§ 23-72. User charge system.

A. 

General provisions. To provide for the recovery of costs from the users of the City's wastewater disposal system (EWWTP), the applicable charges and/or fees shall be set forth in the City's annual budget resolution for wastewater monthly charges.

(1) 

The purpose of the user charge system is to provide for an equitable distribution of the costs of operating and maintaining the municipality-owned and operated treatment works (EWWTP) to all users and to promote self-sufficiency with respect to operation, maintenance and replacement costs.

B. 

User classification.

(1) 

The City of Evanston shall place users of the EWWTP into one of three categories:

(a) 

Residential users;

(b) 

Commercial or industrial, nonsignificant users;

(c) 

Commercial or industrial, significant users.

(2) 

Residence classification requires the act or fact of dwelling in a place, the place where one actually lives, a building used as a home. Evanston elementary schools, middle schools, high school and churches are given residential status and will be billed as outlined in this article for residential users.

(3) 

Commercial classification requires being engaged in commerce or occupied in acts interpreted as relating to commerce.

(4) 

Industrial classification requires being engaged in manufacturing, processing, cleaning, assembling or acts interpreted as relating to industry.

(5) 

Significant users are those that meet the definition of "significant industrial user" in § 23-69 or other industrial user that has an average BOD₅ concentration over 250 mg/L or average total suspended solids over 250 mg/L.

(6) 

Nonsignificant users are those, commercial or industrial, who do not meet any of the conditions specified in Subsection B(5) of this section.

(7) 

Classifications shall be made by City staff designated to make such determinations. Users, however, may appeal classification status to the City Council; the City Council's determination will be final.

(8) 

A guideline for general user classification is as follows:

	Residential
		House, apartment, condominium
		Mobile home, mobile home park
		School
		Church
	Commercial
		Hotel, motel
		Restaurant, bar or tavern
		Shops (non-food), stores
		Banks
		Theater
		Gas station
		Day care, nursery
		Laundry (including self-service)
		Beauty parlor, barber shop
		Garage
		Doctor's, dentist's office
		Offices and multi-use business facilities
		Photo lab
		Car wash
		Funeral parlor
		Fitness center
		Overnight RV or trailer park

C. 

Billing structure.

(1) 

All users of the EWWTP will be billed monthly for their contribution of wastes. The City of Evanston shall review the operation, maintenance and replacement costs of the EWWTP at least once each year to evaluate the costs of the previous year. This review shall be used to indicate what, if any, adjustments must be made to the annual budget resolution to improve upon the self-sufficiency of the EWWTP. Adjustments shall be made as necessary to assure equity of the user charge system among all users and user categories. Evanston's residential and nonsignificant users (commercial or industrial) will be charged a common user fee (base rate) dependent upon the size of meter for the potable water supply plus an amount calculated from consumptive use or volumetric use of the City's potable water system. Each user will be charged the base rate which will be added to the volumetric charges calculated from metered use of potable water. The volumetric rate will be applied to each thousand gallons of metered usage. The base rates and volumetric rates will be determined and established annually by the City Council and adopted as part of the annual budget resolution.

(2) 

Significant users as defined in Subsection B(5) of this section will be charged a base rate dependent upon the size of meter for the potable water supply, plus an amount based on consumptive or volumetric use which will include a surcharge factor to compensate for any high-strength wastes, as outlined hereinafter. The volumetric and surcharge rates will be charged for every thousand gallons of metered water consumption unless discharge metering and recording equipment is installed and maintained by the user. If discharge metering is accurate and acceptable to the City, the volumetric and surcharge rates will be applied only to the metered effluent discharged into the EWWTP.

D. 

Fees. The City's annual budget resolution will disclose current rates, fees and charges relating to the EWWTP. Established fees shall include but not be limited to tapping or connection fees, base rates, volumetric rates, unmetered rates, rates outside City limits, and other special fees as determined by the City Council.

(1) 

Wastewater base rates shall be established for each size of water meter (three-fourths, one, one and one-half, two, four, six. . . inch) installed on the potable water supply system.

(2) 

Volumetric rates or consumptive rates will be established by comparing total annual costs (including: administrative, operation and maintenance, equipment replacement, uncollectible accounts, amortizations, system replacement and a reasonable reserve account) to the total annual volume treated, giving due consideration to infiltration-inflow (I&I), thereby calculating the dollar cost per thousand gallons of treated wastewater.

(3) 

Surcharge.

(a) 

Significant users must pay a surcharge for high-strength wastes discharged to the EWWTP. The surcharge will be determined on an individual basis using medium or average-strength domestic sewage as the guideline. Limits on constituents include:

	BOD2	250 mg/L
	TSS	250 mg/L
	Phosphorus (total as P)	12 mg/L
	COD	550 mg/L
	Nitrogen (ammonia)	25 mg/L

(b) 

The surcharge factor will be determined by dividing actual concentrations by those listed above or as otherwise directed by the City Council. A conventional surcharge factor will be determined as follows:

	[BOD]	=	Surcharge
	205		Factor

(c) 

If another constituent, say phosphorus (P), is the controlling constituent, the surcharge will be determined by:

	P	=	Surcharge
	12		Factor

(d) 

The user shall pay the highest surcharge factor determined by the above limiting constituents, which factor will never be less than 1.0. If calculated as less than 1.0 use 1.0.

(e) 

The volumetric charge shall be multiplied by the surcharge factor and added to the base rate to determine the total billing. The user being billed must pay the surcharge or provide, at his expense, facilities as necessary to modify the waste to the acceptable and required criteria.

E. 

Volumetric structure. Efforts to assure equity for residential users will include charges for actual volume consumption during November, December and January. Actual monthly volumes used will be multiplied by the City-established volumetric rate to determine the volumetric charges for each residential user. The remaining monthly billings (February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October) will utilize a calculated volumetric charge, determined by averaging the volumetric charges of the three metered months of November, December and January.

(1) 

Residential users who have not established a consumption history for all three metered months shall be charged an assumed usage of 12,000 gallons per month. If requested, the City Clerk has the authority to establish a lower assumed monthly usage for a particular residential user, if there is an objective basis for making such an adjustment.

(2) 

Commercial and industrial users will be charged for each thousand gallons of metered use of potable water. Actual monthly volumes used will be multiplied by the City-established volumetric rate to determine the volumetric charges for each commercial or industrial user. If such users are classified as significant users, the appropriate surcharge shall be applied to their volumetric charge.

(3) 

Commercial and industrial users who irrigate large areas or use considerable volume for irrigation are encouraged to install irrigation systems, separately metered and apart from the potable water supply system. The owner will bear all costs associated with such work and meter installation, and the City will establish an account whereby the irrigation system is not billed the wastewater contribution fees. No construction of any part of this separate system or renovation or change to an existing system shall commence until the owner has made application for the change. Such application shall be submitted in writing to the City building official 30 days prior to the intended construction start date. The building official will coordinate the proposed changes with City billing and administrative personnel and also water Department personnel.