A. 
The Town Council shall establish the user charge system in accordance with appropriate federal and state laws, rules and regulations and shall further the equitable allocations of the capital and operating costs of the public sewerage system among municipal use and the general public benefit, private use and the availability of use to properties not connected to the system. Subject to these requirements, such charges and any classification thereof shall be fair and reasonable, bearing a substantial relationship to the cost of providing sewage facilities and services to the Town. Such charges shall be at a rate sufficient to approximate 100% of the total annual cost of providing sewage facilities and services to the Town unless the Town Council elects to offset some capital costs from general Town funds. Such charges shall include adequate revenues for renewal and replacement of the wastewater facilities.
B. 
The user charge system shall include a financial management system which accounts for sewer system revenues and expenditures.
A. 
The Town Council is hereby authorized to establish, alter from time to time and levy, upon persons owning land abutting on or served by an existing or future public sewer, sewer user fees and industrial waste surcharge fees for the use of and for the services furnished by such sewers or available to such land, whether or not such land is connected to the public sewer. Such fees shall be established by the Town Council on an annual basis after public hearing.
B. 
Sewer user fees shall be based on the amount of water, estimated or measured, as shown on the records of the Portland Water District, provided to the sewer user during the previous billing period; provided, however, that where water is obtained from a source or sources other than the Portland Water District, whether or not the Portland Water District also supplies water, the computation shall include the amount of water obtained from all such other sources, unless the user established that the water from such other sources is not entering the sewer system. The Town may require, or the user may opt for, additional metering, either of water sources or of the sewer outflow, to be installed and maintained at the owner's expense where such metering is required to accurately measure the volume of wastewater entering the sewer system.
C. 
Each sewer user shall pay a minimum fee regardless of actual water usage. Such minimum fee shall be established by the Town Council on an annual basis.
D. 
Industrial waste surcharge fees shall be charged to users which have or may have industrial wastes discharging to the public sewer system. Such fees may be based on measured or estimated quantities of material exceeding the limits listed in Article VI and on Town costs for administering and monitoring the provisions in Article VI related to industrial wastes.
E. 
Readiness-to-serve fees shall be charged to properties which abut a public sewer having available to it a connection stub. Such fees can be used only for payment of fixed costs that are not related to flow.
F. 
Buy-in fees shall be established by the Town Council. Buy-in fees are charged per unit to any new installation after January 1, 2026, and shall be $5,000/unit (i.e., apt.) or based on design flow calculated by the Superintendent. On or before to December 31, 2025, Superintendent shall have the authority to adjust this fee to proportional reflect the appropriate charge.
G. 
User charges. Each user connected or unconnected to the sewerage system shall pay a sewer charge to cover the costs of management, maintenance, operation and repair, including replacement of the wastewater system. Sewer user charges shall be based on water use. The applicable charge shall be established by the Town Council.
(1) 
Sewer surcharges may be levied upon users who discharge wastewaters to the system that are above normal strength. The discharge of septage is an example of assigning a surcharge for operation and maintenance. For the purpose of determining the surcharge, normal domestic wastewater shall be considered to each have a BOD and suspended solids concentration of 250 mg/l.
(2) 
Any user contributing more than 5,000 gallons per day to the system and whose discharge strength is greater than 600 mg/l BOD or 300 mg/l TSS shall prepare and file with the District a report that shall include pertinent data relating to the wastewater characteristics, including the methods of sampling and measurement to obtain this data, and these data shall be used to calculate the user charge for that user. The District shall have the right to gain access to the waste stream and take its own samples.
A. 
Bills for all charges under this article are payable by the owner but may be sent to other persons on request, including the occupant or persons requesting water service if mutually agreeable to the owner and the Town.
B. 
Bills shall be sent periodically, at such intervals as the Town Council may determine, and are due and payable within 30 days of the billing date. An interest charge will be added to each delinquent bill for each 30 days or portion thereof of delinquency. When any bill is more than 74 days in default, service to such premises may be discontinued, in accordance with all applicable statutes and regulations, until such bill is paid.
C. 
The Town may use the service, procedures and personnel of the District for the purpose of billing and collection of charges under this article. All such charges billed by the District are payable to the District as an agent of the Town.
D. 
The Town will review the user charges at least annually and revise the rates as necessary to ensure that adequate revenues are generated to pay the cost of operation and maintenance, including replacement, and that the system continues to provide for the proportional distribution of operation and maintenance costs, including replacement costs, among users and user classes.
E. 
All fees and user charges are contained in the current rate schedule as established by the Town Council.
A. 
Interest at the same rate as that established for unpaid property taxes shall be added to all unpaid bills beginning 30 days after the date of the bill.
B. 
There shall be a lien on the property served or to which service is available to secure payment of the charges and fees established herein, which shall take precedence over all other claims on such real estate, excepting only claims for taxes.
C. 
All delinquent unpaid sewer charges will be turned over to the Treasurer of the Town. The Treasurer of the Town shall have the same authority and power to collect such service charges as is granted by 38 M.R.S.A. § 1208, and as it may be amended, to treasurers of sanitary sewer districts. In addition to the lien established hereby, the Town may maintain a civil action against the party so charged for the amount of said sewer charge in any court competent to try the same, and in such action may recover the amount of such charge with legal interest on the same from the date of said charge and costs.