[Amended 7-5-2017 by Ord.
No. 05-2017]
The charges and fees for connection and for use of the local
sewerage system and the SCMUA Sewage Treatment Plant shall be set
by the Borough. Said charges and fees shall be recomputed annually
as necessary in accordance with the law and shall be set forth in
the Borough's Fees Schedule. The Borough shall charge user charges
to the user and the user shall pay such to the Borough on a quarterly
basis. For the purposes of this section, the quarterly periods shall
be calendar quarters, and user charges shall be due and payable each
year on February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1.
Unpaid user or service charges and rents shall begin to accrue
interest 30 days after the date for the payment thereof, at a rate
established in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-17, and shall be a
first lien against the premises until paid in full. The Borough may
exercise the same remedies for the collection of such unpaid user
or service charges and rents with interest, costs and penalties provided
in N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-12 as it has by law for the collection of taxes
upon real estate.
The owner of each premises will be held responsible for the sewer charges of their tenants since the sewer charge is a lien on the property as stated in §
95-65 of this chapter.
If a bill remains unpaid for a period of 30 days after the billing
date, it shall be classed as delinquent and, upon 10 days' notice
to the property owner, service may be discontinued. Said written notice
shall be mailed by regular mail to the owner of record of the property
as shown on the tax assessment records. If service is thus discontinued,
it will be restored the next business day after all bills, statutory
interest, and the required service fee, as set forth in the Borough's
Fees Schedule, are paid. In any event, if a user account has been
deemed delinquent, user charges and interest, if any, shall continue
to accrue until such time as all delinquent charges, interest thereon
and applicable service fee(s) have been paid.
A service connection fee shall be paid prior to any connection
being made to the Borough's system and/or prior to the issuance of
a certificate of occupancy. The service connection fee shall be computed
each year in accordance with applicable state statutes and the Fees
Schedule. The minimum connection fee shall be equivalent to that of
a single-family dwelling unit as specified in the Fees Schedule. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, said connection fee will be waived if connection is
made within 180 calendar days of the Borough's issuance of a notice
to connect.
[Amended 10-6-2021 by Ord. No. 07-2021]
A. Each user, except an exempt user, will receive a charge for sewer
service to cover the debt service plus operation, maintenance, and
replacement costs of the Borough's sewer system, and Branchville's
share of such for the SCMUA system. Quarterly sewer charges shall
be computed as set forth on the Fees Schedule. Exempt users shall
not be obligated to pay a user charge.
[Amended 6-3-2020 by Ord. No. 02-2020]
B. The method for determining this charge will be based on an equivalent
single-family dwelling unit (EDU) system as set forth in the Fees
Schedule. The number of EDUs for any particular use computed in accordance
with the Fees Schedule shall be rounded up to the nearest 0.25 EDU;
i.e., a computation of 1.37 EDUs shall be rounded up to 1.50 EDUs.
C. The Borough reserves the right to modify the number of gallons and
EDUs per unit of measurement assigned to any user based upon the projected
design flow for each application, or best engineering judgment when
allowing for mixed uses. A nonresidential portion of a mixed-use property
will be calculated at a minimum of one EDU. Further, the Borough reserves
the right to modify the number of EDUs assigned to any user, based
on actual discharge volumes.
D. The following
users are exempt from service and connections fees.
(1) All
Branchville Borough municipal properties (i.e., Borough Hall, 34 Wantage
Avenue, Block 201, Lot 12, and Borough Garage, Garage Avenue, Block
203, Lot 8).
(2) Branchville
Hose Company No. 1 (Branchville Fire Department, Railroad Avenue,
Block 202, Lot 37).
A surcharge may be imposed on a user of the Borough's system
when a user's sewage volume, quality, or other characteristics is
not in compliance with the Borough or SCMUA rules and regulations,
and said noncompliance causes an increase in cost to the Borough and/or
SCMUA for managing all sewage and sludges affected by said noncomplying
discharge. Such surcharge shall be equal to the increase in cost to
the Borough and/or SCMUA for the treatment of all sewage and sludges
affected by the noncomplying sewage discharge.
Laboratory analyses will be performed, if deemed necessary,
on composite samples of a user's sewage flow to determine its biological
and chemical composition. The results of these analyses will be used
to determine a user's surcharge, if any. The standard laboratory procedures
shall be those found in the latest edition of Standard Methods for
the Examination of Water and Wastewater. The costs of these analyses
shall be paid by the user if it is found to violate these rules.
When laboratory analyses are performed for the purposes described in §
95-73 above, and the Borough, in its own discretion, believes the BOD of the sewage does not represent the true character of the oxygen demand, the Borough reserves the right to use chemical oxygen demand (COD) instead of BOD to determine whether a surcharge is warranted and/or the amount of said surcharge.
The fee for the closing of any service lateral to a building
shall be equal to the costs incurred by the Borough in the closing
of the line.
The fee for reopening any service lateral to a building shall
be equal to the reopening fee set forth in the Borough Construction
Code Fee Ordinance, plus the costs incurred by the Borough in the
reopening of the line.