Chapter 15 · Utilities

Article 2. Sewer Charges

Sections 15-201 to 15-207 · 7 sections

15-201 Purpose.

It is determined and declared to be necessary and conducive to the protection of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience of the City to collect charges from all users who contribute wastewater to the City’s treatment works. The proceeds of such charges so derived will be used for the purpose of operating, maintaining and retiring the debt for such public wastewater treatment works.

(Ord. 949; Ord. 958; Code 2021)

15-202 Definitions.

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:

BOD (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at 20EC, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).

Commercial Contributor — shall mean any commercial or industrial contributor to the City’s treatment works who has a meter of size larger than 5/8” x 3/4”.

Non-Residential Contributor — shall mean any non-residential contributor to the City’s treatment works who has a water meter of size 5/8” x 3/4”.

Normal Domestic Wastewater — shall mean wastewater that has a BOD concentration of not more than 300 mg/l and a suspended solids concentration of not more than 350 mg/l.

Operation and Maintenance — shall mean all expenditures during the useful life of the treatment works for materials, labor, utilities, and other items which are necessary for managing and maintaining the treatment works to achieve the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed.

Replacement — shall mean expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories, or appurtenances which are necessary during the useful life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed. The term “operation and maintenance” includes replacement.

Residential Contributor — shall mean any residential contributor to the City’s treatment works who has a water meter of size 5/8” x 3/4”.

Shall is mandatory; May is permissive.

SS (denoting Suspended Solids) shall mean solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

Treatment Works — shall mean any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage, domestic sewage, or liquid industrial wastes. These include intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, individual systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions improvement, remodeling, additions and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment (including land for composting sludge, temporary storage of such compost, and land used for the storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems before land application); or any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating, or disposing of municipal waste or industrial waste, including waste in combined storm water and sanitary sewer systems.

Useful Life — shall mean the estimated period during which a treatment works will be operated.

User Charge — shall mean that portion of the total wastewater service charge which is levied in a proportional and adequate manner for the cost of operation, maintenance, and replacement of the wastewater treatment works.

Water Meter — shall mean a water volume measuring and recording device, furnished and/or installed by the City of Yates Center or furnished and/or installed by a user and approved by the City of Yates Center.

(Ord. 949; Ord. 958; Code 2021)

15-203 Use of proceeds.

(a)The user charge system shall generate adequate annual revenues to pay the cost of annual operation and maintenance including replacement cost. That portion of the total user charge which is designated for operation and maintenance including replacement of the treatment works shall be established by this article.

(b)That portion of the total user charge collected which is designated for operation and maintenance including replacement purposes as established in section 15-304, shall be deposited in separate funds known as the Sewer Utility and Sewer Replacement Funds, and will be kept as follows:

(1)An account designated for the specific purpose of operation and maintenance costs, excluding replacement of the treatment works (Sewer Utility).

(2)An account designated for the specific purposes of ensuring replacement needs over the useful life of the treatment works (Sewer Replacement).

Deposits in the replacement account shall be made annually, from the operation, maintenance and replacement revenue in the amount of $11,300.00 annually.

(c)The city clerk shall establish a designated and separate bank account to be called “Sewer Debt Service.” The city clerk shall fund said account with $5,000 per month from the utility operating revenue to pay related KDHE sewer loan payments until such debt is paid off.

(d)Except as otherwise provided herein, the fiscal year-end balance in the Sewer Utility Account and Sewer Replacement Account shall be carried over in the same account in the subsequent fiscal year and shall be used for no other purposes than that designated for this account.

(Ord. 949; Ord. 958; Ord. 993; Code 2021)

15-204 Sewer rates.

(a)Each user shall pay for the services provided by the City based on his use of the treatment works as determined by water meter(s) acceptable to the City.

(b)For residential and non-residential contributors, monthly user charges will be based on monthly water usage during the current month. For contributors not connected to the water system, the monthly charge shall be the median charge for all residential contributors. For industrial and commercial contributors, user charges shall be based on water used during the current month. If a commercial or industrial contributor has a consumptive use of water, or in some other manner uses water which is not returned to the wastewater collection system, the user charge for that contributor may be based on a wastewater meter(s) or separate water meter(s) installed and maintained at the contributor's expense, and in a manner acceptable to the City.

(c)The base charge per month shall be $10.00 for residential customers, $10.00 for nonresidential customers, and $25.00 for commercial customers. Each contributor shall pay $.007241 for each gallon of water use per month as determined in the preceding section. In addition, each contributor shall pay a service charge of $5.00 per month per meter.

(d)For those contributors who contribute wastewater, the strength of which is greater than normal domestic sewage, a surcharge in addition to the normal user charge will be collected. The surcharge for operation and maintenance including replacement is:

(1)$0.30 per pound B.O.D.

(2)$0.25 per pound SS

(e)Any user which discharges any toxic pollutants which cause an increase in the cost of managing the effluent or the sludge from the City’s treatment works, or any user which discharges any substance which singly or by interaction with other substances causes identifiable increases in the cost of operation, maintenance, or replacement of the treatment works, shall pay for such increased costs. The charge of each such user shall be as determined by the responsible plant operating personnel and approved by the Council.

(f)The user charge rates established in this article apply to all users of the City’s treatment works, regardless of their location.

(Ord. 949; Ord. 958; Ord. 993; Ord. 1061; Ord. 1069; Ord. 1080; Ord. 1084; Ord. 1104; Ord. 1116; Ord. 1125; Ord. 1143; Ord 1155; Code 2021; Ord. 1165; Ord. 1179; Ord. 1184; Ord. 1190)

15-205 Billing.

(a)All users shall be billed monthly. Billings for any particular month shall be made within thirty days after the end of that month. Payments are due when the billings are made. Any payment not received within thirty days after the billing is made shall be delinquent.

(b)A late payment penalty of 10 percent of the user charge bill will be added to each delinquent bill for each thirty days of delinquency. When any bill is thirty days in default, rendition of water and/or sewer service to such premises shall be discontinued until such bill is paid following due notice and opportunity for hearing.

(Ord. 949; Ord. 958; Code 2021)

15-206 KDOT rate.

The State of Kansas/Kansas Department of Transportation is allowed to dump wastewater or “gray water” in City-approved portions of the City’s sewage system in exchange for a fee of $15 per occurrence and a charge of $2 per 1,000 gallons of wastewater or “gray water” dumped but only after verbal or written notice to the City Water Superintendent or their agent before such dumping.

The State of Kansas/Kansas Department of Transportation is allowed to dump the above-stated wastewater collected from the State rest areas at the above-state fees and rates.

(Code 2021)

15-207 Annual review.

(a)The City will review the user charge system every year, and revise user charge rates as necessary to ensure that the system generates adequate revenues to pay the costs of operation and maintenance including replacement and that the system continues to provide for the proportional distribution of operation and maintenance including replacement costs among users and user classes.

(Ord. 949; Ord. 958; Code 2021)