Alameda Municipal Code § 18-4 Sewer Service Charge

This section shall be known as the "Sewer Service Charge Ordinance of the City of Alameda."

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.)

As used in this section:

City shall mean the City of Alameda.

District shall mean the East Bay Municipal Utility District or other person authorized by contract or resolution to collect the charge imposed hereunder.

Elderly resident shall mean a person qualifying by age and/or income as set by resolution of the City Council.

Person shall mean and include any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, corporation, public corporation, political subdivision, county, district of the State of California or of the United States of America or any department or agency thereof.

Sewer facilities shall mean and include the sewerage collection systems owned and operated by the City and all appurtenances thereto, and all portions thereof.

Tax Collector shall mean the Alameda County Tax Collector who, for purposes of collection of fees hereunder, may be designated as City's collection agent.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.)

a. Single family dwelling units shall pay a per unit monthly charge in accordance with the fee schedule set by City Council Resolution.

b. Multiple dwelling units shall pay a per unit monthly charge in accordance with the fee schedule set by City Council Resolution.

c. All nonresidential accounts, including but not limited to commercial, institutional and industrial users shall pay a use charge in accordance with the fee schedule set by City Council Resolution. In no case shall the total annual charge for each account be less than the charge for a multiple dwelling unit.

d. The applicable volume of water upon which the rates established and assessed in paragraph c. are based shall be determined as follows:

1. For premises where water received from any source is not consumed in manufacturing or otherwise removed from the premises other than via the sewer, the sewer service charge shall be applied to the total amount of water used from all sources, as determined by the City.

2. For premises where a portion of the water received from all sources does not enter the sewers, because of manufacturing or removal by other means, the sewer service charge shall be applied to the volume of water discharge from such premises into the sewer, as determined by the City. The burden of proving that all water used does not enter the sewer shall be on the user.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.; Ord. No. 2399 N.S.; Ord. No. 2669 N.S. § 2)

(Ord. No. 3019 N.S, § 5, 7-20-2010; Ord. No. 3126 N.S., § 5, 6-2-2015; Ord. No. 3282 N.S., § 5, 7-7-2020)

The charges established and assessed hereinafter shall become due and payable on receipt of bill therefor. Such charges shall be paid directly to the City, or to the District, or to the Tax Collector, as directed upon the bill.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.; Ord. No. 2399 N.S.)

(Ord. No. 3019 N.S, §§ 3, 4, 7-20-2010; Ord. No. 3126 N.S., §§ 3, 4, 6-2-2015)

Delinquent sewer service charges which are payable hereunder are hereby made a lien upon the real property served by a connection to the City sewer system and such lien shall continue until the charges thereon are fully paid.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.)

a. Any service user who fails to pay any charges imposed by this section within forty-five (45) days of the date of receipt of notice and of the amount of charges due shall pay a penalty of fifteen (15%) percent of the amount of the charges.

b. Actions to Collect. Any charge required to be paid under the provisions of this section shall be deemed a debt owed to the City. Any person owing money to the City under the provisions of this section shall be liable to an action brought in the name of the City for the recovery of such amount.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.)

In addition to other remedies provided by law including the discontinuance of water service in accordance with District procedure, an action may be brought in the name of the City in any Court of competent jurisdiction for the collection of delinquent charges and to enforce the lien of the charges thereon. The remedies herein established shall be cumulative and in addition to any or all other remedies available to the City for the collection of the charges.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.)

The sewer service charge fund is hereby established. Money collected by the City for sewer service charges as herein set forth shall be placed in the sewer service charge fund and shall be used only for the construction, reconstruction, repair, maintenance and operation of sewer facilities and appurtenances thereto, to pay for engineering, mapping, describing, analyzing and planning regarding the City's sewer facilities and appurtenances thereto; to repay principal and interest on bonds issued for such purposes and to reimburse the City's General Fund for any payment made therefrom, during the same fiscal year; and for any of the purposes for which sewer service charge fund money could be expended. Ten (10%) percent of the funds shall be used for storm drain projects.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.; Ord. No. 2399 N.S.)

The sewer service charge herein established shall be paid to the City Treasurer or to any other person authorized by the Council to receive payment thereof. It shall be the duty of the Finance Director to enforce collection of the sewer service charges, and to act as the representative of the City for liaison with District in the disposition of disputed accounts and other matters relating to billing and collection of the sewer service charge by District.

(Ord. No. 2084 N.S.)

a. The sewer service charge is imposed to recover the cost of providing sewer services to those who choose to make use of those services, as evidenced by an active water meter, electric meter, or other evidence of sewer use deemed reliable by the Public Works Director. Any person subject to the charge imposed under this section may receive a temporary exemption from the sewer service charge imposed by this section to the extent that he or she can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Public Works Director that the premises with respect to which the charge is imposed is vacant or, for some other reason, no person made use of sewer services on those premises for at least thirty (30) consecutive days. Evidence that either water or power was not consumed on the premises for that time shall be sufficient evidence of vacancy to justify an exemption for that period of non-use under this subsection.

b. The Public Works Director may promulgate regulations for the submission, processing, decision, and appeal of such applications for exemption, which regulations shall take effect once published in the manner required by Section 3-14 of the Charter of the City of Alameda for publication of ordinances of the City.

(Ord. No. 2934 N.S. § 3)