§ 31-95. Penalty for nonpayment; deferred payment plan.

(a)

Penalty. Any person who shall fail to pay the sewer charges or rentals levied in this division and assessed within ten (10) days from the time same becomes due and payable shall be subject to have their water service discontinued by the utilities department billing division, and in addition shall be subject to have their sewer disconnected from the city's sewer system and lines, and thereafter no sewer connection which has been disconnected for the nonpayment of charges shall again be connected for the same user until all costs incurred in the actual physical disconnect and reconnect shall have been paid, and delinquent sewer charges have been paid; provided that, no such sewer disconnection shall be made without first giving the users ten (10) days written notice.

(b)

Deferred payment plan.

(1)

Applicability. The deferred payment plan is applicable to all services billed by the utilities department including water, sewer, garbage, federal and state mandates, tax and any other services attached to the utilities bill in the future.

(2)

Eligibility. Individuals or business entities whose account is in arrears or who are unable to pay a billed amount are eligible to enroll in the deferred payment plan. Customers, however, are only eligible to use this recourse for one (1) bill at a time and are not eligible again until the full amount in a prior enrollment is liquidated.

(3)

Payment period. The maximum allowable repayment period for residential and commercial customers is twelve (12) months. For residential customers whose monthly agreed payment plus the average current bill exceeds three (3) times the average current bill, a longer repayment period shall be authorized by the utilities director, provided that the repayment period does not exceed thirty-six (36) months. This additional extended provision does not apply to commercial customers.

(4)

Duty to remain current. The customer shall remain in good standing throughout the life of the payment plan. Failure to pay the full amount billed each month, consisting of the current bill plus the agreed monthly amount to liquidate the prior debt, shall result in disconnection of services and a requirement to pay the full amount owed in the plan, as a condition of reconnection.

(Ord. of 1-17-78, § 3; Ord. of 5-6-75, § 27; Ord. of 7-15-80, § III; Ord. No. 97-192, § 1, 8-25-97; Ord. No. 2018-O-056 , § 1, 4-16-18)