Santa Barbara County Municipal Code Art. IV Sewer Service Charges

County Service Area No. 12, having been duly established by Resolution No. 84-72 of the board of supervisors, adopted February 21, 1984, for the purpose of providing public sewer service and septic tank maintenance, a miscellaneous extended service, in the Mission Canyon area, and Government Code sections 25210.77a to 25210.77f providing that a county may fix and collect charges for such extended services for a county service area or zone thereof and further providing for methods and procedures in connection with collection of these charges, all to be established by ordinance, the following sections of this article are intended to exercise the authority to make such charges, and to establish the procedure therefor, in the Mission Canyon area.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

As provided in Government Code section 252 10.77a, all charges for the annual costs of providing public sewer service and septic tank maintenance, not recovered through the connection charges set out in article III of this chapter, may be collected on the tax roll, in the same manner and at the same time as the county general ad valorem property taxes are collected, as provided in this chapter, except that no such charges shall be imposed upon a federal or state governmental agency or another local agency. The board of supervisors may, by resolution, provide for billing and collecting charges directly, collecting on the tax roll in the event payment is not received in a timely manner.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

Once a year, if there are uncollected charges, the board of supervisors shall cause to be prepared a written report which shall contain a description of each parcel of real property in the public sewer service area which is receiving public sewer service, and the amount of any outstanding charge for each parcel for each year, based on the pro rata share of the total costs incurred for such service by county and any special charges incurred for particular parcels. Said report shall also show the outstanding charges for each parcel in the septic tank maintenance area incurred by such parcel. Said report shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

Upon the filing of such report, the county clerk-recorder shall fix a time, date and place for a hearing on the report and for filing objections or protests thereto. The county clerk-recorder shall publish a notice of such hearing, as provided in Government Code section 6066, prior to the date set for hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation, printed and published in the County of Santa Barbara.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

At the noticed hearing, the board of supervisors shall hear and consider all objections or protests to the reports. The hearing may be continued from time to time. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the board of supervisors may adopt, revise, change, reduce or modify any charge and shall make its determination upon each charge as described in the report, and thereafter, by resolution, shall confirm the report.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

The uncollected charges set forth in the report, as confirmed, shall appear as a separate item on the tax bill. The charge shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as ordinary county ad valorem property taxes are collected and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for such taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of county ad valorem property taxes shall be applicable to such charges, except that for the first year such charge is levied, if the real property to which such charge relates has been transferred or conveyed to a bona fide purchaser for value, or if a lien of a bona fide encumbrance for value has been created and attached thereon, prior to the date on which the first installment of such taxes would become delinquent, the charge confirmed pursuant to this section shall not result in a lien against such real property but instead shall be transferred to the unsecured roll for collection.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

Whenever a private sewer connected to the Mission Canyon public sewer system or a private sewage disposal system becomes, or threatens to become, a public nuisance, or develops a malfunction or deficiency which may become a public nuisance, and the owner or occupant of the premises where said private sewer or private sewage disposal system is located fails after notice in writing from county department of public works, or from the county department of health services, mailed to the last known address of the owner, or to the occupant's address, to remedy the circumstances causing or threatening to cause such public nuisance within a reasonable time specified in the notice, then in addition to any other legal remedies county may have, county may enter upon the property, remedy such circumstances, and add the reasonable costs thereof, including ten percent for overhead and administration, to the sewer service charges provided for herein, to be collected as provided in this chapter. Any substantial discharge of wastes from a private sewer or private sewage disposal system onto the surface of private or public property, is hereby declared to be a public nuisance per se.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)

On or before the first day of July in any calendar year, the board of supervisors of county may fix a sewer standby or availability charge on all parcels of land within County Service Area No. 12, for which a main public sewer is available, as defined in section 22A-2 of this chapter, whether such sewers are used by such parcels of land or not, provided that such charge shall not exceed ten dollars for any parcel of land less than one acre in size, nor exceed ten dollars for each acre of land, or portion thereof, for a parcel exceeding one acre in size. Such charges shall not apply to lands permanently dedicated exclusively to the public for transportation of persons or property. Such charges may be collected in the same manner and times as service charges provided for in this article. They may be used as provided in Government Code section 25210.77c, and unpaid charges shall accrue penalties as provided in Government Code section 25210.77d.

(Ord. No. 3574, § 1)