Town of Williamstown, MA Administrative Policy

The following administrative policy has been adopted to supplement the policies adopted at town meeting for handling the sewer service charges.

§ 117-41 Property subject to sewer service charges.

Sewer service charges shall be levied on all property in which there is a sewer connected directly or indirectly with a town sewerage system. This means all properties connected to a town sewer will be charged regardless of whether or not that particular town sewer is tied in with the interceptor and the sewage treatment plant.

§ 117-42 Commencement of charges.

The sewer service charge shall commence when the private lateral or private sewer line is connected to the town's sewerage system or two years after the sewer is available, whichever is earlier. Those properties where a town sewer was available on February 20, 1961, the date of the town meeting accepting Chapter 63 of the Acts of 1961, will be charged beginning two years from the date of the acceptance of the Act.

§ 117-43 Reduction of charges.

Any water customer who uses water in such a manner that it is not discharged into the town's sewerage system may be granted a reduction in his sewer service charge in proportion to the water not so discharged into the system. In order to receive such consideration, the owner shall, at his expense, purchase and install a water meter to measure said water. The Water Department will read this meter and report the same to the Sewer Department.

The Superintendent of the Sewer and Water Departments is authorized, with the approval of the Town Manager, to estimate the amount of water that is either discharged or not discharged into the town's sewerage system and compute the sewer service charge accordingly. Such a procedure shall be followed only when the amount of water can be definitely computed or where the amount of water discharged into the town system is so small that it would be under the consumption permitted under a minimum water bill.

§ 117-44 Water from sources other than town.

Any sewer customer who discharges sewage into the town's system from a water source other than the town's shall pay on the same basis as if the water was purchased from the town. Here the responsibility for determining the amount of water so discharged is the town's, whether by estimate or by water meter.[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: Original Sections 5 and 6 of this policy, which immediately followed this section and dealt with minimum sewer service charges, were repealed 3-30-1998.