City of Lavon, TX SEWER SERVICE

Any delinquent sanitary sewer service account outstanding by the due date of the month following the billing cycle shall receive a disconnect notice as a part of their next bill.

Customers that have arrears on their bills will receive a disconnection notice. This notice will include a date that services will be disconnected. Red door hangers will be put on all customer doors to be disconnected the Thursday prior to the disconnection date. Should the Thursday prior to disconnection fall on a holiday it will be the first business day prior to that holiday.

At the time of disconnection the city employee who is disconnecting the service will affix a notice to the front door of the residence or business, which shall read, “WARNING - Sanitary Sewer Service has been disconnected from this residence or business and it is unlawful to use sanitary sewer system at this location or remove this notice until sanitary sewer service is lawfully reconnected,” or similar wording that conveys the same information.

(e)

Disconnection of service.

Any sanitary sewer service account for which full payment has not been received or suitable arrangements have been made by 9 a.m. on the disconnect date may be disconnected by the city.

The city may disconnect services by any means appropriate, including cutting, blocking, stopping or removing the sanitary sewer service line.

No sanitary sewer service will be reconnected until all unpaid utility bills, reconnection fees and other fees are paid in full to the city.

(f)

Fees.

The city will assess fees on delinquent accounts as appropriate. All fees associated with this can be found in the fee schedule in appendix A, as amended, of this code.

(g)

Extreme hardship cases.

Except as provided below, the city will not terminate sewer service to a delinquent residential customer permanently residing in an individually metered dwelling unit, when the customer establishes to the city that discontinuance of service will result in some person at that residence becoming seriously ill or more seriously ill. To avoid disconnection under these circumstances, the customer must provide a written statement from a physician to the city prior to the stated date of disconnection. The city shall be solely responsible for determining whether a customer meets the requirements of this subsection. Sewer service may be disconnected with additional notice if the customer’s next monthly sewer bill and the past due bill are not paid by the due date of the next monthly sanitary sewer bill.

(h)

Deferred payment plan.

A deferred payment plan is an agreement between a delinquent customer and the city, which will allow delinquent customer to pay off previous unpaid utility bills, other city fees and the current monthly bill in equal payments over no more than four months. The payment amount will include the delinquent amount divided by four or less months plus the current month’s bill. There shall be a written agreement required in order to execute a deferred payment plan. The following items will be required in the written agreement:

Provides up to but not more than four months to pay all delinquent amounts, in equal or as near equal as possible monthly payments;

Includes a deferred payment fee;

Provides that, in the event of any default of the deferred payment plan, services shall be terminated without further notice.

(i)

Additional rules; closed accounts.

The city may develop forms and rules that are consistent with the purposes stated herein.

The city has the authority to plug all residential sanitary sewer accounts that have been closed. These accounts will be unplugged with no additional fees at such time as a new resident comes into city hall, signs up for service and pays their administration fees.

(j)

Returned check fee.

If any customer pays for sanitary sewer services with a check that is dishonored for any reason, there is hereby assessed a returned check fee, plus the amount of any charges imposed on the city by the bank or banks that handled the check. All fees associated with this can be found in the fee schedule in appendix A, as amended, of this code.

(k)

Offenses; tampering with sewage works.

It shall be unlawful for an unauthorized person to damage, break, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with any structure, locks, plugs, appurtenance or equipment which is a part of the sewage works.

It shall be unlawful for any person to use or allow to be used any sanitary sewer system which is currently disconnected under this section.

It shall be unlawful to remove any notice of disconnection while the sanitary sewer service is disconnected.

(l)

Lien for unpaid charges.

Pursuant to chapter 552 of the Texas Local Government Code, there is hereby imposed a lien on each property that is served by the city’s sanitary sewer system to secure the payment of delinquent municipal utility accounts. This lien does not attach to property that is a homestead protected by the state constitution, nor does it secure the payment of any municipal utility bills that were incurred by a tenant of the property prior to the effective date of this section.