It is determined and declared to be necessary and conducive to the protection of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience of the city to collect charges from all users who contribute wastewater to the city’s treatment works. The proceeds of such charges so derived will be used for the purpose of operating, maintaining and retiring the debt for such public wastewater treatment works.

(Ord. 270, Art. 1)

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:

(a)   BOD (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20°C, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/1).

(b)   Normal Domestic Wastewater shall mean wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than 240 mg/1 and a suspended solids concentration of not more than 280 mg/1.

(c)   Operation and Maintenance shall mean all expenditures during the useful life of the treatment works for materials, labor, utilities and other items which are necessary for managing and maintaining the sewage works to achieve the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed.

(d)   Replacement shall mean expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances which are necessary during the useful life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed. The term “operation” and maintenance” includes replacement.

(e)   Residential Contributor shall mean any contributor to the city’s treatment works whose lot, parcel of real estate or building is used for domestic dwelling purposes only.

(f)   Shall is mandatory; May is permissive.

(g)   SS (denoting Suspended Solids) shall mean solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

(h)   Treatment Works shall mean any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage, domestic sewage or liquid industrial wastes. These included intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, individual systems, pumping power and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions, improvement, remodeling, additions and alterations thereof; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process or any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating or disposing of municipal waste or industrial waste, including waste in combined stormwater and sanitary sewer systems.

(i)    Useful Life shall mean the estimated period during which a treatment works will be operated.

(j)    User Charge shall mean that portion of the total wastewater service charge which is levied in a proportional and adequate manner for the cost of operation, maintenance and replacement of the wastewater treatment works.

(k)   Water Meter shall mean a water volume measuring and recording device, furnished and/or installed by the city or furnished and/or installed by others and approved by the city.

(Ord. 270, Art. 2)

(a)   The user charge system shall generate adequate annual revenues to pay costs of annual operation and maintenance including replacement which the city may by ordinance designate to be paid by the user charge system.

(b)   The total user charge collected is designated for operation and maintenance, including replacement purposes so established in section 15-404 and shall be deposited in a separate non-lapsing fund known as the operation, maintenance and replacement fund and will be kept in two primary accounts as follows:

(1)   An account designated for the specific purpose of defraying operation and maintenance costs (excluding replacement) of the treatment works (Operation and Maintenance Account).

(2)   An account designated for the specific purpose of ensuring replacement needs over the useful life of the treatment works (Replacement Account). Deposits in the replacement account shall be made annually from the operation, maintenance and replacement revenue in an amount of not less than $9,700.

(c)   Fiscal year-end balances in the operation and maintenance account and the replacement account shall be carried over to the same accounts in the subsequent fiscal year and shall be used for no other purposes than those designated for these account. Moneys which have been transferred from other sources to meet temporary shortages in the operation, maintenance and replacement shall be returned to their respective accounts upon appropriate adjustment of the user charge rates for operation, maintenance and replacement. The user charge rate(s) shall be adjusted such that the transferred moneys will be returned to their respective accounts within the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the moneys were borrowed.

(Ord. 270, Art. 3)

(a)   Each user shall pay for the services provided by the city based on his or her use of the treatment works as determined by water meters acceptable to the city.

(b)  

(1)   For residential contributors, monthly user charges will be based on average monthly water usage during the months of January, February and March. If a residential contributor has not established a January, February and March average, his or her monthly user charge shall be the median charge of all other residential contributors.

(2)   For industrial and commercial contributors, user charges shall be based on water used during the current month. If a commercial or industrial contributor has a consumptive collection system, the user charge for that contributor may be based on a wastewater meter or separate water meters installed and maintained at the contributor’s expense, and in a manner acceptable to the city.

(3)   For commercial users of a residential nature; sewer user charges may be calculated on the same basis as the residential user.

(c)   The monthly sewer charge shall be established and re-established from time to time as deemed necessary by the governing body by simple resolution which shall at all times be on file with the city clerk. The city will review the user charge system at least bi-annually to ensure that the rates are sufficient to generate adequate revenues to pay the cost of operation and maintenance including replacement and that the rate system continues to provide for the proportional distribution of operation, maintenance and replacement costs equitably among users and user classes. Users of the city sewer system shall be notified of any increase in the sewer rate at least 30 days prior to the effective date of such increase.

(d)   For those users who contribute wastewater, the strength of which is greater than normal domestic sewage, a surcharge in addition to the normal user charge will be assessed. Such surcharge shall be in an amount determined by sewer plant operating personnel and approved by the city council.

(Ord. 270, Art 4; Ord. 276; Ord. 307, Sec. 1; Ord. 411, Secs. 3:4; Code 2019)