[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Collingdale as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Water — See Ch. 583.
[Adopted 11-19-1952 by Ord. No. 291 (Ch. 18, Part 1, of the
1987 Code of Ordinances)]
From and after January 1, 1954, there is hereby imposed an annual
rental or charge upon the owners of properties served, or to be served,
for the use of the sewers and sewage system of the Borough of Collingdale
and for the use of certain sewage treatment works which are being
constructed partially at the public expense of the Borough of Collingdale.
[Amended 10-5-1987 by Ord. No. 568]
The annual sewer rental or charge shall be such sum as shall
be sufficient to meet the following classes of expenses:
A.
The amount expended annually by the Borough in the operation, maintenance,
repairs, alterations, inspection, depreciation or other expense in
relation to such sewers, sewage system or sewage treatment works,
including advertising costs, bond premium, postage, stationery and
printing, collector's commission, legal expenses, cost of obtaining
water consumption data, and any other items properly chargeable, either
wholly or proportionately, to maintenance and operation of the sewage
system.
B.
Such annual amount as may be necessary to provide for the amortization
of the indebtedness incurred by the Borough in the construction, acquisition,
repair or replacement of such sewers, sewage system or sewage treatment
works, and interest thereon, in order that said improvement may become
self-liquidating or as may be sufficient to pay the amount agreed
to be paid annually under the terms of any contract with any authority
furnishing sewage treatment services to the Borough.
C.
Sufficient to establish a margin of safety of 10%.
[Amended 2-6-1961 by Ord. No. 340; 1-22-1962 by Ord. No. 345; 2-7-1972 by Ord. No. 438; 2-7-1983 by Ord. No. 534; 12-20-1983 by Ord. No.
540; 12-17-1990 by Ord. No. 581; 1-4-1993 by Ord. No. 592; 12-16-1993 by Ord. No. 598; 12-5-1994 by Ord. No. 603; 1-2-2007 by Ord. No.
653; 12-17-2007 by Ord. No. 659]
A.
The said annual sewer rental rate or charge for residential or other
buildings, structures or units discharging sanitary, commercial or
industrial waste into such sewer system shall be upon the following
rates and in accordance with the following classifications:
[Amended 12-7-2009 by Ord. No. 670; 12-20-2010 by Ord. No. 674; 12-3-2012 by Ord. No. 688; 12-2-2013 by Ord. No. 693; 12-15-2014 by Ord. No. 699; 12-21-2015 by Ord. No. 707; 12-19-2016 by Ord. No. 714; 12-18-2017 by Ord. No. 716; 12-17-2018 by Ord. No. 722]
B.
The specific rates or discounts hereinbefore mentioned may be changed
by separate rate ordinance annually.
The Borough Council of the Borough of Collingdale finds as a
fact that all properties of the Borough which are connected to the
public sewers obtain water from the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company,
hereafter for convenience called "Water Company," and further that
the Water Company has water meters installed in all of the said properties;
and the Borough further finds that all properties which are thus served
by the Water Company are connected to the public sewers. The Borough
Council therefore declares that the fairest manner in which to equitably
apportion the total sewer rental or charge to be made is to base the
charge for each such property at a base rate plus the consumption
of water used by each such property connected to the sewers. It is
also determined that the sewer rental or charge for any property for
any year should be in addition to the base rate based, so far as practicable,
on water actually consumed by said property during a preceding period
of 12 consecutive months.
The Borough Council shall secure from the Water Company in the month of November in each year statements of the total number of gallons of water furnished to and used by all users in the Borough and the total number of gallons of water used by each property within the Borough for a prior period of 12 consecutive months. If the said Water Company shall neglect or refuse to furnish said information, then the Sewer Committee of the Borough Council of the Borough of Collingdale be and is hereby authorized and directed to issue its subpoena, signed by the Chairman of said Committee, for the attendance of any witnesses and for the production of books, papers or other evidence at any meeting of said Sewer Committee, and the Committee shall have authority to cause the same to be served, and if any witness shall refuse to testify or to produce any books or papers, it shall be the duty of the Borough Manager, represented by the Borough Solicitor, to report the facts relating to such refusal to the Court of Common Pleas and to request the said Court to issue its order to the said witness to testify or produce the evidence required, as the case may be; and all witnesses shall be paid their witness fees and mileage as provided by the Borough Code. Any fair and reasonable fee or charge by the Water Company for such data shall be included as part of the total amount of annual sewer rental as per § 454-2 hereof.
During the month of December in each year, it shall be the duty
of the Sewer Committee to determine the number of gallons of water
which were used by all properties which discharged waste into the
public sewers during a preceding 12 months, or any fraction of said
period. In cases where the Water Company records do not disclose the
total number of gallons of water consumed for the entire twelve-month
period, the Sewer Committee shall estimate the water consumed by such
properties for the period when the Water Company did not supply water
to said properties. The Sewer Committee is authorized to compute the
total water consumption for the period that the said properties were
discharging waste into the public sewers, based on a monthly average
of the Water Company records for the partial period. In cases of properties
which secure water from wells or from sources other than the Water
Company, the Sewer Committee is authorized to estimate the quantity
of water consumed by said properties and, in making such estimates,
the Sewer Committee is authorized to base such determination on experience
with similarly situated properties from such information as shall
be available.
The Sewer Committee is authorized, in cases where public, business,
commercial or industrial users do not discharge all of the water into
the public sewer, to reduce the total number of gallons of water charged
to any such property after appeal by the property owners and hearing
thereon. Said appeal shall be filed with the Chairman of the Sewer
Committee within one month after the mailing of sewer rental bills.
From the decision of the Sewer Committee, the property owner may appeal
to Borough Council, whose decision shall be final.
In December of each year, final sewer rental bills for the following year shall be computed by the Sewer Rental Collector. The bills for the said year shall be computed as determined in § 454-3 hereof. In computing the bills to be rendered for additional charges over the base provided in § 454-3 hereof, the said additional charges shall be determined by multiplying the number of thousands of gallons of water used by each property for a preceding period of 12 months or by multiplying the number of gallons of water estimated to have been used for the said period of 12 months or fraction thereof, as the case may be, times the amount of charge per 1,000 gallons of water, as hereinbefore provided. The Borough Manager shall furnish said Collector, as soon as possible, with a list of all properties which are connected to the sewers, together with the names and addresses of the owners of such properties and together with a statement of the number of gallons of water used by each such property for a preceding period of 12 months, or as estimated as having been used, as hereinbefore provided. The Sewer Rental Collector shall make said final bills to be rendered to all classes of users as specified in § 454-3 hereof on forms to be furnished by Borough Council and mail same.
[Amended 2-6-1961 by Ord. No. 340; 2-7-1983 by Ord. No. 534; 12-20-1983 by Ord. No. 540; 7-5-2011 by Ord. No. 676]
Sewer bills shall be payable as follows: If said sewer bills
shall be paid on or before April 30, the net amount of the bill may
be paid; if said bills are paid after April 30 and before June 1 of
each year, a penalty of 5% shall be added; and if said sewer bills
are paid after June 1 in the year rendered, a penalty of 5% shall
be added, together with interest at the rate of 10% from the date
of the bills. It shall be the duty of the Sewer Rental Collector in
the first calendar year after bills are rendered to certify any unpaid
bills to the Borough Solicitor, who shall file a lien or liens for
the same in the Office of Judicial Support in the Court of Common
Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania; and such lien(s), together
with interest and penalty, shall be filed and collected in accordance
with the law or in any other manner deemed appropriate by the Borough
Manager.
It shall be the duty of the Sewer Rental Collector to keep full,
accurate and complete records of all sewer rentals or charges, bills,
receipts, payments and transmittals of money to the Borough. It shall
be the duty of the Sewer Rental Collector to transmit all money so
collected to the Borough Treasurer daily. The Borough Auditors shall
examine and audit said accounts annually.
The foregoing directions as to the time in which to procure
information from the Water Company and of the times in which to mail
out the bills shall be considered directory and not mandatory, and
the failure to do one or some or all of said acts on time shall not
invalidate any bill rendered and shall not invalidate or forego the
collection of any sewer rental or charge.
[Adopted 10-3-2011 by Ord. No. 678]
This article is adopted to promote and protect the public health,
safety, comfort, convenience and other aspects of the general welfare.
These general goals include, among other things, the specific enforcement
of the Clean Water Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law and
the various regulations promulgated by DELCORA, the City of Philadelphia,
the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, and such other agencies which
may succeed the aforementioned agencies, and the implementation of
the Delaware County Wastewater Management Plan and the National Pretreatment
Standards, 40 CFR 401 et seq.
The DELCORA Standards, Rules and Regulations of 2011, attached
hereto as Exhibit A, and the City of Philadelphia's Sewer and
Wastewater Control Regulations, attached hereto as Exhibit B, are
hereby collectively adopted as the Wastewater Treatment Regulations
for the Borough of Collingdale. Where any conflict exists between
any portions of Exhibits A and B, the most stringent of the portion
in conflict shall apply.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibits A and B are on file in the Borough's
offices.
The DELCORA Local Limitations for the Eastern Service Area (the
"Eastern Limitations") and the DELCORA Local Limitations for the Western
Service Area (the "Western Limitations"), as set forth in DELCORA
Resolution 2011-01, attached hereto as Exhibit C,[1] are hereby adopted as the local limitations for all discharges
of wastewater in the Borough of Collingdale. All such discharges of
wastewater shall comply with the "Eastern Limitations."
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit C is on file in the Borough's offices.
