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HomeMy Public PortalAbout00138REPEALED - NO. 486 - 12/22/60 O R D I N A N C E NO. 138 AN ORDINANCE requiring connections of property to sewers, establishing rates and service charges for permits for sewer use; providing the method of payment for permits for sewer use; providing the method of enforcement and providing penalties for violations hereof; and repealing Ordinances Nos. 40, 42, and 87 which relate to the same subject; and containing an emergency clause. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT: Section One. All structures now or hereafter erected upon any real property within the District shall be connected to a sanitary sewer if such sewer is available, as defined in Ordinance No. 109, for connection thereto. Section Two. Effective July 1, 1957, a service charge for sewer use shall be paid by the person holding a permit for water service, or who is liable for water service, as the case may be, on each parcel of real property having a connection, or having available a connection, either directly or indirectly to any public sewer within the District. Such charge shall be levied and collected in accordance with the schedule hereinafter set out, and in the manner hereinafter provided. Section Three. For convenience in collecting the rates and charges hereinafter fixed for sewer service, the Executive 2 Director shall divide the District into as many billing subdistricts as he may deem necessary. The boundaries of subdistricts may be changed at the discretion of the Executive Director. Section Four. Annual rates for the use of sewers to be calculated upon the basis of water use capacity are hereby established as follows: Size of Meter Rate 5/8" $ 8.00 3/4" (Single family residence) 8.00 3/4" (Other than single family residence) 16.00 1" 32.00 1-1/2" 80.00 2" 200.00 3" 360.00 4" 720.00 6" 1,360.00 8" 2,400.00 10" 3,600.00 12" 4,800.00 Minimum Bill Customers 8.00 Flat Rate Customers 8.00 Bills for sewer use permits shall be subject to a prompt payment discount of 15% of the gross bill if paid on or before 3 fifteen days after the date on which much bills are mailed. If not paid on or before such date, no discount shall be allowed. Provided, that where water is used for irrigation the rate to be applied shall not be computed by the size of the meter but shall be computed on each house connection in the same manner as it is computed for flat race customers. Provided further the following types of connections shall be billed as indicated; 1. Fire Connections. Owners of metered and unmetered water service connections used exclusively for fire protection purposes shall pay the minimum charge of $8.00 per year. 2. Dual or Combined Fire and Manufacture Use Connections. After the first billing, owners of such connections will be billed on the basis of the actual metered water usage for the previous billing period, using the equivalent size of meter as given in the table at the end of this section. Provided, however, for the first billing, period said bills may be estimated on the basis of the water consumption during the preceding year. 3. Swimming Pools. Owners of outside pools shall be billed following the close of the swimming season in accordance with the metered water consumption for a meter of equivalent size in accordance with the table at the end of this section. Owners of inside swimming pools shall be billed at the conclusion of each billing period in accordance with the metered consumption during the period, using the equivalent meter size as given in the table 4 at the end of this section. In no case shall the owner be billed for a meter larger than the one in use. Provided, however, during the first billing period the bills may be estimated on the basis of water consumption during the preceding year. 4. Sprinkling Connections. Owners of metered and unmetered water service connections used only for sprinkling, watering of golf courses, general nursery use for watering plants and shrubs, shall pay the minimum charge of $8.00 per year per water service connection. 5. Over-Sized Meters and Stand-by or Emergency Connections. Owners of connections requiring an oversized meter or stand-by emergency water service shall secure certifications from the water agency as to the necessity for these types of installations. Upon receipt of such certification, the District shall determine water consumption for each billing period at the conclusion of such period, and shall bill the owner an amount based on the equivalent meter side as given in the table at the end of this section. Provided, however, for the first billing period the charge may be estimated on the basis of water used during the preceding year. A minimum annual charge of $8.00 per year will apply to every connection in service. Equivalent Size Water Consumption in Cubic of Meter Feet for 6 Months Period 3/4" 46,400 1" 74,000 1-1/2" 103,700 5 2" 187,400 3" 614,100 4" 881,100 6" 2,405,400 Section Five. Premises may be reinspected for the correction of bills by the District on its own motion or at the request of any person holding a sewer use permit on the ground that such charge is improperly computed. Upon receipt of such request the Executive Director shall have the premises inspected, and the size of the water meter, if any, determined. On the basis of such examination, the permittee shall be informed as to the accuracy of the original billing, and shall be reassessed if such bill is found to be inaccurate. When the reassessment shows that the original bill was too low, the permittee shall pay the deficiency. When the reassessment shows that an overcharge has been made, the Executive Director shall notify the Secretary- Treasurer of the amount of such overcharge, and he shall refund such sum to the permittee. Section Six. Bills for sewer use charges shall be made out by the District, and when paid to the District shall be and become permits for the use of sewers for the periods of time therein stated. All permits shall be for periods of six months each, except where applications are made for the use of sewers on premises newly built or reconstructed, or where the applications for the use of sewers are made because of a change of owners, 6 tenants or occupants, or because of the occupancy of premises previously vacant, or for any use of sewers necessitating an application on any date other than the one fixed for payment of bills in the subdistrict where the property lies. Short term permits shall be issued so as to terminate on the same date as full term permits. All bills issued during the months of January, February, March, April, May and June shall, upon payment, become permits for the six months from January to June, inclusive. All bills issued in July, August, September, October, November and December shall, upon payment, become permits for the six months from July to December, inclusive. Section Seven. The Executive Director shall establish collection offices at convenient locations throughout the District, and may change the location of such collection offices from time to time. He is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with the owners or operators of business establishments to provide collection service of sewer service charges at such locations as are selected by him and may provide in such contracts for the payment by the District to the collecting agency for rendering such collection services a fee, in no event to exceed three cents per bill for each bill collected and remitted to the District. Such contracts shall provide that the collection agency shall at intervals in no case longer than one week, remit all collections to the District. Section Eight. All bills for sewer service charges 7 shall become delinquent if not paid within thirty days after mailing. Any person who pays his bill within fifteen days after the date on which the bill is mailed shall be entitled to a discount of fifteen per cent of the gross amount of his bill. No discount shall be allowed on any bill paid fifteen or more days after the date on which the bill was mailed. Section Nine. All bills for sewer use remaining unpaid sixty days after the delinquent date may be enforced by appropriate action in any magistrate's court having jurisdiction of the debtor. Section Ten. Any person who allows his bill for sewer use permit to become delinquent and any person who willfully refuses to pay his bill for a sewer use permit, may, upon finding by the Executive Director of such delinquency or refusal, be required, as a condition precedent to his application for a new sewer use permit, to deposit and to keep on deposit with the District a sum equal to his annual sewer service charge for such sewer use. Section Eleven. Any person who vacates premises upon which he has allowed his sewer use permit to become delinquent, and thereafter applies for a sewer use permit on other premises, shall be required to pay the delinquent bill and to deposit with the District a sum equal to his annual sewer service charge on such other premises. Section Twelve. Any holder of a sewer use permit, who 8 vacates the premises for which such permit was issued, before the expiration of the period covered, and who complies with the ordinances, rules or regulations of the municipality or corporation supplying him with water and becomes entitled to a refund on his water bill or for the unexpired period of his water permit, shall be entitled to a refund for the unexpired period of his sewer permit. Upon certification by the water supplying agency that the permittee is entitled to such refund, it shall be the duty of the Secretary-Treasurer to refund the unearned part of the fee for such permit. No refund shall be made unless claim therefor is made within six months after the right to such refund accrued. Section Thirteen. The owner of each parcel of real estate having a connection, or having available a connection, either directly or indirectly to any public sewer within the District shall be liable for the sewer service rendered to such real property, regardless of whether the water and sewer permits are issued in his name or in the name of a tenant or other person. Whenever a sewer service charge has been delinquent for more than sixty days the Executive Director may cause a notice of lien for non-payment thereof to be filed in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds within and for the City of St. Louis or St. Louis County, as the case may be. Such notice of lien shall state the amount of the delinquent sewer service charge, and shall properly describe the property against which such lien is 9 asserted. Upon the filing of such notice, such sewer service charge shall be and become a lien upon the real property served to the amount of such delinquent bill, and shall have priority over all other liens except taxes, deeds of trust then of record, and prior judgements. Section Fourteen. Any person violating any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50.00 nor more than $500.00, and each day's violation shall constitute a separate offense. The imposition of such penalty shall in no wise restrict or deprive the District of its right to pursue any other remedy it may have for the collection of any delinquent bill for sewer service charges. Section Fifteen. Whenever a notice of lien has been filed by the District, as provided in Section Thirteen of this Ordinance, the owner of the property against which such lien is asserted may secure the release thereof upon payment of the amount of the delinquent bill, plus interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date such bill became delinquent, and plus the fees of the Recorder for filing the notice of lien and releasing the same. Section Sixteen. The Board of Trustees hereby declares that if any section, part, sentence or clause of this Ordinance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the remainder of this Ordinance; the Board of Trustees hereby declaring that it would have enacted the remainder of this Ordinance without regard 10 to that part hereof that may be held invalid. Section Seventeen. This Ordinance shall not be so construed as to relieve any person, firm or corporation (municipal or otherwise) from the payment of any sewer service charge which is due and payable under the provisions of Ordinance No. 40 as amended, nor to bar the collection of same by, any and all of the means provided for in Ordinance No. 40 as amended. Section Eighteen. This Ordinance shall not be so construed as to relieve any person, firm or corporation (municipal or otherwise) from any penalty heretofore incurred by the violation of Ordinance No. 40 as amended, nor to bar the prosecution of any such violation in the manner provided therein. Section Nineteen. This being a revenue measure and being necessary for the preservation of the public health, constitutes an emergency within the meaning of the Plan, and this Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its adoption. 11 The foregoing Ordinance was adopted June 24, 1957