[Adopted 12-17-2003 by Ord. No. 1205]
All occupied buildings within the Borough of Springdale (hereafter
the "Borough") situated so that water service is available shall connect
to the public water supply of the Borough. All new connections to
the public water supply, including installation of meters, shall be
constructed by or at the direction of appropriate officials of the
Borough. Multiple-family dwellings or buildings with a combination
of residential and commercial units, where the units are owned independently,
must have separate service connections installed when a main line
is replaced, inadequate plumbing connections are found, or a property
is sold. If a main line is being replaced, the fee for the new connections
shall be waived for existing structures. If units in a multiple-family
dwelling are metered separately but do not have separate service connections,
when a mainline is replaced or inadequate plumbing connections are
found, separate service connections must be installed. If a main line
is being replaced, the fee for the new connections shall be waived
for existing structures.
The owner of any property newly connected to the public water
supply of the Borough shall pay the entire cost of such connection
prior to the commencement of service. The charges for such connections
shall be calculated in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as provided in Schedule A, which is attached hereto
and hereby incorporated by reference.[1] All connections shall be constructed by or at the direction
of the Borough of Springdale.
[1]
Editor's Note: Schedule A, New Connection Charges, is included
as an attachment to this chapter.
B.
Minimum rates apply to any service during the quarterly billing cycle.
C.
All new service lines shall be metered, including service for emergency
and standby service. Existing unmetered service and new fire suppression,
emergency, or standby use shall be billed quarterly based on the metered
water at the established rates in effect, plus at the following rates:
(1)
Fifty dollars per month minimum charge.
(2)
Fifty-five dollars per month for lines four inches or wider.
(3)
Eighty dollars per month for lines six inches or wider.
(4)
One hundred thirty-five dollars per month for lines eight inches
or wider.
(5)
One hundred sixty dollars per month for lines 10 inches or wider.
The Borough, in its discretion, may provide water service to municipalities or private customers outside the Borough. All such service shall be charged at the rates provided in § 472-37 above, unless Borough Council provides otherwise by ordinance or resolution. The Borough may for convenience issue a single bill to an outside municipality for all water service provided by the Borough to the outside municipality's water customers.
The Borough shall collect garbage from properties within the Borough at the times and in the manner which it considers appropriate. Such service may be performed by employees, agents or independent contractors of the Borough at the Borough's option. "Garbage collection service," as used in this Part 3, shall include collection of garbage, rubbish, lawn debris and such other items as Borough officials may determine. All garbage collection service shall be billed quarterly at the rate of $27 per dwelling unit. If an account is started or stopped during a quarterly billing cycle, the account will be charged 1/3 of the quarterly rate for each month service is active. Borough Council may exempt multiple dwelling properties subscribing to a private refuse service from garbage collection service under this section.
Water, sewage and garbage collection service provided by the
Borough shall be billed quarterly. All bills may be prepaid. A single
deposit of $50 shall be required prior to commencement of all water
service. A separate deposit shall be required for each metered water
connection to the water supply. Deposits may not be transferred to
other customers or properties. Each customer shall sign a service
agreement on a form provided by the Borough prior to commencement
of service. A late charge of 1 1/2% per month shall be imposed
on all bills not paid by the stated due date. A charge of $25 shall
be imposed on all returned checks.
All bills for water, sewage and garbage collection service are
considered delinquent if not paid by the due date listed on the bill.
Delinquent customers shall be mailed a notice of intention to terminate
water service. If the bill remains unpaid for 10 days after mailing
of the notice, water service may be terminated at any time after notice
to terminate service is posted at a main entrance to the premises.
A reconnection fee of $50 must be paid before service can be restored
to terminated accounts, in addition to the entire past-due balance.
If an account is not reactivated by the customer whose service was
terminated for delinquency, the deposit on the terminated account
is automatically forfeited in lieu of the reconnection fee. Before
service to a billing address can be started, all delinquent charges
for the service address must be paid. All delinquent water, sewage
and garbage collection charges may also be enforced by filing and
executing a municipal lien claim or an action at law. Such claims
and actions may include interest and attorney's fees to the full
extent of the law. In the case of delinquent water charges, 30 days'
notice of the delinquency shall be given to the customer before filing
a municipal lien claim or action at law. In the event of a transfer
of the property through a sheriff sale or other legal action, any
delinquent balance must be paid before water service can be restored.
If, subsequently, the Borough of Springdale is reimbursed through
another source, the owner at the time of the subsequent reimbursement
shall be refunded the duplicate payment, less a $25 administrative
fee. If the duplicate delinquent payment is less than $25, then 50%
of the duplicate payment shall be kept as an administrative fee. No
duplicate payments of less than $10 shall be refunded.
The Borough and all of its agents and employees are hereby granted
reasonable access to all water and sewer facilities in the Borough,
including but not limited to lines and meters, as necessary for repair,
maintenance, and calculation of usage, as well as verification of
accuracy and integrity. Where such facilities are located in or on
private property, access shall be accomplished with the consent of
the property owner, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld.
All property owners who refuse or ignore three requests for access
to water or sewage facilities are considered to be in violation of
this Part 3 and subject to its penalties.
If a separate water meter is provided to each occupied unit in a building leased to tenants, both the tenant and landlord of each unit are responsible for all water, sewage and garbage collection services rendered to that unit and both must sign the service agreement provided for in § 472-41 above. Failure by the property owner to sign the service agreement does not relieve the property owner of any responsibilities under this Part 3, including payment of delinquent bills. If only a single water meter is provided for an entire building which is leased to multiple tenants, the landlord is responsible for all such charges and must sign the service agreement, but the entire building is subject to termination of water service in the case of delinquency. Such termination shall be performed as provided in § 472-42 above, except that the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania relating to termination of water service to landlord ratepayers shall be observed.
All residents and owners of property within the Borough shall cooperate in the administration of this Part 3 so that water, sewage and garbage collection service shall be economically and safely provided. All users of such services shall provide such information and take such other actions as shall be requested by Borough officials for safe and economical service. Failure to observe the provisions of this section shall be considered a violation of this Part 3.
No person shall replace, remove, alter, repair, damage or destroy
water meters or other property of the Borough of Springdale except
with the express permission of authorized Borough officials. Any person
engaging in such acts without proper permission shall be considered
to be in violation of this Part 3 and subject to its penalties.
In the event that the Borough is unable for any reason to calculate
a water or sewage bill based upon actual usage, an estimated bill
may be issued. In the event that such failure is totally or partly
caused by failure of the customer to grant reasonable access to facilities
or other violation of this Part 3 by the customer, a reasonable estimation
will be calculated and an additional charge of up to $50 may be added
to each bill. If a meter is removed or an unmetered connection is
found, the owner will be responsible for any estimated water charge,
real or assumed, by the estimation of the Borough before water service
may be restored. The charge will be calculated at the current rate
in effect, not necessarily those in effect at the time of usage.
Any or all of the rates, fees and charges listed in this Part
3 may be changed by amendment to this Part 3 or by a resolution adopted
by Borough Council.
No water, sewage or garbage collection charges shall be exonerated,
nor shall any customers be excused from action to collect delinquencies,
except by action of Borough Council at a public meeting.
Any person, corporation or other entity who obtains water or sewage services without proper payment, who refused to connect a building to the public water supply, who fails to cooperate in the administration of this Part 3 when requested to do so, or who otherwise violates any of the provisions of this Part 3 shall be subject to a fine of not more than $600 and to termination of water service and filing of a municipal lien claim or legal action in accordance with § 472-42 above. Each day during which a violation continues shall be considered a separate offense. The Borough may also take all appropriate action to prevent, restrain, abate, terminate or correct any and all violations of this Part 3 and to collect all costs of such action, plus all attorney fees, in a legal proceeding.
[Added 11-20-2018 by Ord.
No. 1278[1]]
Any modification of any rates for water sewage and/or garbage
collection service shall be done through a duly enacted resolution
of Borough Council.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided for the renumbering
of the remaining sections.
If any sentence, clause, section or part of this Part 3 is for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, section or parts of this Part 3. It is hereby declared as the intent of the Borough of Springdale that this Part 3 would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence, clause, section or part thereof not been included herein.
This Part 3 shall become effective beginning with billings on
or after December 31, 2003. All rates, fees and charges enacted by
prior ordinances or resolutions shall remain valid for the period
prior to the effective date of this Part 3.
