§ 98-110. Sewer rates schedule.
(a)
Fees. It is hereby determined and declared to be necessary for the city to levy and collect service fees on each sanitary sewer connection from all persons, firms and corporations using, or having access to, the sewer system. The city council will adopt by resolution a sewer rate schedule to be set out in this section establishing a minimum monthly charge and a volumetric rate per 1,000 gallons of consumption usage. The city council may review the schedule of rates at any time and may, by resolution, increase or decrease said rates within the schedule upon a determination that said increase or decrease is warranted.
(b)
Sewer Rate Schedule. A sewer rate schedule, as stated in Appendix C—Fee Schedule, shall be adopted each budget year.
(c)
Monthly Volume of Wastewater: Assumption. The monthly volume of wastewater generated by a residential user shall be assumed to be equivalent to the average monthly water consumption for that customer for the preceding months of December, January, and February. If water consumption records are not available for a customer for these months, the monthly volume of wastewater shall be assumed to be the same as the water consumption for that month.
(d)
Delinquency. Charges for sewer service shall be due and payable on or before the date shown on the utility bill. In the event said bill is not paid by the due date, a penalty charge established by the city shall be added to the bill and the connection may be cut off without notice by the city.
(e)
Separate Minimum Charge for Separate Units. When more than one building, apartment, or other subdivision of space in any residence or commercial building is served through one meter, each such additional building, apartment, or subdivision of space shall be deemed a separate water service unit and a separate minimum charge shall be made therefore and collected by the utility billing department. In any case, such minimum charge shall be the regular minimum charge at the current rates in effect at the time of billing.
(f)
Sewer Surcharge.
(1)
Computation. All water/sewer accounts will be classified into one of the surcharge group classifications and shall pay a monthly sewer surcharge which shall be in addition to monthly sewer service charges. Computation of surcharges shall be based on the following formula:
S = (C/1,000,000 × 8.34 × T × TR) +
(C/1,000,000 × 8.34 × B × BR)Where:
C = Monthly water consumption (sewer discharge)
T = Total suspended solids (TSS)
TR = Unit cost suspended solids ($/lb.)
B = Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
BR = Unit cost oxygen demand ($/lb.)
The BOD and TSS values for each group will be determined once every 12 months or as necessary to accurately reflect the discharge strength of the customer. The unit costs of treatment will be based on costs to the city under the wastewater contract with the City of Fort Worth. These values will be reviewed annually and may be adjusted to reflect the true cost to the city for charges under the contract and administration of the surcharge program.
Sewer Surcharge Rates
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) per pound $0.3682 Total suspended solids (TSS) per pound $0.2514 Notwithstanding the provisions for calculating sewer surcharges as outlined above, a maximum surcharge shall be assessed against residentially owned property not to exceed a consumption rate of 11,000 gallons of expended water.
(2)
Surcharge Group Classifications. The water/sewer department may classify all customers into groups which reflect sewage strength based on surveys of each group. The class groups are:
a.
Food service: Includes restaurants, bars, lounges, and other establishments, which engage in sale of food or beverage, which is served directly to the public.
b.
Delicatessen/bakery: Includes specialty food sales for delicatessens, bakeries, donut shops, and other establishments where the sale of food is generally on a "takeout basis."
c.
Equipment services and manufacturing: Includes establishments which perform washing, cleaning, or servicing of automobiles, trucks, buses, machinery, or equipment, also manufacturing facilities where water is used for cleaning or production of products. Laundry/dry cleaning businesses are included.
d.
Food and kindred products processing: Includes commercial establishments which engage in the preparation, packaging, processing, or distribution of food, food products, grains or produce, other than those included in group (a) or (b).
e.
Residential/Commercial: Includes apartment complexes and trailer parks metered as such as well as all residential accounts.
f.
Significant users or contributors: Includes all facilities identified by monitoring their sewer discharge that contribute significantly greater quantities and/or strength sewage to be classified individually.
g.
The water and sewer department may establish additional classes as deemed necessary to recover costs from other dischargers of high strength sewage.
h.
The water and sewer department shall assess an industrial surcharge rate for each class group based on waste strength determinations established by averaging grab or composite samples or both, taken from a representative number of establishment in each group, and shall apply this rate to the water consumption or metered wastewater. The water and sewer department shall then add the appropriate industrial surcharge to billings for regular water and sanitary sewer service for each establishment classified into a class group.
(3)
If an establishment contains operations from more than one of the class groups, the surcharge for the establishment will be based on the highest surcharge group class at that location, as determined by the utility billing department with the approval of the director of public works.
(4)
The water and sewer department may revise from time to time, class group surcharge rates based on analysis of current samples. Such rates shall be established by resolution of the city council.
(Ord. No. 250, § 4, 8-27-59; Code 1973, § 21-69; Ord. No. 793, § 3, 5-24-73; Ord. No. 828, 5-23-74; Ord. No. 1197, § 8, 9-20-84; Ord. No. 1318, §§ 1, 2, 9-22-86; Ord. No. 1377, § 1, 10-5-87; Ord. No. 1387, § 1, 2-1-88; Ord. No. 1414, § 2, 9-26-88; Ord. No. 1421, § 2, 1-9-89; Ord. No. 1432, § 2, 4-10-89; Ord. No. 1499, § 1, 9-24-90; Ord. No. O-22-93, § 1, 9-27-93; Ord. No. O-36-94, § 1, 9-26-94; Ord. No. O-2003-013-03, § 4, 7-28-03; Ord. No. O-2006-004-03, §§ 1, 2, 4-24-06; Ord. No. O-2014-033-01, § 4, 11-24-14; Ord. No. O-2015-023-01, § 3, 10-12-16; Ord. No. O-2018-010-01, § 14, 1-22-18)