Vacaville Municipal Code Art. III Service Applications, Rates, and System Connection and Lateral Service…

Any person desiring service from the POTW per § 13.08.040 must submit a complete service connection application to establish service. To establish service, the property owner or authorized representative shall submit a complete service connection application to the city. Users required to obtain an individual wastewater discharge permit or a general permit per § 13.08.530 of this code shall follow the process outlined in Article VII of this chapter. Receipt of such application shall not obligate the city to provide service until the application has been approved by the Director or his authorized agent. The application, a request for sewer service, shall not obligate the applicant to take such service for any period of time in excess of that upon which the minimum charges for such account are based.

(Ord. 2016, 3/24/2026)

A person taking possession of premises and using sewer facilities without having an accepted application for sewer service shall be held liable for all charges made for sewer service from the date of the last billing. If proper application for service is not submitted within seven calendar days after notification to do so by the Director of finance or authorized staff, or if accumulated bills for sewer service are not paid upon presentation, the sewer service shall be discontinued without further notice until all past due payments and penalties have been paid in full.

(Ord. 2016, 3/24/2026)

All sewer service shall be at rates as adopted and set by resolution by the city council. The city council reserves the right to negotiate by contract rates different from those expressed in this chapter and that such contractual rates shall take preference over any other rates or rate set forth in this chapter.

A. Pretreatment charges and fees. The city may adopt reasonable fees for reimbursement of costs of setting up and operating the city's Pretreatment Program, which may include, but are not limited to:

1. Fees for wastewater discharge permit applications including the cost of processing such applications;

2. Fees for monitoring, inspection, and surveillance procedures including the cost of collection and analyzing a User's discharge, and reviewing monitoring reports and certification statements submitted by Users;

3. Fees for reviewing and responding to accidental discharge procedures and construction;

4. Fees for filing appeals;

5. Fees to recover administrative and legal costs associated with the enforcement activity taken by the Director to address IU noncompliance; and

6. The City Council may, by resolution, adopt a fee for the services provided to waste haulers. The fees shall include, but not be limited to, fees to reimburse the city for the disposal and treatment costs of the discharge, the administrative costs of processing the permits, conducting laboratory analysis, and administering and enforcing the provisions of this program.

7. Other fees as the city may deem necessary to carry out the requirements contained herein. These fees relate solely to the matters covered by this chapter and are separate from all other fees, fines, and penalties chargeable by the city.

8. Surcharge fees. The city has established surcharges for flow and certain pollutants (e.g., ammonia, BOD, COD, TDS and TSS) which are distinguished from Local Limits in § 13.08.450. Surcharges are additional charges to recover the cost to treat wastewater and are assessed when discharge concentrations are above defined values as detailed in an industrial users permit, the city's current Pretreatment Program Implementation Manual and/or the State Revenue Guidelines.

a. Any User that exceeds its purchased sewer capacity is subject to being required to conduct a waste characterization study to determine the current discharge conditions. The study will be at the User's expense; its specific components and duration will be specified by the city on a case-by-case basis. Based on the study results, the city will determine if the purchase of additional sewer capacity is required and available. If additional capacity is not available, the User will be required to implement source reduction measures to bring the discharge into compliance with its purchased sewer capacity.

9. Leased sewer capacity. The Director may authorize the temporary lease of sewer capacity to a User under a nontransferable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and the User. Leases shall be granted in 12-month increments, and the total duration of any lease shall not exceed three years. The MOU shall establish the User fees, which shall be 20% of the standard impact or connection fees for permanent capacity. For multi-year leases, only fees paid for the first 12 months of the lease may be credited toward the purchase of permanent capacity if the User elects to purchase during or at the end of the lease term; fees shall not be credited if the User purchases capacity immediately prior to or without entering into the lease. The MOU shall also outline all other conditions of use and require compliance with this chapter, city policies, and applicable state and federal regulations. Leased capacity shall remain subject to all operational and regulatory requirements and may be reclaimed by the city if system needs change.

(Ord. 2016, 3/24/2026)

For the purpose of providing funds for payment at or before maturity of the principal and interest on all sewer revenue and general obligation bonds heretofore or hereafter issued by the city for the purpose of acquisition, construction, improvement and financing of the POTW; for payment of the cost of additions to or improvements of the POTW; for payment of the cost of maintenance and operation of the POTW; and thereafter for any lawful purpose, there is charged to all persons connected with the POTW the sewer rates and charges set forth by resolution adopted from time to time by the city council.

(Ord. 2016, 3/24/2026)

Sewer system impact fees shall be imposed and credits for said sewer system impact fees shall be granted in accordance with Title 11 of this code.

(Ord. 2016, 3/24/2026)