Bylaw No. 25-874 Water and Sewer Rate Bylaw (Biggar Public Utility Service) — full text

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1 | P a g e TOWN OF BIGGAR, SASKATCHEWAN BYLAW NO. 25-874 A BYLAW TO REGULATE THE BIGGAR PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICE WHEREAS a council may establish works for the supply, collection, treatment, storage and distribution of water and sewer as a public utility service; AND WHEREAS a council may by bylaw: a. Purchase, lease, construct, operate, maintain and dispose of anything necessary for the provision of a public utility service; b. Contract with consumers for the provision of public utility services; c. Set the terms and conditions under which public utility services are supplied; d. Set, collect and enforce the collection of fees for a public utility service; and e. Control, supervise and manage a public utility service; NOW THEREFORE THE COUNCIL of the Town of Biggar in the Province of Saskatchewan enacts as follows: 1. This bylaw may be cited as The Biggar Public Utility Service Bylaw. DEFINITIONS 2. In this Bylaw, these terms have the meanings attributed to them: a) "customer" means a recipient of a public utility service provided by the Town of Biggar, whether residential, commercial, industrial, or agricultural, and includes an owner, tenant, occupant or party in possession of a premises or property whether a natural person or a corporate entity; b) "notice to remedy" means a written notice from the Town which conveys to the recipient deficiencies, repairs or transgressions which it requires to be remedied to certain standards within a fixed period of time; c) "owner" refers to the registered owner of property or premises situate in the Town as disclosed by the land titles records of the Information Services Corporation of Saskatchewan or its successors; d) "premises" means the building, structure, place or location where water and sewer services are delivered by the Town to a customer; e) "Town" means the Town of Biggar, a municipality incorporated under the laws of the Province of Saskatchewan, which includes its employees, servants or agents; and f) "water meter" means a device, owned by the Town, which may monitor, record and report the volume of water provided to a premises or property over time. WATER METERS 3. (1) The Town will install water meters in all premises connected to the Town's Waterworks Utility System. 2 | P a g e (2) The Town's utility department will determine the size, type and location of any water meter to be installed and maintained in a customer's premises. Each property owner will supply at his, her or its own expense a new and functional water valve if the Town's utility department, on reasonable grounds, determines it is required during installation of the water meter. (3) The Town will require each property owner to complete and sign an application form giving consent to the installation of a water meter in his, her or its premises and to pay a deposit of one hundred and twenty-five dollars ($125.00) before the installation of the water meter or prior to the service being connected. The deposit will be non- interest bearing and applied to any arrears at the time of disconnection with any remaining credit refunded to the property owner within 60 days from disconnection. (4) It shall be unlawful and an offence for any customer or unauthorized person to tamper, modify, change or remove a water meter, service line, shut off or associated equipment owned by the Town for the purpose of obtaining water service fraudulently. (5) A customer is responsible for any damage caused to a water meter by freezing or other means and shall repair or replace the water meter at the discretion of the Town at the customer's expense within five (5) business days after a notice to remedy is delivered by the Town. The Town may, at its discretion, further do any one or more of the following: a) undertake such repair or replacement of a water meter if not completed by a customer promptly and add the costs of repair or replacement to the tax roll of that parcel of land under Section 369(1)(a)(b) of The Municipalities Act regardless of whether the customer is the owner of the premises or not; and b) disconnect public utility services to a premises until the customer complies with a notice to remedy and provides evidence of compliance. (6) The Town may authorize and delegate one or more persons to enter any premises between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily (but excluding statutory holidays and weekends) to inspect, read, service, repair or replace a water meter and the customer in possession of the premises shall permit their entry and not obstruct, interfere or impede that party in the performance of their duties in any manner or way. (7) It shall be unlawful and an offence for any person to obstruct, interfere or impede a person delegated by the Town in the performance of their duties under this Bylaw. 3 | P a g e RATES LEVIED 4. (1) The Town shall invoice a customer in accordance with Schedule "A" as attached within 30 days from the end of a billing period for water consumed during the preceding two months in accordance with the following schedule: January and February March and April May and June July and August September and October November and December REGISTRATION OF SERVICE AND COLLECTION OF RATES LEVIED 5. (1) Each customer requiring utility services will register and hold an account in his, her or its name, and where more than one person or party is registered to the same premises or property and utility service, they shall be jointly and severally liable for that account. (2) Utility bills may be sent out to customers by regular mail or by email for which the email consent form must be completed and signed by the customer; it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure the utility bill is paid and up to date. (3) Utility bills issued shall be payable within thirty (30) days from the date the bill is issued. The date of issuance will be clearly indicated on the bill. (4) Any customer whose account which remains unpaid from the last bill for utility services shall be notified 30 days after the bill is issued, delivered by means of a door hanger to the customer's last known address. This notice will inform the customer that their account is overdue, and it will serve as the initial step in the procedure for possible service discontinuation or disconnection. (5) Any customer whose account remains unpaid 10 days after the initial overdue notice was delivered via door hanger, will receive a second notice by regular mail to their last known mailing address, stating that their account is overdue, in accordance with Section 4(1) of this bylaw. This will apply regardless of whether the customer receives or acknowledges the notice/door hanger. The Town may proceed with disconnecting or discontinuing utility services unless the customer complies with the payment terms specified in the final notice. No final notices will be sent via email to any customer. (6) The procedure for discontinuing utility service to a customer shall be: a) A final notice will be sent to the customer by regular mail at the last known address for the customer in the records of the Town informing the customer that service to the customer will be terminated ten (10) days from that final notice. b) If the overdue account is not paid by the tenth day following the date of the 4 | P a g e final notice, a work order will be prepared terminating utility service to the customer in default. c) If a customer makes satisfactory payment arrangements for the overdue account in writing before a work order is prepared, the customer shall be allowed an additional five (5) days to complete its payment obligations. Provided the overdue account is paid in full, the work order will be cancelled. d) If the customer fails to make satisfactory payment arrangements with the Town or fails to fulfill its payment obligations within any agreed period, the Town may forthwith terminate utility service to the customer without further notice. (7) The Town Foreman or his or her designate shall disconnect the water service by locating the water shutoff valve on the street or Town's property and turning the water off. He or she shall then advise the customer, if home, that the water service has been discontinued or disconnected and that the customer must arrange on satisfactory terms with the Town through the designated agent of the Town at the Town Office during normal business hours to have water services reconnected. (8) If the water shutoff valve is not functional or working as intended and the Town Foreman or his or her designate cannot terminate service to the customer, the Town Foreman or his or her designate will advise the Town Office and directions will be given to the Public Works Department to excavate and repair or replace the water shutoff valve as soon as practicable to permit the discontinuation or disconnection of water utility services. (9) The Town Foreman or his or her designate shall not accept money or payment from the customer in any form and shall only restore water utility service to the customer when advised to do so by the Chief Administrative Officer or Assistant Administrator. (10) Where the customer is not present when the water utility service is discontinued or disconnected, the Town Foreman or his or her designate shall leave a notice in writing in a conspicuous location advising the customer of the date and time the water utility service was discontinued. Such notice may be posted, taped or affixed to the entry door of the customer's premises. (11) Water utility customers with overdue water accounts with their water utility service discontinued for non-payment of their account shall pay a service charge of seventy- five dollars ($75.00) in advance for having the water utility service reconnected or restored in addition to payment of their account, or acceptable arrangements are made with the Town for payment of the account within a reasonable period. (12) Water utility customers who require water services to be reconnected after the Town's regular working hours shall pay a further fee of one hundred and twenty-five dollars ($125.00) in addition to the above. (13) If a customer is over 60 days in arrears on an account for utility services supplied by the 5 | P a g e Town, the Town, by motion and approval of its Council, may add the amount owed to the Town to the tax roll of the parcel receiving such service under Section 369(1)(a)(b) of The Municipalities Act and the owner on the tax roll will be responsible for the payment of same whether the customer in arrears is the owner of the premises or a tenant. (14) The Town of Biggar shall not be responsible for any loss or damage incurred by the customer because of discontinuing or disconnecting the water service. (15) Only the customer or his, her or its legal representative may authorize the connection or disconnection of utility services. In the event the customer is a tenant under a tenancy agreement: a) the tenant must authorize the connection or disconnection of utility services; or b) the landlord must produce an order of possession issued by the Office of Residential Tenancies or a court order from the Court of Queen's Bench granting the landlord possession of the premises; or c) the landlord must produce evidence that the tenant no longer resides at the premises and certify that no proceedings are pending at the Office of Residential Tenancies or the Court of Queen's Bench between the landlord and the tenant which may or could grant the tenant possession of the premises. 6. (1) No person shall tamper with, take apart, interfere or damage a water service line connection for the purpose of obtaining water service fraudulently. (2) Any person, party or entity who contravenes this bylaw shall be guilty of an offence and upon summary conviction, liable to a fine of no less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and costs for each offence. (3) A conviction for breach of this bylaw does not relieve that party from compliance with the bylaw and the convicting magistrate or justice of the peace may, besides any fine imposed, order the offending party to make restitution to the Town for any water fraudulently obtained and for any damages sustained by the Town. SERVICE LINES 7. The Town may require each premises which requires water utility services on the same parcel to have its own separate water service pipe and if appropriate, water meter, which shall extend from the outer line of the neighboring street, located in the Town's discretion, to the inner surface of the wall of the premises or building to which it is providing service with the water shutoff valve installed near the property line for the parcel on the street side to control the flow of water and the utility service to the premises. INDUSTRIAL WASTE DISCHARGE 8. (1) Notwithstanding anything other in this Bylaw, no person, party or customer shall 6 | P a g e discharge or permit or cause to be discharged any industrial waste into any Town sewer unless that person, party or customer applies to and receives from the Town a permit allowing him, her or it to discharge such waste before such activity. (2) The Town shall not issue a permit to any applicant to discharge industrial waste into the sewerage system until: a) The applicant has supplied the Town with the chemical and physical analysis, quantity and discharge rate of industrial waste and sewage proposed to be discharged with all such other pertinent information that the Town may require. b) If ordered by the Town so to do, the applicant will at his, her or its own expense, install a suitable control manhole in the sewer connection to facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of the waste and control of flow rate. c) If ordered by the Town so to do, the applicant will, at his, her or its own expense, obtain the necessary observation, sampling and measurement equipment to check and control the characteristics of the sewage to ensure that the sewage will continually meet the standards of the Town. (3) The manhole referred to in Clause (b) of Subsection (2) of this section shall be safely located and accessible and shall be constructed according to plans provided by the Town and shall be maintained by the applicant to be safe and accessible to the Town. (4) Unless specified in a Permit to discharge, the following limits shall apply to all wastewater discharges: Substance Limit (mg/L) Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) 300 Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) 600 Nitrogen, Total Kjedahl (TKN) 100 Fats, Oil & Grease (FOG) 100 Oil and Grease - derived from petroleum 15 Phosphorous, Total 10 Total Suspended Solids 300 Total Chlorine (as C12) 2 a) Discharges which exceed these limits may be subject to a surcharge. b) A person or entity, who used disinfectants as part of their operations, shall employ a disinfectant monitoring and quenching system, acceptable to the Town, to ensure that negative impacts are not caused to the wastewater handling system. c) The owner or operator of a business that produces or may produce FOG shall: a. Cause all non-domestic wastewater to pass through a FOG interceptor prior to discharge to the sanitary sewer. b. Install the FOG interceptor in accordance with the National Plumbing Code of Canada and the Plumbing Regulations. c. Locate the FOG interceptor shall be located so it is easily serviceable. 7 | P a g e d. Regularly clean and service the FOG interceptor and maintain records of cleaning and service, which shall be maintained on site and available for inspection. e. Maintain FOG interceptor in good working order at all times. (5) No person or customer shall allow flow to be discharged at a rate which exceeds their permit. In the case where a permit is not in place, no person or entity shall discharge flow at a greater rate than the design flow rate of the wastewater treatment plant or conveyance system. (6) In addition to surcharges, a person or customer who discharges deleterious materials, exceeds maximum flows, or exceeds quality limits shall be responsible to reimburse the Town for any and all costs to investigate, address and rectify the issue, including, but not limited to, clean up costs, investigations to examine damage or potential damage to infrastructure, repair to damaged infrastructure, administrative costs, and fines from regulatory agencies. A fine of up to $10,000 per occurrence may be imposed for repeat occurrences. (7) The owner or operator of the business shall permit, at any reasonable time during normal business hours, inspection by the Town's staff or authorized delegate for the purposes of assessing compliance with this Bylaw and optimal operation of the wastewater treatment or handling system. The permit holder shall provide staff members as necessary to facilitate the review. (8) The permit may contain such further and other conditions that are, in the opinion of the Town, necessary or desirable for the control of the usage of the sewerage system and the discharge of waste into the sewerage system, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the permit may stipulate that the person, party or customer applying for a permit shall, at his, her or its own expense, provide such preliminary treatment facilities as are necessary to change the characteristics of the sewage and make it acceptable to the standards of the Town. (9) No person or customer shall discharge into a sanitary sewer any of the following waste: a) Any waste have a pH lower than 5.5 or higher than 9.5 or having any corrosive, damaging or hazardous property capable of damaging structures, equipment, biological sewage treatment processes or personnel. b) Any waste containing a toxic or poisonous substance, or a waste which when combined with another waste may cause toxic or poisonous substances to be liberated. c) Any noxious or malodorous substance capable of creating a public nuisance. ON/OFF CHARGES 9. (1) When a request is made to turn water off at a premise, a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) shall be charged before the water is disconnected. (2) When a request is made to turn water on at a premise, a fee of twenty-five dollars 8 | P a g e ($25.00) shall be charged before the water is connected. ON/OFF CHARGES FOR PREMISES REPAIRS 10. The fees referenced in subparagraphs 9(1) and (2) will be waived by the Town provided that water service is turned off for repairs or replacement and the indoor main shut off is repaired or changed at the same time before service is recommenced. 11. BYLAWS REPEALED That Bylaw 24-862 Biggar Public Utility Service is hereby repealed. 12. COMING INTO FORCE This Bylaw shall come into force and take effect from, and after the date of final passing thereof. READ a first time the 4th day of March, 2025. READ a second time this 4th day of March, 2025. READ a third time and adopted this 4th day of March, 2025. Mayor (SEAL) Chief Administrative Officer 9 | P a g e Bylaw No. 25-874 SCHEDULE A WATER & SEWER RATES The highlighted rates in the table below will increase by 5% annually effective January 1st of each year. Exception: The 5% increase for 2024 will take effect July 1st. Water (Monthly) 2024 2025 2026 Metered - Minimum 25.00 26.50 27.85 Metered - Overage 5.00 5.00 5.00 Non-Metered 27.50 30.00 35.00 Raw - Minimum 2,750.00 2,750.00 2,750.00 Raw - Overage 1.05 1.10 1.15 Infrastructure 15.00 15.00 15.00 Infrastructure - PML 1,500.00 1,500.00 1,500.00 Sewer (Monthly) 2024 2025 2026 Residences 15.00 15.00 15.00 Residences (1-4) 22.75 22.75 22.75 Business with Living Q 43.00 43.00 43.00 Single Business 21.25 21.25 21.25 2+ Businesses 41.00 41.00 41.00 Schools 79.50 79.50 79.50 Garages 22.75 22.75 22.75 Car Washes 59.00 59.00 59.00 Motels 120.00 120.00 120.00 Hotels 52.25 52.25 52.25 Industrial 59.00 59.00 59.00 Institutional 79.50 79.50 79.50 Apartments (4+) 82.00 82.00 82.00 Raw - Minimum (87.33% of Water) 6,250.00 6,250.00 6,250.00 Raw - Overage 3.00 3.00 3.00