[Adopted 8-7-1984 by L.L. No. 3-1984; approved 8-28-1984, as Ch. 98, Art. I, of the 1984 Code; amended in its entirety 11-13-1984 by L.L. No. 5-1984, approved 11-26-1984]
This article is adopted under the authority granted by the Municipal Home Rule and General Municipal Law of the State of New York. The article shall be known as, referred to or cited as the "Sewer Charge Law for the City of Kingston, State of New York," and hereinafter referred to as the "law."
The City of Kingston hereby finds that the requirements for the issuance of federal grants and the acceptance of such grants by the City of Kingston under Title II of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, as amended (Public Law 92-500, as amended), and the regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency as promulgated in the September 27, 1978, Federal Register, Volume 43, Number 188, Part III, for the construction of waste treatment works to improve the quality of effluent discharges establish the necessity of adopting a sewer charge system that would be proportionate to all users and produce the revenue required to sustain the sewage collection and waste treatment system.
A. 
It is the intention of the Common Council of the City of Kingston by adoption of this article to establish and impose a system of sewer charges for the municipal sewer system. Sewer charges shall be assessed to all users in accordance with the provisions of this article.
B. 
The provisions of this article shall take precedence over any terms and conditions of agreements or contracts which are inconsistent with the requirements of this article.
A. 
Sewer charges shall be used for deriving revenues for financing and maintaining sewage collection and treatment facilities. The funds derived from these charges shall be used for all municipal expenses associated with constructing, improving or maintaining a sewerage system, including engineering, planning, construction, reconstruction of sewers, wastewater treatment works and all necessary appurtenances thereto, including pumping stations, extensions, enlargement, replacement or additions to the sanitary sewer system or the preliminary or other studies and surveys relative thereto, and for the acquisition of land or rights-of-way for any of the capital improvements.
B. 
Sewer charges shall include a sewer user charge and a capital cost amortization charge which shall be levied on owners of properties located within the improvement boundaries who contribute sewage to the public sewers. The following items will be funded by the sewer user charge:
[Amended 4-2-1985 by L.L. No. 2-1985, approved 4-23-1985]
(1) 
Cost of operation and maintenance (including replacement) of the entire sewer collection system, including pump stations.
(2) 
The improvement's share of the cost of operation and maintenance (including replacement) of the sewage treatment plant.
C. 
The City Council of the City of Kingston shall review the user charges annually and revise them to reflect the actual sewage works, operation and maintenance costs.
D. 
For the first year of operation, operation and maintenance charges shall be based upon past experience for existing treatment works or some other method that can be demonstrated to be appropriate to the level and type of services provided.
E. 
Sewer charges shall be billed quarterly at the same time the Kingston Water Department bills for water usage charges. Each user shall be notified, at least annually, of the rate and that portion of the sewer charge which is attributable to wastewater treatment services.
F. 
Sewer charges shall be levied on the basis of the amount of water from the Kingston Water Department used by each user at such per-unit rates as the City Council may from time to time establish or on the basis of the meter installed pursuant to § 340-24 of the City of Kingston Code.
[Amended 12-16-1999 by L.L. No. 2-2000; approved 1-3-2000]
G. 
If the property has its own water supply or is served by an unmetered independent water company, the owner shall have the option of installing a water meter at his expense or the user charges shall be based on 100 gallons per person per day. This shall mean that every man, woman or child living in the residence shall be charged at that rate. If said user fails to repair or replace a defective water meter, then its sewer charge shall be double the average of its last two quarterly billings for sewer user charges during which the meter was operating properly.
H. 
The bills for sewer charges shall become due and payable to the City of Kingston, and such payment shall be made to the Kingston Water Department at its office, quarterly. If such bills are not paid within 15 days, a penalty of 10% of the amount of such bill will be added thereto. Sewer user charges and capital cost amortization charges and the interest and penalties thereon shall be liens upon the real property which is using the public sewer or which is located within the improvement boundaries, and on or before December 1 the City Clerk shall prepare and file with the Common Council a statement showing all sewer user charges, with penalties and interest thereon, which remain unpaid, which said statement shall contain a brief description of the property to which the sewer services were supplied or which is within the improvement boundaries, the name of the owner liable to pay the same, so far as may be known, and the amount chargeable.
I. 
As a regional treatment system accepting wastewater from other municipalities, subscribers receiving waste treatment services from the city shall adopt a user charge system. These user charge systems shall also be incorporated in appropriate municipal legislative enactments or other appropriate authority of all municipalities contributing wastes to the treatment works.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 338-12, Additional industrial surcharge, was repealed 12-16-1999 by L.L. No. 2-2000, approved 1-3-2000.
The Common Council of the City of Kingston shall review, at least biannually, the total costs of operation and maintenance and the user charge system and revise as needed to accomplish the following:
A. 
Generate sufficient revenue to pay the total operation and maintenance costs necessary to the proper operation and maintenance, including replacement, of the treatment works.
B. 
Apply excess revenues collected from users to the costs of operation and maintenance for the next year and adjust the rate accordingly.
A. 
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:
BOD (denoting "biochemical oxygen demand")
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20º C., expressed parts per million by weight.
CITY
The City of Kingston, Ulster County, New York.
CITY ENGINEER
The professional engineer retained on staff by the City of Kingston to perform municipal engineering, or his authorized deputy, agency or representative.
COMMON COUNCIL
The duly elected City Council of the City of Kingston and its authorized deputy or representative.
IMPROVEMENT
The entire City of Kingston, Ulster County, New York.
IMPROVEMENT BOUNDARIES
The corporate boundaries of the City of Kingston as presently established.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
The wastewater from industrial processes, trade or business, as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface water or groundwater.
NORMAL SEWAGE
Sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes which, when analyzed, show by weight the following characteristics:
(1) 
The values for these characteristics are subject to revision by the City Engineer if, in his opinion, data obtained during the previous year indicates changes are required for the proper and efficient operation of the sewage system and treatment plant.
(2) 
The City Engineer may also add values for other characteristics or delete characteristics if such action becomes appropriate and applicable to the treatment of transportation of sewage.
Characteristic
Milligrams Per Liter
BOD
250
Chlorine demand
15
Suspended solids
250
COD
500
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and which is controlled by a public authority.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage and to which stormwater, surface water and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE
A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such groundwater, surface water and stormwaters as may be present.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
SEWAGE WORKS
All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
Solids that either float on surface or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
UNITS OF USE
The quantity of water usage of the property owner metered by the Kingston Water Department on a quarterly basis.
B. 
The term "shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
C. 
Industrial or commercial classifications which bear upon applications, rates, fees or other considerations shall be determined solely by the city.
A. 
If any section, paragraph, clause or provision of this article shall be adjudged invalid, such adjudication shall apply only to the section, paragraph, clause or provision so adjudged, and the remainder of this article shall be deemed valid and effective.
B. 
The sewer charge system shall take precedence over any terms or conditions of agreements or contracts between the grantee and users which are inconsistent with the requirements of § 204(b)(1)(A) of the Act and these regulations.