[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Phillipsburg 12-16-1986 by Ord. No. O:86-44 (Ch. 54 of the 1969 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Uniform construction codes — See Ch. 235.
Sewage disposal systems — See Ch. 485.
Sewers, sewage and industrial waste — See Ch. 492.
[Amended 6-6-2006 by Ord. No. O:2006-24]
A Municipal Sewer Utility is hereby established within the Town of Phillipsburg in the County of Warren and State of New Jersey for the regulation and use of a municipal sewage treatment plant, to ensure proper operation and the protection and preservation of the sewage treatment plant, to fix the amount and charges therefor and to provide rules and regulations therefor. The municipal sewage treatment plant, including any appurtenant structures, works, fixtures and equipment relating thereto and all extensions and improvements thereof situate in, constructed or acquired at public expense by the Town of Phillipsburg, shall hereafter be operated, maintained, managed and controlled by the Town Council of the Town of Phillipsburg as a publicly owned municipal sewer utility and shall, for accounting purposes, be a separate entity having its own borrowing capacity, its own separate accounts and its own separate property, whether real, personal or mixed, within the meaning of N.J.S.A. 40A:4-33 and N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-1 et seq., amendments thereof and supplements thereto, and all other provisions of other laws applicable.
The Municipal Sewer Utility for the Town of Phillipsburg shall be known as the "Town of Phillipsburg Municipal Sewer Utility."
A. 
The management and the affairs of the Municipal Sewer Utility shall be handled by the Business Administrator. Rules and regulations not inconsistent with this chapter shall be made from time to time whenever deemed necessary.
B. 
The Business Administrator shall appoint from time to time such employees as he shall deem necessary for the proper administration of the business of said sewer utility.
C. 
The salary of all of the employees of the Municipal Sewer Utility shall not be in such amount as shall be fixed by a Salary Ordinance of the Town Council from time to time.
There is hereby established a sewer user charge system for the use, operation, maintenance and replacement of the municipal sewage treatment plant of the Town of Phillipsburg to be imposed upon each user at the rates established annually.
[Added 4-2-1996 by Ord. No. O:96-06; amended 2-5-2008 by Ord. No. O:2008-02; 3-5-2013 by Ord. No. O:2013-05; 5-21-2013 by Ord. No. O:2013-09; 11-7-2018 by Ord. No. O; 12-17-2019 by Ord. No. O:2019-33A; 2-16-2021 by Ord. No. O:2021-08; 2-15-2022 by Ord. No. O:2022-03]
A. 
Sewer fees are based upon actual measured readings obtained from water company presently servicing the Phillipsburg area. Quarterly bills will be calculated based on the readings obtained from the water company. Should a reading be deemed inaccurate or rejected due to interruption of service, meter replacement or faulty reading, the bill issued will be based on a calculation using an average of most recent consecutive six months. In addition, there shall be a flat rate per quarter in addition to the usage per gallon charge as set forth below.
B. 
Fees are based upon actual water usage as measured by Aqua New Jersey Water Company. Charges shall be applied as follows:
(1) 
Year 2022:
(a) 
Residential, including multiple family, flat quarterly fee, per household $20.
(b) 
Residential per gallon usage charge $0.0062.
(c) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches, flat quarterly fee $25.
(d) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches per gallon usage charge $0.0075.
(e) 
Business commercial, flat quarterly fee $50.
(f) 
Business commercial per gallon usage charge $0.0075.
(g) 
Industrial, flat quarterly fee $60.
(h) 
Industrial per gallon usage charge $0.0075.
(i) 
Sending districts per gallon charge based on flow $0.0054.
(2) 
Year 2023:
(a) 
Residential, including multiple family, flat quarterly fee, per household $25.
(b) 
Residential per gallon usage charge $0.0063.
(c) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches, flat quarterly fee $30.
(d) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches per gallon usage charge $0.0076.
(e) 
Business commercial, flat quarterly fee $60.
(f) 
Business commercial per gallon usage charge $0.0076.
(g) 
Industrial, flat quarterly fee $70.
(h) 
Industrial per gallon usage charge $0.0076.
(i) 
Sending districts per gallon charge based on flow $0.0054.
(3) 
Year 2024:
(a) 
Residential, including multiple family, flat quarterly fee, per household $30.
(b) 
Residential per gallon usage charge $0.0064.
(c) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches, flat quarterly fee $35.
(d) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches per gallon usage charge $0.0077.
(e) 
Business commercial, flat quarterly fee $70.
(f) 
Business commercial per gallon usage charge $0.0077.
(g) 
Industrial, flat quarterly fee $80.
(h) 
Industrial per gallon usage charge $0.0077.
(i) 
Sending districts per gallon charge based on flow $0.0054.
(4) 
Year 2025:
(a) 
Residential, including multiple family, flat quarterly fee, per household $35.
(b) 
Residential per gallon usage charge $0.0065.
(c) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches, flat quarterly fee $40.
(d) 
Commercial/apartments/schools/churches per gallon usage charge $0.0078.
(e) 
Business commercial, flat quarterly fee $75.
(f) 
Business commercial per gallon usage charge $0.0078.
(g) 
Industrial, flat quarterly fee $85.
(h) 
Industrial per gallon usage charge $0.0078.
(i) 
Sending districts per gallon charge based on flow $0.0054.
C. 
The following sewer user charges shall be applied when subject property has unmetered water consumption:
(1) 
Residential.
Flat quarterly fee
17 billing units
(2) 
Multifamily residential.
Flat quarterly fee
17 billing units x number of families
(3) 
Business/commercial/industrial.
Flat quarterly fee
34 billing units
(4) 
Commercial/multifamily residential.
Flat quarterly fee
17 billing units or 34 billing units based upon usage
(5) 
A billing unit is hereby defined as 1,000 gallons of water measurement.
The Town Council shall review, not less often than annually, the total cost of operation and maintenance of the municipal sewage treatment plant and its user charge system. The Town Council shall revise the charges for users or user classes to accomplish the following:
A. 
Generate sufficient revenue to pay the total operation and maintenance costs necessary for the proper operation and maintenance, including replacement, of the municipal sewage treatment plant.
B. 
Charge interest on all delinquent accounts as provided by N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-12, more specifically, draw the same interest from the time they become due as taxes upon real estate in the municipality and shall be a lien upon the premises connected until paid.
[Added 6-19-1990 by Ord. No. O:90-12; amended 1-25-1994 by Ord. No. O:94-3; 6-6-2006 by Ord. No. O:2006-24]
(1) 
The present rates of delinquent taxes are as follows:
(a) 
First $1,500 of delinquency: 8%.
(b) 
Over $1,500 of delinquency: 18%.
(c) 
An additional 6% on amounts in excess of $10,000 as of December 31 of the current year.
(2) 
A ten-day grace period shall be granted for the payment of current sewer charges.
(3) 
The Sewer Collector is hereby authorized to process and cancel any sewer payment refund or delinquency of less than $5.
[Amended 4-16-1991 by Ord. No. O:91-13; 11-12-2025 by Ord. No. O:2025-19]
A. 
Payment of municipal sewer user charges shall be made to the Town of Phillipsburg Municipal Sewer Utility.
B. 
In the event that any check tendered for the payment of municipal sewer charges is returned to the Sewer Utility for insufficient funds or is dishonored by the bank upon which it is drawn, there shall be assessed to the account of the taxpayer a service charge in the amount of $35.00 for the handling of said check. That $35.00 shall become a lien against the property in question in the same manner as delinquent sewer bills in the Town of Phillipsburg.
C. 
Subsequent payments may be required by the Sewer Utility Collector to be made by cash, certified check or cashier's check for all future payments.
[Added 11-7-1990 by Ord. No. O:90-29]
A. 
Should any user of the above wastewater treatment service disagree with his periodic billings, said user shall be entitled to a hearing before the Business Administrator, the Business Administrator's designee and the Sewer Utility Collector.
B. 
The express purpose of this amendment is to provide the right to a hearing and is not intended to reduce the billing for routine lawn watering, car washing and/or swimming pool fillings. It is intended to apply to users who have had leaks in their water supply systems.
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days, or both. A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs and continues.