[Adopted 3-19-1975 as Ch. 112, Art. III, of the 1975 Code]
[Amended 10-6-1976 by Ord. No. 1430]
A. 
Whenever, in the judgment of the Board of Commissioners of the Township of Ridley, it shall be determined that sewer connections by adjoining or adjacent property owners are necessary for the public health and welfare of the residents of the Township of Ridley, a notice shall be sent by certified mail or personally delivered to the owners of property abutting on or adjoining any street or alley in which a sewer has been constructed, requiring connections with such sewer within 60 days from the sending of such notice, for the purpose of discharge of waste matter.
B. 
No discharge or drainage of stormwater shall be permitted into any sanitary sewer.
C. 
All such connections shall be in accordance with the Plumbing Code of the Township of Ridley.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 216, Plumbing.
A. 
There is hereby imposed upon the owners of property situate in the Township of Ridley, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, which use and are served by the sewers and sewer system of the Township, an annual sewer rental, rate or charge for buildings or other structures discharging sanitary, commercial or industrial waste into such sewer system, and the said rental or charge shall be determined as provided in the Annual Budget Ordinance adopted by the Township Commissioners and in accordance with the following classifications:
[Amended 7-21-1982 by Ord. No. 1535]
(1) 
Each single-family dwelling unit, whether in a dwelling house, multiple dwelling or apartment house shall be charged an amount per unit as determined by the Annual Budget Ordinance.
(2) 
Each public or private school, church, veterans' or legion post, store, factory, commercial building, nursing home, greenhouse or office building shall pay an annual rate per unit as determined by the Annual Budget Ordinance and based upon the following table of gallons of water consumed, which table shall be interpolated to the nearest 10th in order to obtain a more accurate charge. In the case of industrial usage, the annual rate is to be determined by either the gallons of water consumed as set forth in the table below or based on a formula established annually by the Sewer Authorities servicing the Township wherein a specified number of employees are designated as the equivalent of a single-family dwelling unit. The sewer rental shall be the greater of the two bases.
[Amended 2-16-1983 by Ord. No. 1546]
Water Used Annually
(gallons)
Units
60,000
1
100,000
2
200,000
3
300,000
4
400,000
5
500,000
6
600,000
7
800,000
8
1,000,000
9
1,200,000
10
1,400,000
11
1,600,000
12
1,800,000
13
2,000,000
14
2,200,000
15
2,400,000
16
2,600,000
17
2,800,000
18
3,000,000
19
3,500,000
20
4,000,000
21
4,500,000
22
5,000,000
23
5,500,000
24
6,000,000
25
6,500,000
26
7,000,000
27
7,500,000
28
8,000,000
29
8,500,000
30
9,000,000
31
10,000,000
33
11,000,000
35
12,000,000
37
13,000,000
39
14,000,000
41
15,000,000
43
16,000,000
45
17,000,000
47
18,000,000
49
19,000,000
51
20,000,000
53
21,000,000
55
22,000,000
57
23,000,000
59
24,000,000
61
25,000,000
63
26,000,000
65
27,000,000
67
28,000,000
69
29,000,000
71
30,000,000
73
B. 
The Township of Ridley has determined that the great majority of the buildings or structures in the Township set forth in Subsection A(2) above are serviced with water obtained from the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, hereinafter called the "Water Company," and the Water Company has water meters installed in the said properties.
C. 
Where properties set forth in Subsection A(2) of this section do not discharge all of the metered or waste water into the sewer system, the Board of Commissioners of the Township is authorized, upon application by such property owner, to reduce the total number of gallons of water upon which the sewer rental, rate or charge is based. Any such application shall be filed with the Chairman of the Sewer Committee within one month after the mailing of bills. The decision of the Board of Commissioners following the recommendation of the Sewer Committee after hearing thereon shall be final.
D. 
The entire sewer rental fee shall be due and payable without deduction if sewer service is initiated to any residential property at any time during the calendar year.
[Amended 7-18-1984 by Ord. No. 1572]
E. 
The Secretary of the Township shall obtain from the Water Company the number of gallons of water consumed by users, as set forth in Subsection A(2) of this section, during the period from October 1 to September 30 of each year for which computation has been made by the Water Company and shall compute the sewer rental, rate or charge to such users during such period.
[Amended 7-21-1982 by Ord. No. 1535]
F. 
Users, as set forth in Subsection A(2) of this section, which secure water from other than the Water Company, shall pay a sewer rate, rental or charge in the amount to be fixed by the Township Secretary and comparable to rentals for establishments of similar character and size. Where it is necessary to measure the discharge into the sewer system in order to determine the annual sewer rental, rate or charge imposed by this article, the proper meters or other measuring devices shall be installed. Such meters or other measuring devices shall be under the control of the Township. The owner of the property upon which such measuring device is installed shall be responsible for its maintenance and safekeeping, and all repairs thereto shall be made at the cost of the owner of the property.
G. 
The Township reserves the right to refuse connection to its sewer system or to otherwise compel discontinuance of use, or to compel pretreatment by any industry in order to prevent discharge into the sewer system of any industrial wastes deemed to be harmful to the sewer system or to have a deleterious effect on the sewage treatment processes.
H. 
The annual sewer rental, rate or charge shall be due and payable on the first day of July of each year in advance and shall be paid to the Treasurer of the Township of Ridley.
I. 
The owner of record of a residence building, or lessee of the residence building who is obliged by the lease agreement to pay the sewer rental charge, and who is over 65 years of age and/or widowed person who qualified for the Pennsylvania Property Tax Refund for the previous year may request a refund of $100 for the year 2008 and annually thereafter, unless otherwise determined. The proof of approved qualification by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania must be submitted at the time of refund application.
[Added 12-27-2005 by Ord. No. 1894; amended 1-23-2008 by Ord. No. 1936]
[Amended 9-3-1975 by Ord. No. 1416; 6-17-1981 by Ord. No. 1523; 12-16-1987 by Ord. No. 1624]
The basic fee for the disposal of sewage shall be determined as provided in the Annual Budget Ordinance adopted by the Board of Township Commissioners. If such fee shall remain unpaid on the first day of March of any year, a penalty of 10% shall be added to the face amount of the sewer fee. Each month thereafter, lawful interest in the amount of 10% per annum shall be added to the face amount of the sewer fee on the first day of each and every subsequent month. In the event that the sewer fee shall not be paid within six months from the date that the same is due and payable, said sewer fee shall constitute a lien against the property so connected with the sewer system, and the amount thereof may be recovered by the due process of law and in all respects to the general law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the filing and recovery of municipal taxes or municipal liens.
The Board of Commissioners shall furnish the Township Treasurer a sewer rental tax duplicate showing the sewer rental taxes due on all the properties within the Township of Ridley, and the Township Treasurer shall thereupon notify all owners of record of the properties of the amount of sewer rental taxes due and charged against each property.
A. 
The sewer rentals so collected shall be placed in a special fund, and from such fund the following payments shall be made:
(1) 
The amount to be expended by the Township in the operation, maintenance, repairs, alterations, inspection, depreciation and other expenses in relation to such sewer, sewerage system or sewage treatment works.
(2) 
The amount necessary to provide for the amortization of any indebtedness incurred or any nondebt revenue bonds issued by the Township in the construction or acquisition of such sewer, sewerage system or sewage treatment works, and interest thereon, in order that the said improvement may be self-liquidating, or as may be sufficient to pay the amount agreed to be paid annually under the terms of any contract with any authority or private corporation furnishing sewer or sewage treatment services to the Township.
B. 
Any unused surplus from any preceding year shall be paid into the fund accrued from said rentals or charge, and whenever the amount in said fund exceeds the margin of safety of 10%, the excess shall be paid into the sinking fund. The amount required for sinking fund and interest shall be paid into the sinking fund, and the amount so paid, including any excess as above provided, shall not be used for any other purpose.
C. 
The Board of Township Commissioners shall have the power and duty, after determining the amounts required in Subsection A(l) and (2) herein, to charge an amount equivalent to a margin of safety of 10%, and shall determine, by resolution, what proportion of the standard rates set forth in § 237-14 shall be charged for the current year in order to meet all the charges set forth in this section. Said resolution shall be adopted at the time of the adoption of the Annual Budget.