HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd. No. 1975-557
ORDINANCE N0. 55~
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE,
CALIFORNIA, PROVIDING FOR PROCEDURES AND
PENALTIES FOR ENFORCEMENT OF SEWAGE DISPOSAL
SERVICE AND PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE BE
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AND SHALL BE .EFFECTIVE
UPON ITS ADOPTION.
BE IT ENACTED by the City Council of the City of Lake
Elsinore, California, as follows:
ARTICLE I
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
1. Short Title. This Ordinance may be cited as the
"City of Lake Elsinore Procedures and Penalties for Enforcement
of Sewage Disposal Service,"
2. Enabling Statute. This Ordinance is adopted pursuant
to Article 7, Chapter 5, Part 3, Division 5 of the Health and Safety
Code and pursuant to Article 4, Chapter 6, Part 3, Division 5 of
the Health and Safety Code and further pursuant to Section 11
of Article X1 of the Constitution of the State of California.
3. Application, This Ordinance shall apply to all
sewer facilities of the City, including any .and all assessment
districts for sewers within said City, and any additions, extensions
and improvements thereto.
4. Definitions. Unless the context otherwise indicates,
terms used herein would have the following meanings:.
(a) "Assessment Roll" refers to the assessment roll
upon which general taxes of the City are collected.
(b) "Auditor" means the Financial Officer of the
City.
(c) "Clerk" means the City Clerk of the City.
(d) "Chambers" refers to the place where the regular
meetings of the City Council are held.
(e) "City" means the City of Lake Elsinore, California,
(f) "Entity" means th.e City.
(g) "Fixtures" shall mean any facility connected by
a drain or pipe to the City sewer.
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(h) "Legislative body" shall mean the City Council
of the City.
(i) "Living Unit" shall mean any residence, apartment,
house, habitation or other structure occupied or used by persons
', requiring. sewage disposal service.
(j) "Rates or charges" shall mean fees, tolls, rates,
rentals or other charges for services and. facilities .furnished by
an entity in connection with its sanitation or sewage system.
(k) "Real Estate" includes.:.
1. The possession of, claim to, ownership of,
or right to possession of land; and..
2. Improvements on land.
(1) "Outlet" means any part of the sewer system to
which a fixture may be connected.
(m) "Report" means the report referred to in Section
5473 of the Health and Safety Code of the State of California.
(n) "Sewer Service Charges" shall mean .the same as
defined as "rates or charges".
ARTICLE II
BILLING AND COLLECTING
1. Billing. The regular billing period will be for each
calendar_ month, or bi-monthly, as determined by the City Council.
2. Opening and closing bills. Opening and closing bills
for less than the normal billing period shall be for not less than
one month.
3. Billing Time. Bills for sewer services shall be
rendered at the beginning of each billing period and are payable
upon presentation.
4. Penalties. If the rate is not paid when due, on the
i first day of each calendar month thereafter a penalty of 10% of the
amount of the delinquent rate shall be added and become due.
5. Collection by suit. As an alternative to any of the
other procedures herein provided, City may bring an action against
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the person or persons who occupied the premises when the service was
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rendered for the collection of the amount of the delinquent rate
and all penalties and costs of collection, including reasonable
attorneys fees.
6. Billing and collecting delinquencies on tax roll.
The City may provide for the collection of all such delinquenr_
charges that have not been paid and collected at the time of
establishing its tax rate, upon the tax roll upon which the City
taxes are collected and in the same manner provided by law.
(a) Filing and Posting. The person or his deputy
who bills and collects the charges shall sign a statement of the
amount of the charges and penalties which have accrued and which
shall .accrue thereon to the next succeeding April 20, and shall
file it with the officer whose duty it is to post the tax roll and
he shall post the amounts thereof on the tax roll of said property
and in the column on the roll where improvement assessments are
posted and opposite the property affected.
(b) Manner of collection.. The amount so posted shall
be payable at the same time and in the same amounts and in the manner
and be subject to the same penalties and charges for delinquency,
-and the same provisions for redemption and sale for nonpayment as
are provided for general taxes of the City.
ARTICLE III
COLLECTION WITH OTHER UTILITY CHARGES
1. Other utility charges. The City 'shall collect the
charges with other utility charges as herein provided.
2. Utility Charges of Entity. Where the person served is
a user of another utility owned and operated by the City, the charges
shall be collected together with and not separately from the charges.
for .the then utility service rendered by it. They shall be billed
upon the same bill and collected as one item,
(a) Discontinuance of Service upon delinquency; Upon
delinquency the other utility service shall be discontinued until
full payment. of the service and penalties thereon and the charges
for recontinuance of service.
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(b) Time. The time for the discontinuance of such
other service shall not exceed 45 days from the date the sewer
charges are provided to become delinquent.
3. Utilities not under control of legislative .body,
Where the other utility service is furnished by an agency of which
the City does not exercise control, or does not own or operate said
utility and the person charged is a user of a publicly or pYivately
owned utility, the City may provide by contract. for such. utility.
to collect such charges and upon terms and conditions which as
nearly as may be obtained shall conform with Section 2 of Article
III of this Ordinance. .The legislative body may provide in such
contract for the compensation for making such collection.
ARTICLE IV
USE OF TAX ROLL
1, Procedure. When the City elects to use the tax roll
on which the general City taxes are collected for the collection of
current or delinquent sewer service charges, proceedings therefore
shall be had as now or hereinafter provided therefore in Sections _5470.
to 5474.10 of the Health and Safety Code of the State of Galifornia.
2. Report. A written report shaL1 be prepared and filed
with the Clerk ~ohich shall contain a description of each parcel of
real property receiving such services and facilities and the-.amount
of the charges for each parcel ,for the forthcoming fiscal year, com-
puted in conformity with the charges prescribed in Ordinance of the
City.
3. Notice - Publication.. The City Clerk shall cause notice
of the filing of the report and of the time and place of hearing
thereon to be published once a week for,two successive weeks prior
' to the date set for hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation
published within the City,
4. Mail, Prior to such .election for the .first time, .the
City Clerk shall cause a notice in writing of the. filing of said first
report proposing to have such charges for the forthcoming fiscal year
collected on the tax roll and of the time and place of hearing thereon .
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to be mailed. to each person to whom any part or parcel of real
property described in the report is assessed in the last equalized
assessment roll on which. general City taxes are collected, at-the
address shown on said roll or as knoGan to the City Clerk.
5. Subsequent years. If the City Council adopts the
report, then the requirements for notice in writing shall not. apply
to hearings on reports prepared in subsequent years, but notice by
publication as herein provided shall be adequate.
6. Hearing. At the time of said. hearing, the .City Council
shall hear and consider all objections or protests, if any, to said
report referred to in said notice and may continue the hearing from
time to time..
7. Final Determination, Upon the conc?usion of the
hearing on the report, the City Council may adopt, revise, change,
reduce or modify any charge or overrule any and all objections and
shall make its determination upon each charge as described-in said
report which determination shall be final. ',
8. Report to Auditor. On or before the 10th day of
August in each year following such final determination by the City
Council, the C}ty Clerk shall .file with the auditor having charge
of the tax roll a copy of said report with a statement endorsed
thereon over his signature that it has been finally adopted by
the City Council of the City and the .auditor shall enter the amounts
of the charges against the respective lots or parcels of land as
they appear on the current assessment roll,
9o Parcels outside the entity. Where any such parcels are
outside the boundaries of the City, they shall be added to the
assessment roll for the purpose of collecting such charges.
10. Lien. The amount of the charges shall constitute a
lien against :the Lot or parcel of land against which the charge has i
been imposed as of the first Monday in March immediately preceding
the date of levy. The tax collector shall include the. amount of
the charges on the bills for taxes levied against the respective
lots ar,.d parcels of land,
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11. Collection. Thereafter, the amount of the charges
shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner and
by the same persons as, together with and not separately from the
general taxes for .the City, and shall be delinquent at the same time
^~ and thereafter be subject to the same. penalty for delinquency.
12. Laws applicable. All laws applicable to the levy,
collection and enforcement of general taxes of the City, including but
not limited to, those pertaining to the matters of delinquency, correc-
tion, cancellation, refund or redemption are applicable to such. charges.
13. Separate Bills. The Tax Collector may in his
discretion, issue separate bills for such charges and separate
receipts for collection on account of such charges.
14. .Compensation. The County may be compensated for
services rendered in connection with the levy, collection and
enforcement of such charges for the City in an amount to be fixed
by agreement between the Board of Supervisors of the County and
the City Council of the City of Lake Elsinore.
15. Use of Revenues. Revenues. derived under this ordinance
shall be used. only for the acquisition, construction or reconstruction.
maintenance and operation of sanitation or sewage facilities of the
City and to repay principal and interest on bonds issued for :the
construction of such sanitary or sewage facilities and to repay any
federal, state and county for other loans or advances made to the
City for the construction or reconstruction of sanitary or sewage faci-
lities; provided, however, that such. revenues shall not be used for
the acquisition or construction of new local street sewers or laterals
as-distinguished from main trunk, interceptor, and outfall sewers.
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DISCONNECTION
1. Connections mandatory. The further maintenance or use
of cesspools or other local means of sewage disposal constitute a
public nuisance. All buildings habited or used by human beings
which are not moxe than 100 feet from the sewage system of the City
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or any extension hereafter made thereto, and in which any sewage
is produced, shall be connected with the sewage system of the entity
at the sole cost of said property owner..
2. Disconnection. Premises as to which charges have
become delinquent shall be disconnected upon giving written notice ! ~
by the City Clerk to the owner of said land or parcels of property
to be disconnected as the names may appear on the last assessment
roll. The person in charge of the sewer system shall estimate
the cost of disconnection of such premises from the sewage system
and the cost of reconnecting it thereto, and .such user shall deposit
the cost as estimated of disconnection and reconnection before
such premises are reconnected to the sewer system. The amount of
the cost of ~?isconnection and reconnection over the deposit shall
constitute a charge and be collected as such.
3. Abatement. During the period of non-connection or
disconnection, habitation of such premises by human beings shall
constitute a public nuisance, whereupon the City Council shall
cause proceedings to be brought for the abatement of the occupancy
of said premises by human beings, In such. event, reasonable attorneys
fees and costs shall be assessed against such person that such
action to abate has been brought.
ARTICLE VI
NATURE OF PP.OCEDURE
1. Alternative. The procedures. provided in Articles II,
III, and IV are. alternative to each other. The separate procedures
under Article II and III are' alternative to each other..
2. Cumulative, The procedures provided in Articles II,
III, and IV of this Ordinance are cumulative tioith each other. More
than one or all thereof may be utilized at the same time as to the
same charges, j
3. Supplemental. The procedures provided in Articles II,
III and IV are supplemental to each other.
4. Procedures Non-Exclusive. The procedures provided in
this ordinance are not exclusive. Notwithstanding any provision
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herein, the entity may utilize any procedures in any law or which
are a legal incident to its powers and any remedy in law or in
equity to collect the charges and penalties.
ARTICLE VZI
CONSTITUTIONALITY SEPARABILITY AND EMERGENCY
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i 1. Constitutionality-Separability. It is hereby declared
that the City shall have passed this Ordinance and each section,
sub-section, sentence, clause or phrase thereof irrespective of
the fact that any one or more of the sections, sub-sections, sen-
tences., clauses or phrases be declared unconstitutional.
2. Emergency. This Ordinance is determined to be an
emergency ordinance for the health, safety and welfare of the City
of Lake Elsinore for the reason that the sewer charges and the
procedures thereof as set forth in this Ordinance are necessary for
the proper collection, maintenance and repair of said sewage
system and to properly. finance same, and this ordinance shall take
effect immediately upon its adoption.
This Ordinance shall be published and become effective
as provided by law.
PASSED AND APPROVED this 14th day of duly , 1975.
s/Florene Marshall
City er o t e l.ty o a e sinore
SIGNED AND APPROVED this lath day of auly , 1975.
s/Norman. L. Chaffin
Mayor o t e City o La e E sinore
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