Ord 656 Waste Water Rate Adjustment

CITY OF TROY, KANSAS

ORDINANCE NO. 656

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF TROY, KANSAS, ESTABLISHING THE BASIS FOR CALCULATING MONTHLY USER CHARGES TO BE PAID BY THOSE WHO USE THE CITY’S WASTE WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM, ESTABLISHING THE RATES TO BE CHARGED BY THE CITY OF TROY, KANSAS, TO USERS OF THE CITY’S WASTE WATER DISPOSAL SYSTEM, PROVIDING FOR CONNECTIONS TO THE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHING THE CHARGES THEREFORE, PROHIBITING THE MAKING OF CONNECTIONS TO THE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM WITHOUT APPROVAL OF THE CITY AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING THE PROVISIONS HEREOF RELATIVE TO CONNECTIONS, REPEALING ORDINANCE NO. 646 AND REPEALING ALL OTHER ORDINANCES AND PARTS THEREOF IN CONFLICT HEREWITH.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF TROY, KANSAS:

ARTICLE I

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this ordinance shall be as follows:

SECTION 1. BOD (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) – the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at 20#SYMBOL \f “Symbol”95 C, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).

SECTION 2. NORMAL DOMESTIC WASTEWATER – Wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than 250 mg/l and a suspended solids concentration of not more than 300 mg/l.

SECTION 3. RESIDENTIAL CONTRIBUTOR – Any contributor to the City=s treatment systems whose lot, parcel of real estate, or building is used for domestic purposes only. Each mobile home or apartment in a group of mobile homes or apartments shall be considered a residential contributor even if each mobile home or apartment is not served by individual water meters.

SECTION 4. SHALL is mandatory, MAY is permissive.

SECTION 5. SS (denoting Suspended Solids) – Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

SECTION 6. TREATMENT SYSTEM – Any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage, domestic sewage, fall sewers, sewage collection systems, individual systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions, improvement, remodeling, additions and alterations thereof; elements essential and clear well facilities; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment (including land for composting sludge, temporary storage of such compost, and land used for the storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems before land application); or any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treatment, separating, or disposing of municipal waste and sanitary sewer systems.

SECTION 7. WATER METER – A water volume measuring and recording device, furnished and/or installed by the City of Troy or furnished and/or installed by a user and approved by the City of Troy.

ARTICLE II

SECTION 1. Each user shall pay for the services provided by the City based on said user=s use of the treatment system as determined by water meter(s) acceptable to the City

SECTION 2. The monthly user charge for all residential contributors shall be recalculated in November of each year, with the new charge to be billed commencing with the January billing of the following year. The monthly user charge, as calculated in November of each year, shall be based on the contributor’s average monthly water usage as reflected in the billings in the last past months of December, January, February, March and April. In the event a residential contributor has not been a contributor long enough to establish a December through April average for water usage bills, then the monthly user charge for these residential contributors shall be based on actual water usage as reflected by the monthly reading of said contributor’s water meter.

Water user charges for commercial, institutional, industrial and governmental contributors, excepting Unified School District No. 429, Troy, Kansas, shall be based on water usage as reflected by monthly water meter readings.

Because of usage characteristics unique to Unified School District No. 429, Troy, Kansas, the monthly usage charge for said school district shall be calculated in the same manner as are the monthly user charges for residential contributors.

If a residential, commercial, governmental, institutional or industrial contributor has a consumptive use of water, or in some other manner uses water which is not returned to the waste water collection system, the user charge for that contributor may be based upon a waste water meter(s) or separate water meter(s) installed and maintained at the contributor’s expense, and in a manner acceptable to the City of Troy, Kansas.

SECTION 3. The rates to be charged by the City of Troy, Kansas, to users of the sewage disposal system shall be as follows:

(a) Each user shall be assessed a minimum service charge of $10.11 per month to be paid to the City of Troy, Kansas , for the use of said sewage disposal system each month or fraction thereof. Said minimum charge shall be based on the usage of 1,000 gallons of water or less per month. For each 1,000 gallons of water or fraction thereof, used in excess of 1,000 gallons per month, an additional charge of $4.04 per 1,000 gallons of water or fraction thereof, will be made for the use of the City’s sewage disposal system.

(b) In situations where a primary sewage connection has been made, and users in addition to the one for whom the primary connection was made are making use of the City’s sewage disposal system, and separate water meters exist for such additional users, the rates for individual connections set forth above in paragraph (a) of this section shall apply.

(c) In situations where a primary sewer connection has been made, and users in addition to the one for whom the primary connection has been made are making us of the City’s disposal system, and only one water meter exists for such additional users, a minimum service charge of $10.11 per month shall be paid to the City by each additional user for the use of said sewage disposal system each month or fraction thereof. Said minimum charge shall be based on the average usage of 1,000 gallons of water per month or less. In said situations, the total water used through the one meter shall be divided by the number of users to determine the average monthly usage of each. In any month or fraction thereof that the average usage exceeds 1,000 gallons of water per month, an additional charge of $4.04 per 1,000 gallons of water or fraction thereof shall be made to each user for the use of said sewage disposal system.

(d) For the purpose of this section “additional user” shall mean any business establishment, household, trailer house, mobile home or separate sewage disposal user from whom no separate primary sewage disposal connection has been made, it being the intention of this section to make an additional charge for sewage disposal use in situations where several separate uses of the sewage disposal system are being made, examples being trailer courts, mobile home parks, two business establishments making use of the sewage disposal system from one primary connection or a home and a separate business establishment making use of the sewage disposal system from one primary connection. For uses where more than one household or business is maintained in the same house or building, and there is no separate sewage connection, the rates for additional users in sub-paragraph c of this section shall apply.

SECTION 4. For those contributors who contribute wastewater, the strength of which is greater than normal domestic sewage, a surcharge in addition to the normal user charge will be collected. The total surcharge for operation and maintenance including replacement and debt service is:

$ 0.13 per pound BOD

$ 0.08 per pound SS

SECTION 5. Any user who/which discharges any toxic pollutants which cause an increase in the cost of managing the effluent or the sludge from the City=s treatment system, or any user which discharges any substance which singly or by interaction with other substances causes identifiable increased in the cost of operation, maintenance, or replacement of the treatment, shall pay for such increased costs. The charge to each such user shall be as determined by the Governing body of the City.

SECTION 6. The user charge rates established in ARTICLE II, SECTIONS 1 through 5, apply to all users of the City=s treatment system located within the corporate limits of the City.

SECTION 7. Those users of the City=s waste water treatment system who have water meters located outside the corporate limits of the City shall pay a surcharge over the rates established in the ARTICLE II, SECTION 1 through 5. The rates for the users shall be calculated by determining the charge from rates established in this ARTICLE and multiplying by a factor of 1.34. This represents a surcharge of 34% for those users of the treatment works located outside the corporate limits of the city who/which do not contribute to the expense of city operations through ad valorem tax.

ARTICLE III

SECTION 1. All users shall be billed monthly and bills shall be calculated at the rates provided for in this ordinance. Bills shall be dated the first day of each month, and if not paid within ten (10) days, an additional service charge of ten percent (10%) of the gross amount of the total sewer bill be assessed against the customer. If a bill is not paid within twenty (20) days after the date of such bill, service may be discontinued. Where services have been so disconnected, an additional service charge of five hundred dollars ($500.00) shall be paid by the user for reconnection of services.

ARTICLE IV

That each and every property owner or any other person, firm, corporation, entity or political sub-division of the State of Kansas or the United States, by and upon the authority of any owner, or any person whomsoever, desiring to connect any property whatsoever to the sewage disposal system of the City of Troy, Kansas, shall, at their own expense, under the direction and supervision of the City of Troy, Kansas, construct all necessary connecting sewers from their property to the City sewage disposal system, and shall pay the City of Troy, Kansas, the sum of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for making such connection. No person or entity shall make any connection to the City sewage disposal system without first having secured authority from the City to make such connection. All connections to the City sewage disposal system must be approved by the City of Troy. Any person violating this article shall be fined a sum of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) and not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and shall be subject to being disconnected from the sewage disposal system. The person or entity for whom the connection to the City sewage disposal system is made shall be responsible for any direct or indirect damage which they, their employees, agents, assistants or contractors may cause to the City’s streets, alleys, or other public ways, and shall, at their own expense restore such property to a condition similar or equal to that existing before such damage or injury was done by repairing, rebuilding or otherwise restoring the same as may be directed by the City of Troy, Kansas.

ARTICLE V

The provisions of this Ordinance shall be effective upon publication hereof in The Kansas Chief, the official City Newspaper.

Passed by the Council and approved by the Mayor of the City of Troy, Kansas, on the 1st day of June, 2010.

Terry Simpson, Mayor

ATTEST:

Jane M. Boeh, City Clerk