The purpose of this chapter is to provide for
the maximum possible beneficial public use of the Village wastewater
collection and treatment facilities and prevent public health problems
through regulation of sewer construction, sewer use and wastewater
discharges. This chapter shall also provide for procedures for complying
with the requirements contained herein and penalties for violation
thereof. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to the discharge
of all wastewater to facilities of the Village. This chapter provides
for use of the Village wastewater facilities, regulation of sewer
construction, control and the quantity and quality of wastewater discharge,
wastewater pretreatment, assurance that existing customers' capacity
will not be preempted, approval of sewer construction plans, separate
contracts for significant industrial users, minimum sewer connection
standards and conditions, and penalties and other procedures in cases
of violation of this chapter.
In order to establish and operate the Sewer Department and the sewage facilities of the Village as a separate utility and to insure its proper operation, repair and maintenance, it shall be the policy of the Village to establish and impose a scale of annual charges, otherwise known as "sewer rents," for the use of the sewer system or any part or parts thereof as provided in Article 14-F of the General Municipal Law. As hereinafter specified in this chapter, the sewer rent formula hereby imposed takes into consideration the consumption of water upon premises served by the Village sewer system, as well as the number of persons served, or capable of being served on connected properties, as well as the number and kind of plumbing fixtures on any given premises. These latter two factors are embodied in a user unit formula which is detailed in Article IX of this chapter. The Board of Trustees acknowledges that the user unit basis of determining sewer rents does not always result in precise mathematical equivalence in charges to properties that might otherwise appear equally situated, and that the occupancy or use of a particular property at any given point in time might result in a perceived disproportionate cost compared to other properties. It is the determination of the Board of Trustees, however, that the user unit basis of charging users of the system for the system's capital debt service costs is, over time, an equitable basis of distributing costs based upon the benefit derived and the burden imposed by different property uses and their potential impacts upon the system.
It is also the Board of Trustees' determination
that operation and maintenance costs, which are to a certain extent
variable depending on actual flows into the system, are more appropriately
charged to system users based upon actual water usage upon connected
premises. The Board of Trustees, upon advice of the Village's engineers,
hereby determines that there is a direct and relatively constant correlation
between the amount of metered water consumed on any given premises
and the amount of sewage those premises contribute to the sewer system.
As such, the Board of Trustees concludes that determining sewer rents
for operation and maintenance of the sewer system based upon metered
water usage is an equitable method of charging for those costs.
