The system shall, as far as possible, be operated and maintained
by the Township on a public utility basis as authorized by state law.
The system shall be operated on the same fiscal year as that of the
Township.
Customers shall be charged a sewer use fee in an amount established
by resolution of the Township Board.
A customer surcharge fee may be charged in an amount established
by resolution of the Township Board.
The owner of a premises who applies for connection of the building
sewer to the system shall pay the following at the time of application:
A. Availability fee. The availability fee shall be as established by
resolution of the Township Board. It shall be based on the frontage
of the premises upon a public street right-of-way; provided, however,
that if the premises does not front upon a public street right-of-way
and can only be served by an extension of the System placed in a public
utility easement, then the Availability Fee shall be based upon the
frontage of the Premises upon the public utility easement; and provided
further that the Water and Sewer Committee shall establish the guidelines
necessary to apply the availability fee to situations where a gravity
flow sewer is constructed in a public utilities easement which does
not follow the public or private street rights-of-way and similar
situations to which the availability fee is not readily applicable.
B. Trunkage connection fee; trunkage connection fee surcharge; NKSA
joint system connection fee.
(1) Owners of premises within the area served by the system from which
sanitary sewage originates and any owner of premises within the area
served by the system from which sanitary sewage does not originate,
who thereafter improves the same by the erection of structures or
buildings thereon which have sanitary or industrial sewage facilities,
shall pay a trunkage connection fee for connection to the system in
such amount as the Township Board shall determine by resolution.
(2) In addition to the trunkage connection fee imposed by this section,
the Township Board may impose a "Trunkage Connection Fee Surcharge."
(3) Owners of premises which connect to the public sewer after December
14, 2005, or who thereafter make a change in the use or plumbing system
in the building in such a manner as to increase the meter size, or
water service usage for nonmetered premises, shall pay an NKSA joint
system connection fee in such amount as may be assessed by the Authority
to the Township for said connection to the NKSA joint system. The
NKSA joint system connection fee shall be in addition to the trunkage
connection fee and the trunkage connection fee surcharge.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. II)]
C. Service stub fee. The service stub fee shall be as established by
resolution of the Township Board. If the Township does not install
the service stub, no service stub fee shall be payable and the applicant
for a sewer connection permit shall be responsible for all costs of
installing a service stub, including restoration.
Premises located in a special assessment district established by the Township to finance a portion of the system and subject to a "full special assessment" on the respective special assessment roll shall receive full credit towards payment of the availability fee, trunkage connection fee and service stub fee as determined by the Water and Sewer Committee; provided, however, that such credit shall not result in a full or partial refund of the special assessment paid or payable pursuant to the special assessment roll. For purposes of this §
367-45, a "full special assessment" shall be deemed to be a special assessment levied by the Township and comprised of components related to the costs which are intended to be offset by the availability fee, trunkage connection fee and service stub fee. The Township reserves the right to charge an additional availability fee, trunkage connection fee and service stub fee for premises for which there has been a lot split, a change in the use of all or part of the premises to a more intensive use or for which an availability fee was not charged, regardless of the reasons, for the entire eligible frontage of the premises.
The inspection fee shall be as established by resolution of
the Township Board.
[Amended 6-22-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-8]
The Township may, from time to time, establish and impose on
one or more customers of the system a miscellaneous customer fee as
necessary for miscellaneous services, repairs and related administrative
costs associated with operating and maintaining the system and not
covered by the sewer use fee, including, without limitation, repair
to the system or components thereof caused by the negligent or intentional
acts of a customer or other persons using the premises of a customer,
shutoff and turn-on charges and review of plans, specifications and
other information for connection, pretreatment and other proposed
uses of the system, and expenses incurred by the Township in connection
with inspection and repair or replacement of building drains and building
sewers.
It shall be the duty of the Water and Sewer Administrator to
bill and collect all Sewer Rates and Charges. The Water and Sewer
Administrator shall mail each customer a bill on or before the first
day of the first month in the quarterly billing period. The bill shall
separately itemize the sewer rates and charges payable. Payment of
the bill is due and payable on or before the last day of the first
month in the quarterly billing period. Payment of said bill shall
be made at a location designated by the Township Board.
If sewer rates and charges are not paid on or before the due
date then a penalty of 1% per month, commencing 30 days after the
due date, shall be charged on the unpaid balance, together with interest
at the rate of 1% per month charged on the unpaid balance, commencing
30 days after the due date.
If sewer rates and charges are not paid on or before the due
date, the Township, pursuant to Act 178 of the Public Acts of Michigan
of 1939, as amended, may: (a) discontinue the service provided by the system by disconnecting the building sewer from the service stub or inserting a shutoff valve in the service stub and the service so discontinued shall not be reinstated until all sums then due and owing, including time price differential, penalties, interest and all expenses incurred by the Township for shutting off and turning on the service, shall be paid to the Township; (b) institute an action in any court of competent jurisdiction of the collection of the amounts unpaid, including time price differential, penalties, interest and reasonable attorney fees; or (c) enforce the lien created in §
367-51 below. These remedies shall be cumulative and shall be in addition to any other remedy provided in this chapter or now or hereafter existing at law or in equity. Under no circumstances shall action taken by the Township to collect unpaid sewer rates and charges, time price differential, penalties and interest, invalidate or waive the lien created by §
367-51 below.
The sewer rates and charges shall be a lien on the respective
premises served by the system. Whenever sewer rates and charges shall
be unpaid for 90 days or more, they shall be considered delinquent.
The Treasurer shall certify annually all delinquent sewer rates and
charges and time price differential thereon, together with an additional
amount equal to 6% of the aggregate amount delinquent, on or before
September 1, of each year, to the tax assessing officer of the Township,
who shall enter the delinquent sewer rates and charges, time price
differential, interest and penalties upon the next tax roll as a charge
against the premises affected and such charge shall be collected and
the lien thereon enforced in the same manner as ad valorem property
taxes levied against such premises.
A lien shall not attach for sewer rates and charges to a premises which is subject to a legally executed lease that expressly provides that the tenant (and not the landlord) of the premises or a dwelling unit thereon shall be liable for payment of sewer rates and charges, effective for services which accrue after the date an affidavit is filed by the landlord with the Township. This affidavit shall include the names and addresses of the parties, the expiration date of the lease and an agreement by the landlord to give the Township 20 days' written notice of any cancellation, change in or termination of the lease. The filing of the affidavit by the landlord shall be accompanied by a true copy of the lease and a security deposit in the amount of $100 per unit. Upon the failure of the tenant to pay the sewer rates and charges when due, the security deposit shall be applied by the Township against the unpaid balance, including time price differential, interest and penalties. Upon notification from the Township, the tenant shall immediately make sufficient payment to the Township to cover the amount of the security deposit so advanced. Upon the failure of the tenant to do so within 10 days of said notification, the penalties, rights and remedies set forth in §§
367-50 and 367-51of this article shall be applicable with respect to the unpaid sewer rates and charges, including time price differential, interest and penalties. The security deposit shall be held by the Township without interest and shall be returned to the landlord upon proof of termination of the lease.
No free service shall be furnished by the system to any person,
public or private, or to any public agency or instrumentality.
Applications for sewer connection permits may be denied or canceled
and/or sewer service disconnected by the Township for any violation
of any part of this chapter, including, without limitation, any of
the following reasons:
A. Misrepresentation in the permit application as to the nature or extent
of the property to be serviced by the system.
B. Nonpayment of sewer rates and charges.
C. Improper or imperfect and/or failure to keep building sewers in a
suitable state of repair.
D. Discharges in violation of this chapter.
E. Damage to any part of the system.
F. Failure to comply with the rules and regulations adopted by the Township
for the administration of this chapter.
Where the sewer service supplied to a customer has been discontinued for nonpayment of sewer rates and charges, service shall not be reestablished until all delinquent sewer rates and charges, time price differential, interest and penalties, and the turn-on charge has been paid. The Township reserves the right as a condition to reconnect said service to request that a nominal sum of $100 per unit be placed on deposit with the Township for the purpose of establishing or maintaining any customer's credit. Said deposit shall not be considered in lieu of any future billing for sewer rates and charges. Upon the failure of the customer to pay the sewer rates and charges when due, the security deposit shall be applied by the Township against the unpaid balance, including time price differential, interest and penalties. Upon notification by the Township, the customer shall immediately make sufficient payment to the Township to cover the amount of the security deposit so advanced. Upon the failure of the customer to do so within 10 days of said notification, the penalties, rights and remedies set forth in §§
367-51 and
367-52 of this article shall be applicable with respect to the unpaid sewer rates and charges, including time price differential, interest and penalties. The security deposit shall be held by the Township without interest and shall be returned to the customer upon continued timely payments by the customer of all sewer rates and charges as and when due, for a minimum of four successive quarterly billing periods.