The Village does hereby establish and impose
a scale of sewer rents to be paid for the service rendered by the
sewer system by the owners of real property connected and served by
the sewer system or benefited by the availability of the sewer system
or any part thereof.
A.
Sewer rents shall accrue and shall become a lien against
real property as of the date of connection to the sewer system, or
from such later date as the Board of Trustees may determine in the
interest of justice and equity in such cases properly presented.
B.
It is the specific intent of the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Morrisville that this chapter, and the scale of
sewer rents established hereunder, be applied and imposed retroactively
to the date of connection of any given property to the sewer system.
A.
Sewer rents for the payment of the annual debt service
costs associated with the sewer system shall be allocated among and
charged to all properties connected to the sewer system based on a
uniform charge per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU). The charge per
EDU shall be determined annually by the Board of Trustees and shall
be determined by dividing the anticipated annual debt service expense
by the total number of EDU's.
B.
Each connected property shall be assigned a minimum
of one EDU. Otherwise, the number of EDU's per connected property
shall be determined according to the following schedule. In the event
of a use classification not listed in this schedule, or in the event
of any dispute over the number of EDU's assigned to a property, the
Board of Trustees shall determine the number of assigned EDU's. The
charge per EDU shall then be multiplied by the number of assigned
EDU's to calculate the debt service portion of the sewer rent for
any given premises.
[Amended 11-12-2009 by L.L. No. 9-2009]
|
Classification No.
|
Classification Description
|
Number of Assigned EDU's
| |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
One-family residence
|
1
| |
|
2
|
Two-family residence
|
2
| |
|
3
|
Each additional family or dwelling unit over
two
|
1
| |
|
4
|
Each business activity in a residence where
customers use the facilities
|
1/2
| |
|
5
|
Offices and commercial uses not otherwise specified
without living quarters (per 12 employees, or portion thereof, minimum
1 unit charge)
|
1
| |
|
6
|
Offices and commercial uses not otherwise specified
with living quarters for one family
|
1 1/2
| |
|
7
|
Offices and commercial uses not otherwise specified
with living quarters for two families
|
2 1/2
| |
|
8
|
Each additional family or dwelling unit over
two with an office or commercial use
|
1
| |
|
9
|
Churches, lodges, religious and civic organizations
|
1
| |
|
10
|
Bar and/or restaurant without living quarters
|
2
| |
|
11
|
Bar and/or restaurant with living quarters for
one family (add 1 EDU for each additional family or dwelling unit)
|
3
| |
|
12
|
Laundromat (per washer)
|
1/4
| |
|
13
|
Nursing home (per bed)
|
1
| |
|
14
|
School or child-care center (per 23 students
and staff, or portion thereof, determined on September 30 of each
year for subsequent 4 quarters)
|
1
| |
|
15
|
Motel, hotel and tourist homes including bed-and-breakfast
(per guest room, in addition to unit charged for residence, if applicable)
|
1/2
| |
|
16
|
Car wash (per bay)
|
2
| |
|
17
|
Library, museum or government or nonprofit offices
|
1
| |
|
18
|
Group housing (per 6 occupants or portion thereof)
|
1
|
C.
EDU roll.
[Added 11-12-2009 by L.L. No. 9-2009]
(1)
On or before the second Thursday of February of each year, the Village
Clerk shall present to the Board of Trustees the tentative EDU roll
of the Village listing all EDU charges assigned to each parcel of
real property within the Village. The Board of Trustees may make modifications
to said EDU roll, but in any event shall adopt the final EDU roll
of the Village by the second Thursday of April of each year. Once
adopted by the Board of Trustees, the final EDU roll shall remain
in effect and applicable throughout the Village's immediately
following budget year unless challenged and/or amended as set forth
below.
(2)
The owner(s) of any connected property assessed two or more equivalent
dwelling units on the tentative EDU roll may appeal the EDU assessment
on the property to the Village Board of Trustees once a year at the
Board's regular meeting held in the month of March only. An appeal
shall be commenced by filing a written complaint with the Village
Clerk not less than 10 days prior to the Board of Trustees' March
meeting. At such meeting, the Board shall hear and take evidence and
testimony on the matter, including reports from the Village Code Enforcement
Officer, and shall consider and decide the appeal based upon the totality
of the circumstances and the following requirements:
(a)
In determining whether to change a residential EDU assessment,
the Board shall consider whether a dwelling unit originally intended
or used for occupancy is no longer habitable. For a dwelling to be
considered uninhabitable, all sinks, faucets, or other water supply
facilities, and all toilets, showers and other sanitary facilities,
as well as all cooking facilities, must be removed from the dwelling
unit, and all connections and physical access to the public sewer
shall be blocked and sealed by a cap and lock installed by the Village
Code Enforcement Officer.
(b)
Prior to taking such action to remove all the above-mentioned
facilities, the owner must obtain a permit from the Village Code Enforcement
Officer, who shall inspect the property and specifically approve the
means and methods by which access to the public sewer is to be physically
blocked by a cap and lock.
(c)
Upon completion of such action, the Code Enforcement Officer
shall inspect the property and certify in writing that he or she has
approved the specific means and methods by which physical access to
the sewer has been blocked, that he has installed a cap and lock on
the sewer pipe blocking sewer access, and that the unit or units are
uninhabitable as defined herein.
(d)
If the Board of Trustees determines that all sanitary and cooking
facilities have been removed and access to the sewer has been physically
blocked by a cap and lock, and such action is confirmed by the Village
Code Enforcement Officer, the Board may make a determination to modify
the EDU assessment for such property. If the Board determines there
should be an EDU assessment reduction, such reduction shall only have
a prospective effect beginning on the date of commencement of the
Village's next succeeding budget year.
(e)
In the event any party is aggrieved by a determination of the
Board of Trustees after the filing and hearing of an appeal of the
tentative EDU roll as prescribed herein, such aggrieved party may
challenge the determination of the Board of Trustees by means of a
proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules. Any
such Article 78 proceeding shall be commenced within 30 days of the
date of adoption of the Board of Trustees' resolution approving
the final EDU roll.
(3)
Disconnection; amendment to final EDU roll; prohibited activities.
(a)
In the event of disconnection from the public sewer, said property
shall only be reconnected upon the issuance of a permit, followed
by an inspection by the Village Code Enforcement Officer, and subsequent
written approval from the Village Board of Trustees.
(b)
In the event that the use of the property is changed and such change would effectively increase the number of EDUs assessed against the property following the adoption of the final EDU roll, but during the next succeeding budget year of the Village, the Board of Trustees shall adopt an amendment to the final EDU roll adding the number of EDUs attributable to such new or amended use. Such property shall be charged amended sewer rents accordingly, pursuant to Article IX (Sewer Rents) of this chapter.
(c)
No person shall tamper with or break any cap and lock installed by the Village Code Enforcement Officer. No person shall reconnect sewer and/or water access to a property except upon the prior issuance of a permit by the Code Enforcement Officer and written approval from the Village Board of Trustees. Any person found to be violating these proscriptions shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter and shall be subject to the penalties set forth in §§ 149-42 through 149-44 of this chapter. In addition, in the event of any such tampering and/or unauthorized connection, the owner shall pay a reconnection fee of $500 to Village as a condition of approval of a permit for lawful reconnection to the public sewer.
The remainder of the annual system expenses,
hereinafter generally referred to as operation and maintenance (O&M)
costs associated with the sewer system, shall be charged to premises
connected to the sewer system through sewer rents based upon a uniform
charge per cubic foot of water passing through the Village water system
meter(s) measuring water usage for the premises. The amount of such
charge per cubic foot shall be determined annually by the Board of
Trustees according to the following formula:
|
Total annual sewer system budget (debt service,
O&M, reserves and contingency) minus debt service costs, divided
by the total metered number of cubic feet of water used by all connected
properties during the previous year.
|
As part of the annual Village budget process,
or at such other time as the Board of Trustees may determine, the
Board of Trustees shall annually review the total cost of debt service
and operation and maintenance of the sewer system, and shall review
the scale of sewer rents and make such revisions to the scale of sewer
rents as are necessary to ensure:
A.
The maintenance of an equitable and proportional distribution
of system costs among sewer system users;
B.
The generation of sufficient revenues to pay the total
debt service, operating and maintenance costs and contingency and
reserve funds necessary for the proper operation and maintenance of
the system;
C.
That excess revenues collected from users of the system
be attributed to the users and that future rates be adjusted accordingly.
The Board of Trustees shall provide, as part
of the annual budget for the sewer system, an equipment replacement
fund for the purpose of replacing system equipment in such an amount
as it shall deem necessary.
The costs of all extraneous flow treatment shall
be distributed among all of the system users in a fair and equitable
manner.
It shall be the duty of the Superintendent or
other designated official to make a survey, annually, or at such times
as may be required by the Board of Trustees, to determine whether
there is being discharged in the sewer system, from any real property,
sewage or other wastes which, in the opinion of such Superintendent,
contains unduly high concentrations of solids or any other substance
adding to the operating costs of the sewer system. Upon the completion
of such survey, he shall file with the Board of Trustees a report
of his findings indicating whether additional sewer rent charges should
be levied for such sewage or other wastes, and, if so, he shall set
forth recommended charges for the same. The Board of Trustees is authorized
to fix and determine such additional sewer rent charge therefor as
shall be equitable, in addition to the sewer rents provided for by
the preceding paragraphs of this article.
[Amended 4-14-2005 by L.L. No. 5-2005]
All sewer rents shall be paid to the Village
and shall be due and payable at the office of the Village Clerk on
such date or dates as may be determined by the Board of Trustees.
In addition to the sewer rents provided in this chapter determined
in accordance with the rates specified herein, in the event any sewer
rents remain unpaid beyond the due date for payment, late charges
in the amount of 10% of the past due amount shall be imposed for each
thirty-day period, or portion thereof, that the sewer rent remains
unpaid following the stated due date, and the total thus obtained
shall be the total sewer rent in each such case.
Bills will be sent on a quarterly basis on the
first day of the months of February, May, August and November, or
at such other times as may be determined by resolution of the Board
of Trustees, to all owners of real property connected to the sewer
system, and the failure of any owner to receive a bill promptly shall
not excuse nonpayment of the same, and in the event the owner fails
to receive a bill promptly, he shall demand the same at the Village
Clerk's office. In the event a property is connected to the sewer
system for only a portion of the quarterly billing period, the applicable
EDU charge for such property shall be prorated based upon the number
of days in the billing quarter the property was connected to the sewer
system.
[Added 4-14-2005 by L.L. No. 5-2005[1]]
The Village may discontinue sewer service to
any property in the event that any sewer rents shall remain unpaid,
in whole or part, for more than 90 days past the due date for their
payment. Prior to the termination of sewer service to any property
for nonpayment of sewer rents, the Village Treasurer shall:
A.
Send notice of termination to the property owner of
record (based on the most recent real property tax assessment roll)
by regular U.S. Mail, not more than 45 days and not less than 30 days
prior to the scheduled date of termination (which termination date
may not be less than 91 days following the due date of the unpaid
bill); and
B.
Send a second notice of termination to the property
owner of record (based on the most recent real property tax assessment
roll) by regular U.S. Mail and post a copy of such notice upon an
exterior door of any residence or place of business on the property,
not more than 15 days and not less than 10 days prior to the scheduled
date of termination.
[Amended 4-14-2005 by L.L. No. 5-2005]
All sewer rents, including accrued late charges,
remaining due and unpaid at the time the annual Village tax levy is
made out shall be included therein pursuant to the Village Law and
levied against the benefited real property, and shall be collected
and enforced with and in the same manner, and at the same time, as
other Village taxes.
