City of Fulton, NY Article IX Sewer Service Charges [1]

[Amended 12-8-1987 by L.L. No. 2-1987]

[1] Editor's Note: The formulas for determining charges are included as attachments to this chapter.

§ 514-53 Basis of charges.

[Amended 11-7-1996 by L.L. No. 15-1996]

A. The source of the revenues for retiring debt services, capital expenditures and operation and maintenance of the POTW shall be a sewer service charge assigned to owners of property located within or outside the corporate limits of the City whose residence or place of business is connected to the public sewer system.

B. Sewer service charge rates shall be determined by the City of Fulton Common Council on an annual (quarterly) basis. The sewer service charge will be computed quarterly and made a part of the City water bill. Charges will be calculated on a fair-user basis, with separate methods used for calculating user charges, based on operation and maintenance expenses, and capital recovery charges, based on local share debt recovery. Separate methods will be used to determine fair-user charges for domestic/ commercial/nonsignificant industrial users and significant industrial users, as defined in Subsections C and D below.

C. Revenues for defraying the operation and maintenance costs shall be raised by assigning a user charge to all users of the City's POTW. Separate user charges shall be levied for significant industrial users and domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users. Annual user charges shall be levied over quarterly billing periods.

(1) User charges for significant industrial users shall be based on all factors which significantly influence the operation and maintenance costs of the treatment facilities. These factors shall include volume, BOD, suspended solids and total phosphorus. The amount of the significant industrial user charge required shall be calculated by the City utilizing the User Charge Formula for Significant Industrial Users (as appended to this chapter).[1] If a significant industrial user discharges domestic wastes to the POTW independently of industrial wastes (i.e., through a separate building lateral), then the user charges for the domestic wastes shall be calculated as defined in Subsection C(2) below or as otherwise consistent with the sewer service charges assessed domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users, and the User Charge Formula for Significant Industrial Users shall apply only to the industrial wastes discharged independently of the domestic wastes.

[1] Editor's Note: The User Charge Formula for Significant Industrial Users is included as an attachment to this chapter.

(2) User charges for domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users shall be based on volume only since wastewater characteristics of sanitary wastes are similar. The amount of domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial user charge shall be calculated by the City utilizing the User Charge Formula for Domestic/Commercial/Nonsignificant Industrial Users (as appended to this chapter[2]). Volume of wastewater produced shall be determined by metered water consumption, or, for significant industrial users which discharge domestic wastes independently of industrial wastes [as per Subsection C(1)], upon a City-determined unit flow in gallons per workday per employee multiplied by the number of significant industrial user's employees. The base unit flow for domestic wastes discharged from significant industrial users shall be 15 gallons per day per employee, adjusted as deemed appropriate by the City based upon the actual facilities and sources of domestic waste being discharged from the significant industrial user to the POTW. These facilities and sources may include, but are not limited to, sanitary facilities, laundries, wastewater-generating cafeterias and shower facilities. Alternatively, the significant industrial user may, at its own expense and subject to review by the City, install flow metering equipment to measure actual volumes of separate domestic waste discharges to the POTW. Data acquired in this manner will be considered by the City in determining the wastewater volume for the separate domestic waste discharges from the significant industrial user.

[2] Editor's Note: Said formula is included as an attachment to this chapter.

D. Revenues for defraying the local share debt service costs shall be raised by assigning a capital recovery charge to all users of the City's POTW. Separate capital recovery charges shall be levied for significant industrial users and domestic/ commercial/nonsignificant industrial users. Annual capital recovery charges shall be levied over quarterly billing periods.

(1) Annual capital recovery charges for significant industrial users shall be based on the proportion of local share project costs attributable to the allocated capacity of the industrial user. Allocated capacity shall be based on the factors of volume, BOD, suspended solids and total phosphorus. The amount of the annual significant industrial capital recovery charge required shall be calculated by the City utilizing the Capital Recovery Charge Formula for Significant Industrial Users (as appended to this chapter[3]). If a significant industrial user discharges domestic wastes to the POTW independently of industrial wastes (i.e., through a separate building lateral), then the capital recovery charges for the domestic wastes shall be calculated as defined in Subsection D(2) below or as otherwise consistent with the sewer service charges assessed domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users, and the Capital Recovery Charge Formula for Significant Industrial Users shall apply only to the industrial wastes discharged independently of the domestic wastes.

[3] Editor's Note: The Capital Recovery Charge Formula is included as an attachment to this chapter.

(2) Capital recovery charges for domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users shall be based on the proportion of local share project costs attributable to the allocated capacity of the domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial user. The amount of the annual domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial capital recovery charge shall be calculated by the City utilizing the Capital Recovery Charge Formula for Domestic/Commercial/Nonsignificant Industrial Users (as appended to this chapter[4]). Volume of wastewater produced shall be determined by metered water consumption, or, for significant industrial users which discharge domestic wastes independently of industrial wastes [as per Subsection D(1)], upon a City-determined unit flow in gallons per workday per employee multiplied by the number of significant industrial user's employees. The base unit flow for domestic wastes discharged from significant industrial users shall be 15 gallons per day per employee, adjusted as deemed appropriate by the City based upon the actual facilities and sources of domestic water being discharged from the significant industrial user to the POTW. These facilities and sources may include, but are not limited to, sanitary facilities, laundries, wastewater-generating cafeterias and shower facilities. Alternatively, the significant industrial user may, at its own expense and subject to review by the City, install flow metering equipment to measure actual volumes of separate domestic waste discharges to the POTW. Data acquired in this manner will be considered by the City in determining the wastewater volume for the separate domestic waste discharges from the significant industrial user.

[4] Editor's Note: Said formula is included as an attachment to this chapter.

E. The Common Council reserves the right, from time to time, to change sewer service charges originally or previously assigned to any property owner.

F. Fee.

(1) The City shall defray the costs of its industrial pretreatment program (IPP), as required by 40 CFR Part 403, by assessing a fee to industrial users included in the City's IPP. The fee assessed shall be based upon the actual costs incurred by the City in the implementation of its IPP, which may include:

(a) Reimbursement of costs for setting up and operating the pretreatment program;

(b) Issuing permits;

(c) Monitoring, inspections and surveillance procedures;

(d) Costs of equipment and supplies;

(e) Reviewing accidental discharge procedures;

(f) Construction inspections;

(g) Filing appeals;

(h) Application for consistent removal status as outlined in 40 CFR Part 403; and

(i) Other reasonable expenses to carry out the program to satisfy the requirements of this chapter, the NYSDEC and the federal government.

(2) The fee assessed to the significant and nonsignificant industrial users for industrial pretreatment program costs incurred by the City shall be determined in accordance with the Industrial Pretreatment Program Charge Formula (as appended to this chapter[5]).

[5] Editor's Note: Said formula is included as an attachment to this chapter.

§ 514-54 Special charges.

A. The City of Fulton may enter into special agreements with users to accept wastes of unusual volume, strength or characteristic, provided that such wastes would not result in the violation of applicable POTW treatment standards or requirements. Special sewer charges may be assigned to such discharges if accepted by the Common Council, after appropriate study and engineering and legal consultation.

[Amended 10-5-1999 by L.L. No. 11-1999]

B. The sewer service charge assigned to any property owner who is not connected to the public water supply shall be established by the Common Council. Such sewer service charges shall be based on the estimated or measured volume of sewage contributed to the public sewers by such property owner and computed as stated in Subsection D below.

C. The sewer service charge assigned to any property owner with both a public and private water supply, whose contribution of sewage to the public sewers exceeds the volume of public water consumed by that owner as evidenced by this water bill, shall be established by the Common Council. Such sewer service charge shall be based on the estimated or measured volume of sewage entering the public sewers and computed as stated in Subsection D below.

D. A sewer service charge assigned to any property owner who is not connected to the public water supply or any property owner with both a public and private water supply may be based on the measured volume of sewage entering the public sewers upon prior written approval of the City if requested by the property owner. If the volume of discharge shall be used to determine the sewer service charge, the sewer service charge to the user shall be computed by multiplying the measured volume of sewage discharged into the sewer system by the applicable sewer service charge rate(s) set forth in § 514-53. In the event of a malfunction of the measuring device, the sewer service charge shall be computed on the basis of a reasonable estimate of the volume of sewage discharged into the sewer system during the quarter, taking into account the volume of sewage discharged in a comparable prior period.

E. All property owners who are outside the City limits and who, by their own request, are served by sanitary sewers must pay sewer service charges on a fair-user basis, equivalent to those paid by property owners within City limits. All users, whether within or outside the City limits, who connect to the City sewer system shall be required to pay a connection fee, as determined by the City.

[Amended 11-7-1996 by L.L. No. 15-1996]

§ 514-55 Domestic/ commercial/ nonsignificant industrial users; significant industrial users.

[Amended 10-30-1991 by L.L. No. 4-1991; 3-15-1994 by L.L. No. 6-1994; 11-7-1996 by L.L. No. 15-1996]

A. Users with wastewater discharges which do not categorize the user as a significant industrial user as per the definition contained in Chapter 514, Article I, § 514-2, of this chapter are considered to be domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users for purposes of sewer service charges. A minimum flat-rate sewer service charge of $21 per three months shall be levied for domestic/commercial/nonsignificant industrial users with less than 5,000 gallons per three months, as long as service remains connected to the City sewers.

[Amended 10-18-2016[1]]

[1] Editor’s Note: This resolution provided an effective date of 3-31-2017.

B. Users with wastewater discharges which categorize the user as a "significant industrial user" as per the definition contained in Chapter 514, Article I, § 514-2, of this chapter are considered to be significant industrial users for purposes of sewer service charges.

C. Measurement of volume of significant industrial waters or wastes contributed to the City POTW shall be accomplished on a continuous basis. Volume data collected by or transmitted to the enforcement officer by the significant industrial users shall be used to determine average daily flow rate. Sampling of significant industrial waters or wastes and subsequent analysis shall be accomplished a minimum of once every month by the enforcement officer or his duly authorized representative. Sampling data thus collected by the enforcement officer and sampling data submitted to the City by significant industrial users (in accordance with industrial wastewater permits) shall be used, along with the average flow rate measurement corresponding to the period of the sampling to compute the average daily BOD₅ loading, the average daily suspended solid loading and the average daily total phosphorus loading of a significant industrial discharge to the POTW for use in the user charge formula for significant industrial wastes for any given billing period. The enforcement officer shall provide copies of industrial sampling results to the SIU from which samples are collected upon receipt of this information. If a particular user requests that the enforcement officer conduct more frequent sampling, such sampling will be done and the cost thereof, as determined by the enforcement officer, shall be borne by said user. Split samples may be requested by an industrial user, as specified in § 514-41.