in connection with
federal or state funding or regulation of County Sewer District or
Storm Drainage System projects.
(10)
The promulgation or amendment of procedural rules and regulations
for the operation of the POTW and County Storm Drainage System in
accordance with the provision of this Part 2.
(12)
The execution of contracts dealing with emergency conditions,
including but not limited to Wastewater Treatment Plant hauling and/or
disposal.
(13)
The authority to provide for the collection of delinquent payments
as defined in this Part 2.
(14)
Such other administrative duties and powers as may be prescribed
by law, County Charter, County Administrative Code, local law, resolution
or as may be prescribed by the County Legislature or the Administrative
Boards.
E.
The County Executive shall file with the Clerk of the Legislature
bi-monthly reports listing the contracts and contract change orders
approved and executed by the County Executive in accordance with the
provisions of this section. The reports shall include an itemized
listing of all contract change orders, the reason for each change
order, the amount of each change order, the cumulative total of all
change orders to each single contract, the percentage of the initial
contract which the change orders represent and the capital fund from
which contract payments will be made.
A.
Responsibilities of the Rochester Pure Waters and Gates-Chili-Ogden
Sewer Districts. The Rochester Pure Waters and Gates-Chili-Ogden Sewer
Districts shall accept responsibility for the part of a sewer lateral
which is located within the right-of-way, but only when there exists
a clean-out at the right-of-way line which allows access for maintenance
purposes. No fees or other charges shall be assessed for maintenance
and/or replacement of the lateral from the lot line cleanout to the
main sewer. A fee shall be charged to the property owner when service
is performed to the private section of the lateral at the discretion
of the County Sewer Districts, and when that service has been requested
by the property owner.
B.
Private sewer maintenance service. The Director is authorized to
provide sewer snaking and augering services to private sewer laterals,
provided that the owner(s) requesting private services agree(s) to
pay the necessary fee and that the County of Monroe and the County
Sewer Districts are not held responsible for damage done or injury
suffered from the performance of the requested services. An agreement
in the form of a work order shall be executed by both parties, acknowledging
such, prior to rendering private services. Any snaking and/or augering
service bill due prior to October 1 but unpaid by November 1, shall
be transferred to the County for collection as part of the combined
Town and County tax bill. The amount transferred shall be the sum
of unpaid original charges.
C.
Charges for private sewer maintenance. The charges for private sewer
maintenance will be included in the annual budget of the Rochester
Pure Waters District and the Gates-Chili-Ogden sewer District, listed
in the Scale of Charges and approved by the Monroe County Legislature
subject to public hearing.
D.
The User must construct and/or connect to the Rochester Pure Waters
District and Gates-Chili-Ogden Sewer District in accordance with the
codes and procedures defined in Monroe County's Sewer Construction
Standards and Specifications, as publically made available.
E.
Only the Rochester Pure Waters and Gates-Chili-Ogden Sewer Districts
have responsibility for lateral connections. In all other County Sewer
Districts, the local municipality retains the responsibility for lateral
connections into their local collection system. In this instance,
policy and procedures relating to lateral responsibilities and services
shall be under the jurisdiction of the individual municipality or
local sewer district.
All real property tax accounts within the geographic limits of the County Sewer Districts, including tax exempt and franchise properties, are subject to certain water pollution control charges, if connected to the POTW or if a sewer is available for connection. These charges shall appear on the County tax bill each calendar year (except those cases defined in § 343-82), as a User fee and shall be comprised of a capital charge and operation and maintenance charge. Both of these charges shall be applied and indicated separately on the Monroe County town and County tax bill and shall be subject to all payment policies and procedures therein. However, an account shall not be billed until its accumulated water pollutions control charge is $1 or more. Charges are calculated in accordance with §§ 343-76 through 343-81.
A.
Rochester Pure Waters District billing is based on a rate per thousand
dollars of assessed valuation without regard to exemptions from the
latest annual City of Rochester final assessment roll. The assessed
valuation used by the City of Rochester for tax roll preparation shall
be utilized for purposes of calculating the capital charge.
B.
Northwest Quadrant Pure Waters District, Gates-Chili-Ogden Sewer
District, Irondequoit Bay South Central Pure Waters District, Northwest
Quadrant Special (Zone of Assessment) Service Area billing and any
other district created, altered or modified by action of the Monroe
County Legislature is based on a rate per residential unit or its
equivalent as determined according to the property classification
and County Sewer District policy and shall be levied without regard
to exemptions. Accordingly, unit assignments for commercial, Industrial
Users and other nonresidential users shall be based upon a unit calculation
utilizing water consumption and a calculation of units per water meter
divided by the amount of the average residential water use defined
in the Scale of Charges approved annually by the Monroe County Legislature.
With the exception of the Rochester Pure Waters District, the capital
charge also includes a parcel charge, which is used to fund district
wide planning for all parcels within the geographic limits of that
particular County Sewer District. The capital charge is not approved
as part of the Scale of Charges, but is developed and adopted within
the annual budgets of the County Sewer Districts and the specific
approved allocation of capital expense for each of the County Sewer
Districts.
In all County Sewer Districts the operation and maintenance
charge is based on the amount of water consumption as reported during
the period approximating July to June immediately preceding the County
tax bill. Water consumption is determined by actual meter readings
or estimates provided by the appropriate water provider. Where metered
water does not represent the total consumption, the Director may use
an appropriate method to calculate consumption. Where actual meter
reads or estimates may not correspond to a full billing cycle, estimates
and appropriate adjustments shall be made to establish a full year's
billing. The total operation and maintenance charge is the product
of total water consumption, multiplied by the rate per thousand gallons
as adopted annually within the Scale of Charges of the County Sewer
Districts.
A.
In instances where it can be demonstrated that the volume of water
being discharged to the POTW is significantly less than that of the
metered incoming purchased water, a credit allowance shall be considered
that would accurately reflect the difference. The receive this credit,
the User must apply to be on the Credit Program and provide flow measurement
documentation to the Director in one or more of the following ways:
(1)
Install, at the User's expense, proper metering equipment which
shall measure that volume of water not being discharged to the POTW.
Such equipment and plans for installation must be approved by the
Director. The User must maintain and keep all equipment in working
condition at all times.
(2)
Install, at the User's expense, a metering system at the point
where the Wastewater is discharged to the POTW measuring the actual
amount of Wastewater being generated. The plot plan, piping design
and specifications for the Wastewater meter must be submitted to the
Director for approval before installation. The User must maintain
all equipment and keep it in working condition at all times.
(3)
The volume of water going into product may be established by evaluation
of water content in product and total volume of product. This data
must be submitted to the Director in substantiated form for his/her
consideration to establish a volume credit allowance against incoming
metered water.
(4)
A documented plant water balance may be submitted to show water usage
for various process operations. Based on this information, the Director
may deduct from the total incoming volume, those measured volumes
of water which are not discharged to the POTW.
(5)
In all applications above where the User is unable to use metered
water usage or metered discharge to ascertain a proper credit allowance,
the User shall develop a method of flow calculation that is acceptable
to the Director. All metering data and flow calculations, including
the formula used, shall be submitted to the Director annually.
B.
The User shall start obtaining credit once all required measuring
devices and documentation requirements are in place and it has been
approved for the credit program. The User must maintain compliance
with all agreed upon conditions and any new stipulations that the
Director may elect. Failure to submit the required documentation shall
forfeit any credit and remove the User from the credit program.
A.
Imposition of sewer surcharges. In addition to applicable charges
for the capital and operation and maintenance fees defined in this
Part 2, the owner of a municipal or private sewerage system or owner
or lessee of any parcel of real property connected with such system
or sewer, including, but not limited to, real property connected to
such system by means of a private sewer or drain discharging into
the POTW, shall pay a sewer surcharge for discharging the following:
(1)
Any Wastewater in which the concentration of BOD, TSS or P exceeds
those concentrations as defined for Normal Sewage as stated in this
Part 2.
(2)
Excessive flow, including but not limited to:
(a)
Any Unpolluted Waters discharged to the Sanitary Sewer from
Stormwater connections that have been specifically approved by the
Director through Permit or other legal instrument.
(b)
Any groundwaters and/or surface waters which enter the Sanitary
Sewer by Inflow and/or Infiltration, with the exception of those exempted
by the Director as a result of an approved Inflow and Infiltration
program.
(c)
Any groundwater and/or surface water entering the Combined Sewers
where the User has been directed by the Director to control the flow
to minimize or eliminate downstream POTW capacity issues.
B.
Sewer surcharge for exceeding Normal Sewage concentrations. The Director shall compute all surcharges in accordance with procedures adopted by the Monroe County Legislature and published in the County Sewer District Scale of Charges. The data used to compute the surcharge shall be supplied by inspections, measurement or monitoring, by the application for Permit and/or any method determined by the Director which gives, as nearly as possible, an accurate volume determination and/or the average Pollutant concentration. All surcharges shall be based on analysis of wastes from any plant or premises in relation to the total volume of wastes and waters, with the exception of special contracts in accordance with § 343-80 of this Part 2. The User shall have the option to sample and test its discharges for the purpose of validating and calculating the surcharge. The testing values shall be averaged with those testing values determined by the Director for the purposes of calculating the surcharge. The Director may require self-monitoring, in such cases as, but not limited to, seasonal variations in discharge concentrations. The Director may waive the surcharge fee for instances where administration and data collection costs exceed the amount expected to be recovered from the User. The data, once established as the average Pollutant concentration, shall be used until inspection or other reliable proof justifies a change in the surcharge or until the Director requests that a new average Pollutant concentration be established. In the event that the computation of surcharge is disputed by the User for such issues as Pollutant concentration, volume, annual representation of the waste discharged from a premises to the POTW or any other issue, an evaluation by the Director and User shall be completed. The Director shall make a ruling if a consensus cannot be achieved. The User may further dispute the surcharge in accordance with provisions in Article X of this Part 2.
C.
Sewer surcharge for excessive flows.
(1)
For individual Users of the County-owned or -operated POTW connected
to a Sanitary Sewer, when evidence exists either in the volume of
discharge, or observation of a connection(s) from a source(s) of Unpolluted
Water, the County Sewer District shall levy an annual surcharge to
that User. The Director may use one of the following methods to calculate
the annual surcharge or use an alternate method that recovers the
costs due to excessive flows:
(2)
For local governments, or other entities responsible for satellite
Sanitary Sewer Systems tributary to the POTW, when there exists evidence,
either in the volume of discharge, or observation of an Illicit Connection(s)
from source(s) of Unpolluted Water, the County Sewer District shall
levy an annual surcharge to that local government or other entity.
The Director may use one of the following methods to calculate the
annual surcharge or use an alternate method that recovers the costs
due to excessive flows:
(a)
One hundred dollars per unit, per year, for all units within
that satellite collection system or any portion thereof, tributary
to the POTW and operated by the local government or other entity;
or
(b)
An amount equal to the product of the total estimated amount
of flow that was in excess of purchased flow times 1.28 per unit,
per day, totaled for the year, multiplied by that County Sewer District's
operations and maintenance charge, and then divided by 1,000.
(3)
The Director may take into account factors, including but not limited
to geological conditions when setting an acceptable amount of excess
flow.
(4)
In addition to the above surcharges for excessive flow that are designated
to recover operation and maintenance expenses, the County Sewer District
retains the authority to levy an additional capital fee surcharge
that shall be associated with increased capital improvement expenses
necessary to construct facilities that need upsizing to handle the
additional hydraulic loading of these excessive flows from local governments
or other entities. This charge shall be calculated and assigned as
a share of the annual debt service for those facilities and based
upon the ratio of design capacity of the new or upgraded facilities
that are necessary due to the excessive flows.
The Director has the authority to negotiate contracts or write
into Permits special fees, charges and/or billing processes associated
with the handling of Wastewater. One of the following conditions must
exist before a special contract or Permit can be negotiated:
A.
The total volume to the POTW is greater than 1,000,000 gallons per
day or 5% of the average volume design capacity of the POTW's
treatment facility receiving the waste, or the Pollutant load is 5%
of the average design loading of the POTW's treatment facility
receiving the waste;
B.
The User is a local, State or federal government agency;
C.
Septic tank waste and other high strength wastes which are so unusual
that they are not covered by Scavenger Waste or surcharge provisions
of this Part 2; or
D.
An industry or establishment has a NYSDEC SPDES Permit to discharge
directly into Receiving Waters using some portion of the POTW or County
Storm Drainage System.
A.
Accounts having septic tanks and other accounts not connected to
the POTW shall not be billed an operation and maintenance charge.
B.
Adjustments may be made to correct errors and cover unusual circumstances.
Any payment received that results in an overpayment shall be a credit
to the account.
C.
Accounts for any employee-based industries that utilize nonmetered
water supply, at the discretion of the County Sewer District, may
be billed on an agreed to gallon-per-employee equivalent at a specified
reporting frequency.
D.
Accounts for residential Users without water meters shall be billed
based upon usage estimates as best established at the discretion of
the Director.
The following waste streams may be billed directly by the Director:
B.
Accounts having contaminated groundwater shall install a discharge
meter or develop another acceptable measuring method and furnish discharge
readings to the Director at a specified frequency.
C.
Trucked in wastes to the POTW, such as but not limited to, Scavenger
Waste, Sewage Sludge, approved sludge and grease.
E.
Special wastes approved for discharge by the Director.
F.
Cost recovery for services eligible for back charges.
G.
Other wastes that cannot be billed to the combined town and County
tax bill.
H.
New nonresidential accounts, until discharge history is established.
I.
Any accounts that cannot be individually billed on the combined town
and County tax bill for any reason.
Any County Sewer District bills due prior to October 1, but
unpaid by November 1, shall be transferred to the County for collection
as part of the combined town and County tax bill. The amount transferred
shall be the sum of unpaid original charges.
