§ 54-124. Billing and collection.

(a)

The rates and charges established in this article shall be included in the regular monthly accounts or bills rendered to the consumers of electricity or water of the city. All bills evidencing charges for use of the service and facilities of the sanitary municipal solid waste system shall be payable to the city by the users of the utility. Nonpayment of such charges shall render the user subject to:

(1)

All penalties now or hereafter provided for nonpayment of utility bills, and the discontinuance of all such utility services upon the nonpayment of the rates and charges for the use of the services and facilities of the system; and

(2)

All penalties now or hereafter provided for nonpayment of municipal solid waste collection.

(b)

The rates and charges established in this article shall be paid to and collected by the city in conjunction with and at the same time as other bills and charges are paid and collected for all other utilities owned and operated by the city; provided, however, all funds collected under this article shall be credited to the sanitation fund of the city to be appropriated and expended for the operation and maintenance of the utility, and for extensions thereof and replacements thereto.

(c)

The procedure for a customer to challenge bills relating to sanitation service is as follows:

(1)

Appeal requests for possible billing errors shall not be considered beyond the three-month period immediately preceding the appeal date, but in no event shall credit be issued for billing periods in prior fiscal years.

(2)

The city will only award a credit on future utility bills unless no further charges are to be billed for sanitation services. In that case, a rebate check will be sent.

(d)

Proration of base charges. The base charge billed under subsections 54-121(b) and 54-121(c) shall be billed the full month charge without any proration for any period beyond the 15th day of the billing cycle, the period from the eighth to the 15th shall be 50 percent of the full month base, and no base charge will be levied under eight days in a billing period. This will apply to newly created accounts, reactivated owners' accounts, and final bills.

(Ord. No. 5084, § 1, 10-10-02)