Chapter XV · Utilities

ARTICLE 3. SEWER SERVICE CHARGES

Sections 15-301 to 15-316 · 16 sections

15-301 Definitions.

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

(a)“BOD” (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at 20°C, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).

(b)“Normal Domestic Wastewater” shall mean 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.

(c)“Operation and Maintenance” shall mean all expenditures during the useful life of the treatment works for materials, labor, utilities, and other items which are necessary for managing and maintaining the treatment works to achieve the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed.

(d)“Replacement” shall mean expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories, or appurtenances which are necessary during the useful life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed. The term “operation and maintenance” includes replacement.

(e)“Residential Contributor” shall mean any contributor to the City of Goddard’s treatment works whose lot, parcel of real estate, or building is used for domestic dwelling purposes only.

(f)“Shall” is mandatory; “May” is permissive.

(g)“55” (denoting Suspended Solids) shall mean 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.

(h)“Treatment Works” shall mean any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage, domestic sewage, or liquid industrial wastes. These include intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, individual systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions improvement, remodeling, additions and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units 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, treating, separating, or disposing of municipal waste or industrial waste, including waste in combined storm water and sanitary sewer systems.

(i)“Useful Life” shall mean the estimated period during which a treatment works will be operated.

(j)“User Charge” shall mean that portion of the total wastewater service charge which is levied in a proportional and adequate manner for the cost of operation, maintenance, and replacement of the wastewater treatment works.

(k)“Water Meter” shall mean a water volume measuring and recording device, furnished and/or installed by the City of Goddard or furnished and/or installed by a user and approved by the City of Goddard.

(Ord.542, Art. II)

15-302 User charge system.

The user charge system shall generate adequate annual revenues to pay costs of annual operation and maintenance, including replacement, and costs associated with debt retirement of bonded capital associated with financing the treatment works which the City of Goddard may by ordinance designate to be paid by the user charge system. That portion of the total user charge which is designated for operation and maintenance including replacement of the treatment works shall be established by this ordinance.

(Ord. 542, Art. III, Sec. 1)

15-303 User charges, separate accounts.

That portion of the total user charge collected which is designated for operation and maintenance including replacement purposes as established in Sections 15-307, 308, and 309 of this article, shall be deposited in a separate non-lapsing fund known as the Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Fund and will be kept in two primary accounts as follows:

(a)An account designated for the specific purpose of defraying operation and maintenance costs (excluding replacement) of the treatment works (Operation and Maintenance Account).

(b)An account designated for the specific purpose of ensuring replacement and expansion needs over the useful life of the treatment works (Replacement Account). Deposits in the Replacement Account shall be made at least annually from the operation, maintenance and replacement revenue in the amount of $40,000.00 annual/y.

(Ord. 542, Art. III, Sec. 2)

15-304 Same; carryover of balances.

Fiscal year-end balances in the operation and maintenance account and the replacement account shall be carried over the same accounts in the subsequent fiscal year, and shall be used for no other purposes than those designated for these accounts. Monies which have been transferred from other sources to meet temporary shortages in the operation, maintenance and replacement fund shall be returned to their respective accounts upon appropriate adjustment of the user charge rates for operation, maintenance and replacement. The user charge rate(s) shall be adjusted such that the transferred monies will be returned to their respective accounts within the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the monies were borrowed.

(Ord. 542, Art. III, Sec. 3)

15-305 Same; basis.

Each user shall pay for the services provided by the City of Goddard based on the use of the treatment works as determined by water meter(s) acceptable to the City of Goddard. Residential sewer users who do not also receive Goddard municipal water service shall incur a monthly sewer service charge which shall be the average of all other residential contributors.

(Ord. 542, Art. IV, Sec. 1)

15-306 Classes of Users.

The following classes of users are hereby established:

(a)For residential contributors the monthly charge will be based on average monthly water usage during the months of January and February. This amount shall be used beginning with the March billing cycle and shall continue through the February billing cycle of the following year, at which time a new charge amount shall be established. If a residential contributor has not established the two month average, his/her monthly user charge shall be the average of all residential contributors.

(b)For industrial and commercial contributors, user charges shall be based on water used during the current month. If a commercial or industrial contributor has a consumptive use of, or in some other manner uses water which is not returned to the wastewater collection system, the user charge for the contributor may be based on a wastewater meter(s) or separate water meter(s) metering the actual wastewater consumed and installed and maintained at the contributor’s expense and in a manner acceptable to the City of Goddard.

(Ord. 542, Art. IV, Sec. 2; Code 2001; Ord. 557; Ord. 694)

15-307 Sewer charges.

(a)Each contributor to the City’s treatment works shall pay a user charge for operation and maintenance, including replacement, of $1.65 per 1,000 gallons of water contributed to the City’s treatment works. Each residential contributor located outside the city limits and each commercial and industrial contributor shall pay an additional user charge of $1.65 per 1,000 gallons of water for the first 50,000 gallons per month, $1.95 per 1,000 gallons for all use from 50,000 gallons per month to 100,000 gallons per month, and $2.25 per 1,000 gallons of water for all use over 100,000 gallons per month.

(b)The local school district shall be deemed a commercial contributor. Residential, industrial and commercial contributors shall be billed on a monthly basis.

(c)In addition to the user charges, each contributor to the City’s treatment works shall be charged a debt service fee of $15.48 per month.

(d)The minimum monthly user charge for each contributor to the City’s treatment works shall be $31.37.

(Ord. 542, Art. IV, Sec. 3; Code 2001; Ord. 611; Ord. 694; Ord. 735; Ord. 780; Ord. 867; Ord. 991)

15-308 Same; extra strength users and users discharging toxic pollutants.

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 surcharge for operation and maintenance including replacement is:

(a)$.00006 per pound BOD

(b)$.00006 per pound SS

(Ord. 542, Art. IV, Sec. 4)

15-309 Same; increased costs for toxic pollutants.

Any user which discharges any toxic pollutants which cause an increase in the cost of managing the effluent or the sludge from the City of Goddard’s treatment works, or any user which discharges any substance which singly or by interaction with other substances causes identifiable increases in the cost of operation, maintenance, or replacement of the treatment works, shall pay for such increased costs. The charge of each such user shall be as determined by City Engineer, and approved by the Governing Body of the City of Goddard.

(Ord. 542, Art. IV, Sec. 5)

15-310 Same; application.

The user charge rates established in this article apply to all users of the City of Goddard’s treatment works, regardless of their location.

(Ord. 542, Art. IV, Sec. 6)

15-311 Billing.

All residential, commercial, and industrial consumers shall be billed monthly. Billing for each cycle shall be made within 10 days of the end of that billing cycle. All utility bills are due and payable at Goddard City Hall on the twentieth (20th) of each month

(Ord. 542, Art. V, Sec. 1; Ord. 694)

15-312 Delinquent fee.

If any bill is not paid in full within the thirty days period, the City of Goddard shall be entitled to a delinquent penalty payment of 10% of the delinquent amount. When any bill is thirty (30) days in default, rendition of water and/or sewer service to such premises shall be discontinued until such bill is paid following due notice and opportunity for hearing.

(Ord. 542, Art. V, Sec. 2)

15-313 Insufficient funds checks.

In the event the City receives more than one (1) insufficient funds check from a customer in payment of his sewer service utility bill, then the customer shall, in all future payments of the utility bill, pay the same in cash or by cashier’s check payable to the City of Goddard, Kansas. Receipt of such an insufficient funds check shall be treated by the city Clerk as an unpaid utility bill. In the event any person, firm, corporation, or organization shall neglect, fail, or refuse to pay the utility service charges fixed hereby, such charges shall constitute a lien upon the real estate served, may be certified by the City Clerk to appropriate Sedgwick County officials as a lien, and collected in the same manner as taxes are levied against real property and collected.

(Ord. 542, Art. V, Sec. 3)

15-314 Liability of property owners.

All owners of real estate located within or without the City of Goddard, Kansas, to which is supplied water and/or sewer services are hereafter jointly liable with the actual user thereof to the City of Goddard, Kansas for all charges for providing such property city water and/or sewer services.

(Ord. 542, Art. V, Sec. 4)

15-315 Biannual review.

The City of Goddard will review the user charge system at least every two years, and revise user charge rates as necessary to ensure that the system generates adequate revenues to pay the costs of operation and maintenance including replacement and that the system continues to provide for the proportional distribution of operation and maintenance including replacement costs among users and user classes.

(Ord. 542, Art. VI, Sec. 1)

15-316 Notice of rates.

The City of Goddard will notify each user at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate being charged for operation, maintenance including replacement of the treatment works.

(Ord. 542, Art. V, Sec. 2)