§ 42-238. Findings and purpose.
(a)
Necessity. The city council has previously found, and currently reaffirms that the use of septic tanks, privies, privy vaults, cesspools, or similar private sewage disposal facilities, is deleterious to the health, safety and welfare of the businesses, industries, governmental and charitable agencies, and residents of the city and that the health, safety and welfare of the businesses, industries, governmental and charitable agencies and residents is enhanced by the creation of a public sewer system and treatment plant, with regulation by the city of pollutants and other harmful materials according to state and federal standards.
(b)
Method of measuring use. Based on advice of its engineers, the city council has previously found, and currently reaffirms, that the most practical, cost effective and accurate method, given available technology, of measuring the use of the system's sewers and treatment plant by any user is by the meter or meters used to measure water usage.
(c)
Continuation of service. The city has previously found and, further currently reaffirms that, in order to provide and continue to provide for the safe and uninterrupted removal and treatment of sewage, pollutants and other harmful materials, it is necessary from time to time to install improvements, enlargements, extensions and repairs to the sewage disposal system.
(d)
Purpose of charges. Charges for the use of the system are hereby established for the purpose of recovering the cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, and operation of the sewage disposal system. Such charges shall be made in accordance with the provisions hereinafter set forth and shall be made against all users of the sewage disposal system.
(1)
All premises connected directly or indirectly to the sewage disposal system, except as hereinafter provided, shall be charged and shall make payments to the city in amounts computed on the basis of this article.
(2)
The charges, rates and fees for service by the sewage disposal system are established herein to adequately provide for bond requirements and to ensure that the system shall not operate at a deficit.
(3)
The city staff or designated parties shall periodically review the charges, rates, fees, rules and regulations of the sewage disposal system. Said review shall be completed not less than one time per fiscal year. Results of said review shall be reported to the city council with respective recommendations for any adjustments.
(4)
The charges, rates and fees shall be set so as to recover costs from users in reasonable proportion to the cost of serving those users.
(e)
Proportionality, fairness, and benefits of charges, rates and fees.
(1)
The city has previously found and further currently reaffirms that the fairest and most reasonable method of providing for the operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and improvement of the sewage disposal system, is to charge each user, based in all cases on amount of use, for the:
a.
Cost of retiring debt secured by the net revenues of the system issued to pay for improvements and replacements to the system;
b.
Costs of ongoing repair, replacement and improvement and budgeted as part of the annual costs of the system; and
c.
Operation, administration and maintenance costs of the system.
(2)
The city has investigated several methods of apportioning the cost of the system. Based on its investigation and on the advice of its engineers, the city council has previously found, and currently reaffirms, that to ensure the stability and viability of the system for the benefit of its users, the fairest and most accurate way to apportion the costs of operation, maintenance, replacement and improvement of the system is to charge each user:
a.
A monthly service charge for sewer service (which varies depending on the size of the water intake pipe and meter) which fee reflects each user's proportionate share of the costs of the system;
b.
A commodity charge for sewer service which is based on the user's actual use of water supplied by the system or, in the case of users whose water service is unmetered, a flat monthly fee based upon the number of rooms of such user.
(3)
The city council has previously found, and currently reaffirms that the charges, rates and fees set forth herein fairly and accurately apportion the fixed and variable costs of the system among the users of the system and that the monthly service charge for sewer service charged to each user of the system provides actual benefits to such users in the form of ready access to sewer services that would be unavailable if the monthly service charge was not charged.
(f)
Useful life of improvements. Based on the advice of its engineers, the city council has previously found and currently reaffirms that any improvements to or capital expenditures by the system did not, at the time of such construction and financing, have an expected useful or design life that would exceed the term of the bonded indebtedness issued to finance such improvement or capital acquisition and paid for by rates and charges.
(g)
Charges, rates and fees for nonresidents. The city has previously found, and hereby ratifies and confirms, that the total direct and indirect costs of providing service to users outside the city jurisdiction, where no other contract exists with the governmental units where those users are located, equals at least two times the rates and charges imposed for direct services and debt service cost to users located in the city. Indirect costs include payment for capital improvements, extraordinary repairs and replacements for the system benefiting all users of the system and paid for by users served within the corporate limits of the city or the corporate limits of other municipalities which have entered into contracts with the city for such costs, funding depreciation of the improvements comprising the system, and fire and police or other protection for the system paid by city taxpayers or by the governmental units with which the city has contracts for sewage disposal service.
(Prior Code, § 2.81; Ord. No. 2000-09, 5-15-2000)