This article shall be known and may be cited
as the "Sewer District Service Charge Law."
This article shall apply to all of the sewer
systems and extensions thereof within the Town of Liberty and operated
by the Town of Liberty.
The purpose of this article shall be to generate
sufficient revenue to pay all costs for operations and maintenance
for the sewer district complete wastewater system and to the Town
of Liberty for operation and maintenance costs attributable thereon.
The costs shall be distributed to all users of the wastewater system
in proportion to the contribution of each user class to the total
loading of the treatment works. Factors such as strength (BOD and
SS), volume and delivery flow rate characteristics shall be considered
and included as the basis for each user class' contribution to ensure
a proportional distribution of operation and maintenance (including
replacement) costs to each user class.
The Town of Liberty or its Engineer shall determine
the total annual costs of operation and maintenance of the wastewater
system which are necessary to maintain the capacity and performance
during the service life of the treatment works for which such works
were designed and constructed. The total annual cost of operation
and maintenance shall include but need not be limited to labor, repairs,
equipment replacement, maintenance, necessary modifications, power,
sampling, laboratory tests and a reasonable contingency fund.
The Town of Liberty shall review the total annual
cost of operation and maintenance as well as each user's wastewater
contribution percentage not less often than every two years and will
revise the system as necessary to assure equity of the service charge
system established herein and to assure that sufficient funds are
obtained to adequately operate and maintain the wastewater and treatment
works. If it is determined that excess revenues have been collected
from a class of users, the excess revenues from that class of users
shall be applied to the costs of operation and maintenance attributable
to that class for the next year, and the rate charged to such users
shall be adjusted accordingly.
The Town of Liberty shall submit an annual statement
to the user for the user's annual wastewater service charge, or one-twelfth
(1/12) of the user's annual wastewater service charge may be included
with the monthly water and/or wastewater utility billing.
The discharge of any waters containing toxic
or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in sufficient quantity, either
singly or by interaction with other wastes, to contaminate the sludge
of any municipal systems or to injure or interfere with any sewage
treatment process or constitute a hazard in or have an adverse affect
on the waters receiving any discharge from the treatment works is
hereby prohibited.
Each user which discharges any toxic pollutant
which causes an increase in the cost of managing the effluent or the
sludge of the wastewater treatment works shall pay for such increased
costs.
This system of service charges shall take precedence
over any terms or conditions of agreements or contracts between the
grantee and users, including industrial users, special districts,
other municipalities or state and federal agencies or installations,
which are inconsistent with § 204(b)(1)(A) of the Clean
Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., as amended) or the
40 CFR 35 rules and regulations.