Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-555-10-84ORDINANCE NO. 555-10-84 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ALLEN, TEXAS, REPEALING ORDINANCE 411-9-82 AND ALL PREVIOUS ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT; PROVIDING FOR THE RATES TO BE CHARGED FOR WATER AND SEWER SERVICE; PROVIDING FOR COLLECTION OF SUCH RATES; PROVIDING FOR THE DISCONNECTION OF SERVICE; PROVIDING FOR WATER AND SEWER TAP RATES; PROVIDING FOR PENALTY OF VIOLATION OF THIS ORDINANCE; PROVIDING FOR A DEPOSIT FEE, AND INTEREST THEREON; PROVIDING FOR TEMPORARY WATER AND SEWER CONNECTION FEE; PROVIDING FOR A METER SETTING CHARGE; AND PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, a water and sewer rate study has been commissioned by and presented to the Allen City Council which indicates that net revenues to the water and sewer fund under the present rate structures will not be sufficient to produce the revenues needed to finance proposed and necessary improvements to the water and sewer system, support outstanding and authorized bond indebtedness, and to finance the increasing costs of operating the water system; and, WHEREAS, the City Council desires to change the rate structure in order to reflect a movement away from the declining block structure which decreases the unit cost of water as consumption increases; and, WHEREAS, the Allen City Council desires to comply with the applicable provisions of the laws, rules, and regulations of State and Federal Agencies pertaining to the establishment of rate schedules and to be in compliance with the City's bond ordinances; WHEREAS, after careful study and due consideration of the financial plan and customer consumption profiles, the City Council of the City of Allen, Texas, has determined that the public welfare would be best served by amending the present water and sewer rate structure to insure that the utility system will be self-supporting. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ALLEN, TEXAS: SECTION L WATER SERVICE CHARGES. There shall be charged and collected each month by the City from the consumers of water service, the amount of money hereinafter set out, based upon the following rates: Ordinance No. 555-10-84 - Page 1 s A. The minimum monthly charges shall be based on the meter size and shall be billed at the following rates which include the cost of 1,500 gallons of water: For a 3/4" standard meter service shall be ........ $5.85 For a 1" meter service shall be........................$8.55 For a 1-1/2" meter service shall be.................$17.35 For a 2" meter service shall be.......................$27.75 For a 3" meter service shall be.......................$52.00 For a 4" meter service shall be.......................$80.95 For a 6" meter service shall be.....................$173.50 B. For larger consumption the rate shall be billed as follows: $1.78 per thousand gallons for each thousand gallons of water or fraction thereof used above that included in the minimum bill (1,500 gallons). SECTION II. SANITARY SEWER CHARGES. There shall be charged and collected each month by the City for sanitary sewer service the amounts of money hereinafter set out based on the following rates: A. The minimum monthly sewer charge for any user shall be $7.65, which shall be charged any user whose water consumption for the month does not exceed 1,500 gallons. B. For larger consumption, the monthly sewer rate shall be as follows: The next 8,500 gallons of water, $0.41 per thousand gallons for all separately metered single family dwelling units and other dwelling units separately metered for water. The maximum charge for single family residential sewer service shall be $11.10 per month. C. All over 10,000 gallons of water, $0.41 per thousand gallons for other than residential use, including mobile home parks, apartment complexes, commercial and industrial customers. D. All mobile home parks, apartment complexes, commercial and industrial sewer customers shall be billed monthly on their total volume of water consumption. Water used in a direct manufacturing process or for irrigation purposes only can be exempted from sewer charges upon request of and approval by the City in writing. SECTION III. LATE PENALTY AND SERVICE DISCONNECTION. That such rates and charges hereby shall be mailed by the City of Allen and shall be due and payable by the customers of the Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer System twelve (12) days after the billing date. Ordinance No. 555-10-84- Page 2 A. Should the amount due upon the 12th day not be paid in full, a ten percent (10%) penalty shall be added to the amount past due and unpaid. B. The City will issue a past due notice if payment has not been made by the due date which will also serve as a notice of possible service termination. The customer is subject to service discontinuation eight days after the bill comes due. The City is not required to send additional notices other than the past due notice in order to be authorized to discontinue service. SECTION IV. RECONNECT FEE. Should service be discontinued to any user or customer herein and the amount past due and delinquent be paid thereafter, such service may be resumed, but there shall be charged and collected a fee for reconnection to the Waterworks System. The following fee schedule shall apply for reconnection services: During normal working hours .......................................... $10.00 After normal working hours, weekends and holidays......... $20.00 SECTION V. BILLINGS AND ADJUSTMENTS. The Waterworks System shall be operated on a fully metered basis, to be in accordance with contractual agreements and bond indentures. A. No free service shall be allowed, and to the extent the City or any of its agencies or instrumentalities avail themselves of the services and facilities provided by the Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer System, they shall pay for them. B. The City shall simultaneously collect the respective amounts due the City for services supplied by the Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer System, and shall refuse to accept partial payment for part of such services, except in rare and unusual circumstances as determined by the City Manager or his designated representative. C. The City Manager or his designated representative has the authority to make adjustments to individual customer bills or to make payment arrangements only when rare or unusual circumstances justify such actions. These situations will be handled on a special case basis and the City Manager's or his designated representative's decisions will be final. D. The City shall remove a meter for testing at the request of a customer if the meter is believed to be registering water consumption in error. There shall be a charge of $20.00 for each test. The fee shall be waived if the meter is Ordinance No. 555-10-84 -, Page 3 found to be over -registering. If the meter is determined to be under -registering or if the meter is replaced by the City for whatever reason, the testing fee shall still apply. The customer shall receive a copy of the meter testing report upon receipt. E. The customer shall be responsible for any water lost through leakage on the customer's side of the meter regardless of reason for such loss. F. The City shall read meters on a regular monthly cycle approximating an average usage of 30 days and bill the customer based upon actual usage from the readings. However, the City may use any estimation procedure required to approximate the actual usage when the City cannot read the meters due to adverse weather or an inability to read the meter because of brush or vehicles covering the meter or for any other reason which prohibits the meter readers from seeing the meter. The City is also authorized to have meter reading periods vary from the 30 day average length when computer billing problems occur or at such time that the reading and billing cycles need to be adjusted to better distribute the utility billing workload. G. A fee of $10.00 shall apply to any returned check given to the City in payment of services. SECTION VL DEPOSITS AND INTEREST. Before any customer, except as provided below, may obtain services from the Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer System, said customer must have a deposit on hand with the City of Allen. A. The deposit for all residential, commercial and industrial customers shall be $40.00. B. The following customers shall be exempt from a deposit: school districts, county government offices, State and Federal governmental agencies. This exemption will also apply to customers desiring temporary service under Section VII. C. The City shall pay interest on customer deposits at a rate similar to the money market checking account rates earned by the City from the depository bank. The rate shall be five and twenty-five one hundredths percent (5.25%) per annum beginning January 1, 1985. Interest shall be computed monthly by multiplying one twelfth (1/12) of the interest rate in effect by an amount equal to the deposit on hand plus any accrued interest earned from previous months. The rate may be adjusted up or down at any time by filing a notice of rate Ordinance No. 555-10-84 - Page 4 change at a regular City Council meeting. However, the City is not obligated to make changes to the rate paid except on an annual basis, effective on January 1 of each succeeding year. D. Said deposit and accrued interest computed through the last monthly computation will be paid to the customer when final service is rendered, providing that the final bill has been paid or that there is a deposit balance remaining after the deposit has been applied toward the final bill. No interest will be computed for the period of time between the last calculation and the date of the final bill. SECTION VII. TEMPORARY SERVICE. There will be a temporary connection fee of $15.00 for persons requiring service for seven (7) days or less. The temporary connection service may renewed in seven (7) day increments to a maximum of twent- eight (28) consecutive days. Water used in excess of 1,500 gallons will be billed according to the schedules set out in Sections I and II of this ordinance. SECTION VHL TAP FEE AND METER SETTING CHARGES. The tapping fee and meter setting charge applicable to users of the City's Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer System shall be as follows: A. Water: 3/4 inch.................................................$310.00 1 inch ....................................................$500.00 1-1/2 inch..............................................$700.00 2 inch ................................................. $1,035.00 4 inch ................................................. $3,900.00 6 inch ................................................. $5,600.00 B. Sewer: 4 inch ....................................................$260.00 6 inch ....................................................$300.00 C. Tap fees must be paid prior to the beginning of any work. Any additional work required beyond the normal tap work (such as boring and street cutting) shall be computed by the City and paid by the owner or developer. D. There shall be a one-time meter setting charge to be charged and collected upon the issuance of a building permit. 3/4" meter...............................................$80.00 Larger than 3/4" meter ...........................At Cost Ordinance No. 555-10-84 - Page 5 SECTION IX. FIRE HYDRANT METERS. Any party requesting the use of a temporary meter on a fire hydrant in the City of Allen must first receive permission from the office of the Director of Public Works and must agree to the following conditions: A. A deposit with the City of Allen of $500.00 for a stationary meter will be made. Such deposit will be returned upon payment of all charges for water used, and upon return of the meter, fittings, and wrench in their original condition. No interest will be computed on the amount of the deposit to be paid to the customer. B. Stationary meters shall be locked to fire hydrants at all times. An initial installation and set-up fee of $20.00 will be charged, and a service fee of $15.00 will be charged each time the meter is moved to a different location at the customer's request. C. It shall be unlawful for any person to open or close any fire hydrant used to obtain water for any purpose with any tool or device other than a standard fire hydrant wrench. D. All stationary fire hydrant meters shall be read monthly at their location in the field. All water used shall be billed at the rate then in effect. Failure to make the meter available to be read each month shall result in a penalty of $50.00 for each occurrence. SECTION X. TAMPERING AND DESTRUCTION. No customer shall have the right to tamper or alter any component of the Waterworks and Sanitary Sewer System including valves, meters, meter boxes and lids, hydrants, lines, pump stations, ground storage tanks and elevated storage tanks. This shall include the direct or indirect efforts to restore water service without the assistance or approval of the City or any effort to circumvent the intent of the City to not provide service for non-payment of charges. SECTION XL PENALTY FOR VIOLATION OF THIS ORDINANCE. Any person, firm or corporation who violates any provision of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, therefore, shall be fined any sum not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00) and each and every day that such violation continues shall be construed to be a separate offense; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall preclude the municipality of bringing suit for injunction for the prevention of any threatened violation or the removal of any structure in violation of this ordinance. Ordinance No. 555-10-84 - Page 6 SECTION XII. EFFECTIVE DATE AND CONFLICTS. A. This ordinance and the rates and charges prescribed shall be in effect from the November 1, 1984 billing. B. As of the effective date of this ordinance any and all ordinances and any orders in conflict are repealed to the extent of the conflict. C. If any paragraph, section, clause, phrase or provision of this ordinance shall be judged invalid or held unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity of this ordinance as a whole or any part or provision thereof, other than the part so decided to be invalid or unconstitutional. DULY PASSED AND APPROVED by the Allen City Council on this the 18th day of OCTOBER , 1984. APPROVED: Donald P. Rodenbaugh, Mayor 4N ATTESTED: Mit, - N'raA I Marty Hendrix, i&ty Secretary KJLA APPROVED AS TO FORM: on Crowder, City Attorney Ordinance No. 555-10-84 - Page 7 AFFIDAVIT AND PROOF OF PUBLICATION THE STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OF COLLIN Charles F.Barnard, Jr. BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared X AO%AX9'(915I4, who having been by me duly sworn, on oath deposes and says: That he is publisher of THE ALLEN AMERICAN, a newspaper published in Collin County, Texas, not less fre- quently than once a week, having a general circulation in said county, and having been published regularly and con- tinuously for more than twelve months prior to publishing Public Hearing Notice of which the attached is a true and written copy, and which was published in THE ALLEN AMERICAN on October 11, 1984 and which was issued on October 11, 1984 ,by City of Allen of Collin County, Texas. A printed copy of said publication is at ached here o. c SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 5 f- b day of N n \/ P m h p r , A.D. 19--"— . n otary Public in and for Collin County, Texas Publisher's Fee $ _-RAO 0 Dianne k e r r Commission Expires 10/14/87 `\ CITY OF ALLEN PUBLIC HEARING I NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the Allen city Coun- cil will conducat a public hearing on Thursday, Oc- tober- 18, 1984, at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Allen. Municipal annex, ,One Butler circle, Allen, Texas, to consider an in -.j crease.m the water and sewer rates for the City of Allen in accordance with the water and sewer rate' study recently con ducted by Lewis F. McLain, Jr. Anyone wishing to speak either FOR or AGAINST this proposed rate increase is invited to attend this public hear- ing and voice their opi- nion. If further information is required, contact the Allen Municipal Annex, Onb Butler Circle, at 727-9171 or 424-7518 (metro). Marty Hendrix City Secretary (Published in the Allen American on Thursday, October 11, 1984.) 6 5 5,'0 ,44