A.
Customer accepts service. The rates, rules and regulations contained
in this chapter shall constitute and be considered a part of the contract
with every person, company or corporation who or which is supplied
with utility services from the water and sewer system and every person,
company or corporation, hereinafter called a "customer," who accepts
and uses utility services shall be held to have consented to be bound
thereby.
B.
Not liable for interrupted service. They City will endeavor at all
times to provide a regular and uninterrupted supply of service, but
in case the supply of service shall be interrupted or irregular or
defective or fail from causes beyond its control or through ordinary
negligence of employees, servants or agents, the Department shall
not be liable therefor.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
C.
Using services without paying. Any person using utility services from the City without paying therefor or who shall be found guilty of breaking the seal of any meter or appurtenances or bypassing any meter shall be guilty of violating this chapter and, upon conviction, shall be fined a sum as provided in Chapter 1, Article III, General Penalty, of this Code.
D.
Destroying property. Any person found guilty of defacing, tampering, injuring or destroying or in any manner limiting the use or availability of any meter or any property of the utilities systems without permission shall, upon conviction of such act, be fined as provided in Chapter 1, Article III, General Penalty, of this Code.
E.
Service obtained by fraud. All contracts for utility services must
be made in the name of the head of household, firm or corporation,
using the established spelling of that person's or firm's name. Attempts
to obtain service by the use of other names, different spellings or
by substituting names of other persons or firms shall be considered
a subterfuge and service shall be denied. If service has been discontinued
because of nonpayment of bills or any unpaid obligation and service
has again been obtained through subterfuge, misrepresentation or fraud,
the service shall be promptly disconnected and the whole or such part
of the advanced payment as may be necessary to satisfy the unpaid
obligation shall be retained by the City and credited to the appropriate
account.
F.
Failure to receive bill. Failure to receive a bill shall not excuse
a customer from his obligation to pay within the time specified. Should
the Department be unable to bill a customer for services used during
any month, the next billing shall include the charges for services
used during the unbilled month. A month shall be considered as that
period of approximately 30 days.
G.
Request to discontinue service. Services shall have been deemed to
have been supplied to any property connected to the utilities systems
during a month unless the customer notifies the City prior to the
first day of the new billing month in which the utility services are
to be discontinued.
H.
Billing; utility shut-off; hearing.
[Amended 4-26-2004 by Ord. No. 04/26/2004-3; 9-26-2005 by Ord. No. 09/26/2005-1; 6-25-2007 by Ord. No. 06/25/07-1; 3-24-2009 by Ord. No. 03/24/09-1; 2-22-2010 by Ord. No.
02/22/2010-1; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch.
1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
(1)
All bills for the utility services shall be due and payable upon
presentation. If a water bill is not paid by 3:00 p.m. on the 17th
day of the month, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on the 18th day of the month,
a penalty equal to 15% of the amount due on said bill shall be added
thereto; except that if the 17th day of the month is a holiday or
falls on the weekend, the bill shall be due and payable by 3:00 p.m.
of the next working day and the penalty shall begin at 10:00 a.m.
on the following day.
(2)
If any overdue utility bill has not been paid by the fourth Tuesday
of January, March, May, July, September and November, services shall
be shut off at 10:00 a.m. on that fourth Tuesday. An "overdue bill"
is defined as a bill that is subject to an increase in an amount set
from time to time by the City Council due to failure to pay by the
date set forth on the water bill.
[Amended 11-1-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/11/01-2]
(3)
Once utility services have been disconnected (terminated), the same
shall not be again connected or used until all delinquent accounts
and bills of service are paid in full, including an additional turn-on
fee set from time to time by the City Council for each connection
of such utility service, plus expenses incurred in the reconnecting
of the utility service.
(4)
Utility service will be turned back on after regular hours by paying
an additional turn-on fee set from time to time by the City Council.
I.
Notice of delinquency and statutory lien notice. Whenever charges
for water and/or sewer services become delinquent, at any time thereafter,
the Clerk may shall prepare and mail or cause to be prepared and mailed
a notice of delinquent water and/or sewer charges to the owner or
owners of record. The notice shall state the taxpayer identification
number of the property, its common address and provide the amount
that is delinquent. The notice shall also state that the delinquent
charges have created a lien on the real estate under the provisions
of 65 ILCS 5/11-139-8. Any time after 15 calendar days after the date
of the notice of delinquent water and/or sewer charges, the Clerk
may file a statutory notice of lien which shall contain the amount
of money delinquent, the date it became delinquent and a description
of the real estate. The statutory notice of lien shall be then filed
with the County Recorder of Deeds and mailed to the owner or owners
of record. A bill is delinquent for the purposes of 65 ILCS 5/11-139-8
when it remains unpaid on the 18th of the month next succeeding the
month in which the bill is mailed.
[Amended 12-21-2009 by Ord. No. 12/21/09-1]
J.
Foreclosure of lien. Property subject to a lien for unpaid utility
charges may be sold for nonpayment of the same and the proceeds of
such sale shall be applied to pay the charges after deducting costs,
as is the case in the foreclosure of mortgages on real estate. The
City Attorney is hereby authorized to institute such proceedings in
the name of the City in any court having jurisdiction over such matters,
against any property for which the bill for utility services has remained
unpaid.
[Amended 12-21-2009 by Ord. No. 12/21/09-1]
K.
In the event any water account, including any payment plan, that
is not paid within 30 days after the final bill notice is sent, the
amount will increase by 30% and the City Clerk, City Treasurer, or
their designees, shall be authorized to turn the water account over
to a collection agency for collection.
[Added 11-18-2019 by Ord.
No. 2019/11/18-1]
It is hereby made the duty of the Superintendent to prepare,
or cause to be prepared, an accurate list of all premises and properties
receiving utilities services, showing the name and address of the
occupant and/or owner of the same. The list shall be kept up-to-date
and shall be corrected from time to time to allow changes in the occupancy
or ownership of any such property or premises. It shall be presented
at the first regular monthly meeting.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The owner of any lot, parcel of land or premises receiving utility
services, the occupant of such premises and the user of the services
shall be jointly and severally liable for the payment of the services
to such lot, parcel of land or premises and all services are rendered
to the premises by the City only on the condition that such owner,
occupant and user shall be jointly and severally liable to the City
therefor.
Whenever any meter, by reason of its being out of repair or from any cause, fails to properly register the utilities passing through the same, the consumer shall be charged the average usage charge of the previous three months. If no record of the previous three months exists, then it shall be the duty of the Collector to estimate the amount of utilities consumed during the time the meter fails to operate and the consumer shall be charged with such estimated amount. Bills may be estimated whenever it is impossible to read the meters during inclement weather. (See § 242-15 of this chapter.)
No free service shall be furnished to any person and all rates
and charges shall be nondiscriminatory, provided that the Mayor and
City Council reserve the right to impose special rates and charges
in cases where particular circumstances render the regular rates inadequate
or unjust.
No water shall be resold or distributed by the recipient or
consumer thereof from the City supply to any premises other than that
for which application has been made and the meter installed, except
in cases of emergency.
A.
Residential
and commercial deposits.
(1)
Residential. When any application is made for utility services in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the applicant for
whom such service is requested shall pay a deposit with the application
for water service in an amount set from time to time by the City Council.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(2)
Commercial.
When any application is made for utility services by a commercial
or industrial user in accordance with the provisions of this chapter,
the applicant shall pay a deposit with the application for water service
in an amount set from time to time by the City Council.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(3)
Where
the amount of the deposit provided for above is not sufficient to
adequately protect the Water and Sewer Department, a greater amount
than stated above may be required, based upon the consumer's estimated
bill for a customary billing period.
B.
Security for payment; no interest. The deposits made under the provisions
of this chapter shall be held by the City as security for the payment
of utilities used by the applicant upon the premises to which his
application pertains and may be so applied when any default is made
in the payment in the utilities bill in accordance with this chapter.
The depositor shall earn no interest.
All of the rules and regulations concerning the use of the facilities
of the water and sewer utilities shall be adopted and the same shall
become a part of the contract with every consumer, and every consumer
shall be considered to consume utilities from the City subject thereto
and bound thereby.
The owner of any building connected to the Maroa public sewer
system shall be permitted to install two water meters:
B.
Separate billing. Customers shall be billed for each meter as separate accounts, and each meter shall be subject to the minimum charge as provided in § 242-80A of this chapter.
C.
Separate rates. The rates and charges as provided in § 242-18 of this chapter shall be applied separately to each water meter.
D.
Application for second meter. No second water meter shall be installed
for use on or in any premises until an application therefor, in writing,
has been made for that purpose and filed with the Waterworks and Sewage
Department of the City of Maroa. Upon proper application, the Department
shall furnish an appropriately sized water meter and backflow preventer,
the cost of which shall be paid by the customer at the time of application.
The customer shall be responsible for the proper installation of the
meter and associated plumbing according to standards and regulations
set forth by the Illinois Plumbing Code and the Superintendent of
Public Works.
[Amended 7-19-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/07/19-3]
E.
Penalty for cross-connection. A user who makes or causes to be made
a cross-connection or installs any other plumbing device between the
two meters so that the user's sewer rates are understated shall be
subject to a fine of $1,000.
A.
Where persons or families reside in a building under one roof, be
it homes or an apartment converted into more than one dwelling place,
each family or individual resident residing therein shall be deemed
an individual customer and such homes or apartments or dwellings shall
be billed for at least one minimum water and sewer account according
to the number of families or individual residents residing therein.
B.
Where two or more families live in one dwelling, one minimum per
family may be charged. If more than the minimum is used, the owner
or occupant of such dwelling shall pay the additional over such minimum
as provided.
[Amended 11-25-2002 by Ord. No. 11/25/2002-1; 2-27-2006 by Ord. No. 02/27/2006-3; 2-22-2010 by Ord. No. 02/22/2010-1; 7-19-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/07/19-3]
A.
Any water
customer who has temporarily discontinued service will continue to
be assessed minimum monthly charges. In the event a water customer
permanently discontinues service but retains ownership of the premises
and wishes to later reinstate service, service will be restored only
upon payment of an amount equivalent to the minimum monthly charges
for the period of disconnection, in addition to any other charges
or deposits.
B.
There
shall be and the City Council shall establish, from time to time,
a monthly Utility Rehabilitation Fund charge for every water account.
C.
There
shall be and the City Council shall establish, from time to time,
a monthly Water Meter Fund charge for every water account.
A.
A customer may request a meter to be tested for accuracy, which test
will be made in the meter shop of the City in accordance with the
standard regulations for meter testing as prescribed by the Illinois
Commerce Commission. Each request for the testing of a meter for accuracy
shall be accompanied by a deposit in an amount as set from time to
time by the City Council.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B.
If the meter so tested shall be found to be accurate within the limits
prescribed by the Illinois Commerce Commission, the deposit shall
be retained by the Water and Sewer Department as compensation for
such test. If the error in registration is found to be more than that
permitted by the Commission, then the cost of the test shall be borne
by the Department and the amount of the deposit shall be returned
to the customer. The customer's bill shall be adjusted in accordance
with the results of the test if error is established.
C.
The quantity of water recorded by the meter shall be accepted as
correct by both the customer and the Water Department, except when
the meter has been found to be registering inaccurately or has ceased
to register. In either case, the meter will be promptly repaired by
the Water Department and the quantity of water used will be determined
by the registration of the meter in the same period for the preceding
year.
[Amended 7-19-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/07/19-3]
A water service line shall consist of the necessary tap, pipe,
stop boxes, test plugs, stop cocks, hydrants, bypasses, meters, fixtures
and appurtenances between the City water main and the discharge side
of the water meter. The water service line shall be originally supplied
by the owner of the property served thereby. The City shall maintain
and keep in repair domestic water service lines from the main to the
discharge side of the curb stop. The owner of the property served
thereby shall maintain and keep in repair domestic service lines from
the discharge side of the curb stop to the intake side of the water
meter and as to all other services from the City mains to the discharge
side of the water meter, subject to the other provisions of this chapter.
If repairs to a water service line become necessary in the judgment
of the Superintendent of Public Works, the City may cause such repairs
to be made; and if the same would otherwise be the responsibility
of said owner of the property, the cost thereof may be added to the
water bill for that service. Not more than one lot or parcel of ground
shall be served by each service line, except as provided elsewhere
herein; and whenever a lot or parcel of ground being served by a service
line is divided into separate ownership, water service after such
division shall be provided by a separate service line for each of
the respective parts thereof. Where two or more single-family residence
buildings or two-family residence buildings having water service of
the domestic classification are located on one lot or parcel of ground,
a separate water service line shall be provided for each such building,
whether the same are owned by one person or entity or otherwise. Such
service lines must be at least one inch in outside diameter and must
be installed at a minimum depth of 40 inches. Service lines shall
be constructed of copper Type K, polyethelene, Type SDR9 (CTS pipe
size), or suitable material (based upon application need, as long
as the material complies with the Illinois Plumbing Code and receives
Superintendent approval) and valves shall only be of a type and material
which complies with the Illinois Plumbing Code and is approved in
advance by the Superintendent of Public Works. If polyethelene, Type
SDR9 (CTS pipe size) line is used, tracer wire must be installed along
the complete routing with the service line. Service lines shall not
be covered until they are inspected and approved by the Superintendent
of Public Works. The user shall not connect any service line or any
plumbing connected with the service line to any other water source.
The service lines shall meet any requirements of the State of Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
A.
The user shall furnish all labor and the cost of all materials necessary
to construct a one-inch outside diameter tap-in connection from the
water main to the applicant's residence or business. For all regular
service connections, the applicant shall pay a tap-in connection fee
as set from time to time by the City Council.
[Amended 7-19-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/07/19-3]
B.
The tap-in fee for all tap-in service connections outside the corporate
limits shall be as set from time to time by the City Council.
C.
All water tap and service connections made to the mains of the City
waterworks system which are larger than one inch outside diameter
shall be installed at the actual cost of the labor and materials;
however, the minimum cost shall not be less than an amount set from
time to time by the City Council.
[Amended 7-19-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/07/19-3]
[Amended 4-26-2004 by Ord. No. 04/26/04-3; 6-28-2010 by Ord. No. 06/28/2010-4; 7-23-2012 by Ord. No. 07/23/12-1; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art.
I)]
The rates for the use and service supplied by the waterworks
system shall be set from time to time by the City Council and shall
be based upon the amount of water consumed for the following:
A.
Residential, inside corporate limits.
B.
Residential, outside corporate limits. The rates for the use and
service supplied by the waterworks system for consumers residing outside
the corporate limits shall be 30% higher than the prevailing rates
for customers residing within the corporate limits.
[Amended 7-19-2021 by Ord. No. 2021/07/19-3]
C.
Sale of bulk water.
D.
Unless
alternately increased or decreased by a majority vote of the City
Council prior to May 1 of each year following passage of this subsection,
water and sewer rates shall automatically increase in the month of
May by the greater of either of the following:
[Added 5-1-2023 by Ord. No. 2023/05/01-1[1]]
(1)
The
twelve month average inflation rate of the preceding calendar year,
calculated by using CPI data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics; or
(2)
5%.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Sections 2 through 7 of this ordinance
provided specific rates for the current fiscal year (following passage
of the ordinance). A complete copy of the ordinance is on file in
the City offices.
