Upland Municipal Code Art. II Use of the Community Sewer System

The city council, by an ordinance approved by a two-thirds vote, has the power to revise and collect fees, tolls, rates, rentals or other charges for services and facilities furnished by it, either within or without its territorial limits, in connection with the sanitary sewage system. Revenues derived under the provisions of this section shall be used only for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, maintenance and operation of sewage facilities, to repay principal and interest on bonds issued for the construction or reconstruction of such sewage facilities and to repay federal or state loans of advances made by the city for the construction or reconstruction of sewage facilities.

(Prior code § 5840.1)

Sewer utility fees may be collected with the fees and charges for any other utility service furnished by a department or agency of the city, or with a publicly or privately owned public utility, with the written consent and agreement of such department or agency or public utility owner. Such agreement, in the discretion of such department or agency or public utility owner making the collections, also may provide that said rate shall be itemized, billed upon the same bill, and separately stated from the other utility service charge.

(Prior code § 5840.2)

A. Unit Charges Established—Formula.

1. Every person, business, or entity whose premises are served by a connection with the city's community sewer system, whereby the sewage and/or nondomestic wastes are disposed of by the city through the regional sewage system or other systems, shall pay a sewer utility charge. Charges for sewer utility service shall be a charge not only against the owner and/or tenant to whom or for whom the service is rendered, but a charge against the lot or parcel of land to which the service was rendered and which is connected to the sewer system. The sewer utility charge for sanitary sewer service within the city shall be computed on the basis of the rental charge for one equivalent dwelling unit (EDU) per month.

The equivalent dwelling unit (EDU), for purposes of this paragraph, is defined as follows: one EDU unit is the flow equivalent in quantity and strength of the average daily flow of a single-family residential household for which the quantity is estimated to be 270 gallons per day and the characteristic strength is estimated to have a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of 230 units and to have suspended solids (SS) of 220 units.

2. The number of EDU units which shall be charged against each sewer user, respectively, on a monthly basis shall be determined on the basis of sewage flow volume, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and suspended solids (SS) in accordance with the following formula:

Where:

Where:

B. Rates for Sewage Utility Services. The sewer utility charge per EDU per month (also known as total monthly sewer service fee) shall be the sum of two parts, as follows;

1. Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) Pass-Through Charge. That fee charged by IEUA for sewage treatment and disposal.

2. City Sewer Maintenance Charge. That fee to pay for the cost of operating and maintaining the Upland community sewers, including main lines, manholes and laterals within the public right-of-way.

Effective July 1, 2009, the base Total Monthly Sewer Service Fee per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU) shall be as follows:

The rates for the above charges may be amended from time to time, in amounts as may be set by resolution of the city council, to reflect changes in the IEUA Pass-through charge and/or inflation adjustments to the city sewer maintenance charge. The sewer utility charge shall be derived using the EDU count as defined in subsections (A) , (B)(2) and (B)(3) of this section, multiplied by the sewer utility charge. However, the applicable sewer utility charge shall not be less than the amount derived using the following EDU numbers:

TABLE I — EDU DETERMINATION FOR COMMERCIAL CATEGORIES

3. Industrial Units. Structures designed for the purpose of providing permanent housing for an enterprise engaged in the production, manufacturing, processing or storage of materials. The industrial sewer service shall be determined using the combination of sanitary wastewater and nondomestic or process wastewater components, as follows:

TABLE II — EDU DETERMINATION FOR INDUSTRIAL USERS

The EDU count and sewer service rate for industrial users shall be established annually, in January of each year, by the public works director.

4. Billing Schedules and Minimum Charges.

a. Sewer service shall be billed on a bimonthly basis (once every two months).

b. For customers who are billed on a flat basis whose service is initiated or discontinued at the request of the customer within the bimonthly service period and that actual period is less than 55 days, the sewer service charge shall be prorated on a 60-day basis, except that the minimum charge shall be 10 percent of the bimonthly flat rate charge.

c. For customers who are billed on the basis of water usage (commercial and nonresidential users), the minimum charge shall be in an amount equivalent to the city sewer maintenance charge component of the user fee.

C. Factors for Certain Nondomestic Users.

1. The unit charges for users of the community sewer system producing nondomestic wastewater in excess of 5,000 gallons per day as computed on a monthly basis and/or with a typical biochemical oxygen demand below 200 or over 260 and/or with a typical suspended solids either below 190 or over 250 averaged over the last 12 months shall be established annually, in January of each year, by the public works director. The public works director shall determine the parameters and shall keep a public listing of such factors and shall notify each user on the listing of their factors.

2. If any user disagrees with his or her assigned factors and requests a rate review, the user can appeal to the public works director by presenting new parameter(s). The public works director shall verify the new parameter(s), and determine a new unit charge if the data submitted by the user is valid and verified to be correct. Costs incurred for the verification of the parameters will be at the expense of the user. The new rate becomes effective on the first day of the current billing cycle.

3. If the request is denied, a user may appeal the public works director's findings to the city council, which will hold a public hearing relative thereto. Findings by the city council as a result of the appeal shall be final.

4. In these cases, the public works director is authorized to charge against the user, administrative fees based upon the annual rate established by the city council for such additional processing.

D. Rates for Fluctuating Volumes.

1. Nondomestic users whose wastewater quantity exceeds an average of 5,000 gallons per day or whose quality is not reasonably constant with the ranges set under subsection C of this section and changes between billing cycles may, as a result, need to receive special attention by the public works director for two or more billing cycles per year in order to prepare special billings that will reflect such fluctuation in flow and quantity.

2. When the user being so specially billed requests an adjustment, or disagrees with the unit charges, evidence supporting such request or new parameters must be furnished the public works director. The public works director shall verify the new parameter(s), and determine a new unit charge if the data submitted by the user is valid and verified to be correct.

3. If the request is denied, a user may appeal the public works director's findings to the city council, which will hold a public hearing relative thereto. Findings by the city council as a result of the appeal shall be final.

4. In these cases, the city shall apply appropriate administrative charges for providing such service, which shall be based upon the annual rate established by the city council for such additional processing.

(Prior code § 5840.3; Ord. 1797 §§ 1, 2, 2006; Ord. 1823 § 2, 2007; Ord. 1847 §§ 1, 2, 2009)

A. Collection—Finance Department. It shall be the duty of the finance department of the city to collect all charges provided for in this chapter. The charges herein fixed for any premises shall be collected with the charges and rates for utilities furnished by the city to the premises. The charges herein fixed are due and payable upon receipt of a utility service bill.

B. Advance Payment. Applicants are required to make an advance payment for city utility services, including sewer service, prior to occupancy of any address within the geographical boundaries of the city. Advance payment shall be equivalent to the current periodic sewer utility billing of the respective premises, but in no case shall this advance payment for all services combined be less than $55.00 for single-family residential users and $75.00 for tenants of rental units. Advance payment for commercial and industrial units shall be determined by the finance director.

C. Remedies for Failure to Pay Charges. In the event any person shall fail to pay any community sewer utility charge and applicable surcharge when the same becomes due, the city, in addition to any other remedies it has, may cut off any of the services and facilities provided for in this chapter and shall not resume the same until all delinquent charges together with any charges necessitated by the resumption of such services and facilities, have been fully paid.

(Prior code § 5840.4)

For all charges which are more than 60 days overdue, the city shall charge interest on the overdue amount at the rate of 10 percent per annum and shall, in addition, charge a penalty of one-half of one percent per month for nonpayment of all such charges and interest set forth above.

(Prior code § 5840.5)

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, charges for services and facilities furnished by the city shall constitute a lien against the lot or parcel of land within the city or outside the limits of the city, against which the charge was imposed and which the services were rendered, if such charges remain delinquent for 60 days. The city shall send a bill to the property owner after a tenant fails to pay the delinquent charges. The bill shall include a statement notifying the property owner of the lien provided by this section.

B. The lien provided herein shall have no force and effect until recorded with the county recorder of San Bernardino County, and when so recorded, shall have the force, effect and priority of a judgment lien and continue indefinitely from the time of recording unless sooner released or otherwise discharged.

(Prior code § 5840.6)