[Amended 1-5-1976 by Ord. No. 76-2; 8-12-2013 by Ord. No.
2013-13]
The rates for sewage disposal services furnished
by the City of Royal Oak shall be applied uniformly to all water consumers
within its corporate limits whose premises have available a sewer
or sewers from which the sanitary sewage is finally discharged into
the Southeastern Oakland County Sewage Disposal System. Such rates
shall be applied on the basis of the quantity of water used in or
on said premises regardless of the purpose for which the water is
used or the character or concentration of the sewage delivered from
the property to the sewage disposal system. The amount thereof shall
be measured by the water meter installed on the premises, or, if there
be no such water meter, then for the purpose of determining sewage
disposal charges the water consumption thereon shall be estimated
in a manner prescribed or approved by the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners.
The rate per quarter shall be an amount determined by the City Commission
and established by Commission resolution taking into account all necessary
and related costs of sewage disposal and bearing a reasonable relationship
to the obligation imposed upon the City for sewage disposal. If the
character of sewage from any manufacturing or industrial plant, building
or premises is such that it imposes an unreasonable additional burden
upon the sewage system of the City or upon said Southeastern Oakland
County Sewage Disposal System or upon the sewage disposal system of
the City of Detroit, then an additional charge shall be made over
and above the regular rates, or it may be required that such sewage
be treated by the person, firm or corporation responsible therefor
being emptied into any public drain or sewer, or the right to so empty
such sewage be denied, if necessary, for the protection of any of
the above systems or the public health or safety. The City shall include
each year in its tax budget an amount sufficient to pay for sewage
disposal service of a general public nature furnished to the City
at large, which charges shall be at the foregoing rate and shall be
based upon water consumption, which shall be estimated by the legislative
body of the City where the water is not actually metered. Charges
for sewage disposal shall be billed and collected quarterly except
where water charges are billed monthly, in which cases sewage disposal
charges shall be billed monthly, according to such rules and regulations
as may be adopted from time to time by the City Commission. Where
possible, sewage disposal charges shall be billed along with the charges
for water service.
[Amended 1-5-1976 by Ord. No. 76-2]
A. All sewage disposal charges shall be a lien upon the
premises from and after the due date thereof, and a penalty of 5%
shall immediately attach thereto. All unpaid sewage disposal charges
which upon the 31st day of December have remained delinquent for a
period of two months shall be placed on the delinquent water roll
and shall have appended thereto a five-percent penalty charge. If
the items on the delinquent water roll remain unpaid as of February
28, they shall be reported by the City Clerk to the City Commission,
and the City Commission may require such charges to be transferred
by the City Treasurer to the delinquent tax rolls. In the process
thereof, an additional, five-percent penalty charge shall be added.
Said delinquent charges shall then be dealt with by the City Treasurer
and enforced in the same manner and by the same means as are similar
lien interests.
B. If any premises to which sewage disposal charges shall
be made shall constitute a part only of any parcel of land assessed
as a single unit upon the tax roll, then any such delinquent charges
shall be entered against the entire parcel.
C. Whenever the water is turned off from any premises
at the request of the owner or because of default in payment of the
water charges and/or sewage disposal charges by the owner or occupant
thereof, the same shall not be turned on again until the owner has
deposited with the City the sum estimated by the Department of Public
Service for such actual labor. That portion of the deposit in excess
of the actual labor costs to the City shall be refunded to the owner.
The owner shall be liable for labor costs not covered by the deposit.
[Amended 1-24-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-01]
[Amended 1-5-1976 by Ord. No. 76-2]
All monies received from the collection of sewage
disposal charges shall be used to pay the expenses in connection with
the collection thereof and the charges rendered by the County of Oakland
to the City for sewage disposal services. Any excess monies may be
used for such purposes as the legislative body of the City shall determine.
It shall be the duty of the City Manager of
said City to carry out and enforce the provisions of this article,
except where otherwise designated.