Emeryville Municipal Code Art. 5 Charges And Fees

All costs of operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and improvement of the public sewer system shall be paid by the users of the sanitary sewers. General funds shall not be used for this purpose. Revenues collected from the users of the sanitary sewer system shall be reserved for this single purpose and shall not be expended for any other purpose. Interest earned on the various funds shall remain in those funds.

(Formerly 7-8.400; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

A total of three (3) sewer funds are established as follows: (a) operation and maintenance fund; (b) sewer rehabilitation/replacement fund; and (c) relief sewer construction fund.

All revenues collected shall be allocated be-tween each of the three (3) funds in accordance with the percentage of the budgeted amounts contained in the official approved budget for the fiscal year in which the revenue is collected. The amounts so deposited in each fund shall be reserved for expenditures appropriated to that fund, as described in this section, except that loans may be made against one (1) or more funds to supplement funds deposited in another fund to meet the needs of a particular project approved by the City Council.

(a) Operation and Maintenance Fund. All expenditures budgeted and required for the normal, routine operation and maintenance and incidental repair and improvement of the public sewer shall be from this fund. The following line budget items shall be included, as a minimum, in each annual budget for this fund:

(1) Personnel services;

(2) Supplies and services;

(3) Marina maintenance and utilities (pump station);

(4) Sewer system studies and minor rehabilitation;

(5) Sewer maintenance equipment.

All maintenance equipment expenditures shall be paid from this fund. Example expenditures include purchase of maintenance equipment, purchase of manhole castings, covers, and other materials required for sewer system maintenance, and contracts for the design and construction of the same.

(b) Sewer Rehabilitation/Replacement Fund. All expenditures for the design and rehabilitation, repair, sealing or construction of improvements to the public sewer requiring replacement because of structural failure, excessive infiltration/inflow, or other defects shall be paid from this fund.

(c) Relief Sewer Construction Fund. All expenditures for the design and construction of relief sewers required to convey peak flows from infiltration/inflow shall be paid from this fund.

(Formerly 7-8.401; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

For the purpose of the levy of sewer use charges, the following classification of users is established:

(a) Single-Family Residential User (SF). This classification shall include single-family homes and each single-family living unit of a duplex, multiplex or multiple-family service, if each single-family living unit is served by its own water meter. Where two (2) or more single-family living units are served by a common water meter, the rates for the multiple-family classification shall apply;

(b) Multiple-Family Use (M). User where more than one (1) single-family living unit is served by a common water meter;

(c) Commercial Service (C). All commercial, retail, wholesale and miscellaneous small industrial users which do not qualify under one (1) of the other classifications shall be included in this classification;

(d) Institutional (I). All schools, churches, medical facilities and governmental users;

(e) Parks (P). All parks having sanitary sewer service;

(f) Heavy Industrial (HI). All industrial and commercial users, except multifamily residential services, which have a sewer connection larger than four inches (4") in diameter and have a water service greater than three-quarter inch (3/4") in diameter.

(Formerly 7-8.402; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

Sewer use charges shall be established by resolution of the City Council and shall require annual adjustment to be determined by the Council to be appropriate. Any adjustments of rates shall be equally applied to all user classifications.

(Formerly 7-8.403; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 83-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

The City reserves the right to collect the user charge monthly, bimonthly, semiannually, or annually, by separate billings to the user, an additional charge on the user's water bill, or by an annual levy collected by the County Tax Collector on the tax rolls. Each delinquent user charge shall automatically become a lien on the real property from which the sewer connection has been made; after ninety (90) days delinquent, the City may place the delinquent user charge plus estimated user charge for an additional nine (9) months on the tax rolls for collection.

(Formerly 7-8.404; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

If the user charge is believed to be incorrect or not equitable, an individual user may appeal the charge to the Director within thirty (30) days of receipt of the bill. The appeal shall be in writing and shall clearly state the reason that the charge is believed to be in error. The Director shall make a determination of the appeal within thirty (30) days of receipt of the written statement from the user. User charges determined to be in error shall be corrected by the City and the appropriate credits and/or adjustments shall be made by the City to the user. The Director's determination may be appealed to the City Council, whose determination is final.

(Formerly 7-8.405; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

The City may assess additional charges to any discharge of commercial sewage or industrial waste if such discharge results in costs to the City attributable to such discharge. Examples of City costs incurred include cleaning of fat, oil, grease, solids, or debris from the sewers, repairing sewers damaged by discharges, damage to equipment or injury of personnel from toxic or hazardous gases or volatile fractions of the discharge to the sewer, or any other financial liability incurred by the City as a result of the industrial waste or commercial sewage discharge. Such charge or any fines or penalties imposed by the City on others as a result of violation of this chapter shall be added to the user's bill and shall, if delinquent, be collected in accordance with the provisions of Section 7‑8.504.

(Formerly 7-8.406; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)

The sewer use charges provided by this chapter are in addition to any and all sewer use charges and water sales charges levied by others.

(Formerly 7-8.407; Sec. 3 (part), Ord. 11-004, eff. June 2, 2011; Sec. 4, Ord. 82-013, eff. Nov. 25, 1982)