Article X. Miscellaneous Provisions
14.42.460 Pretreatment charges and fees.
The director may adopt reasonable fees for reimbursement of costs of setting up and operating the city’s FOG control program.
These fees relate solely to the matters covered by this chapter and are separate from all other rates or charges for sewer service; provided, that the city shall collect said charges in the same manner as other sewer utility rates are collected, including but not limited to the sewer lien procedures provided under Chapter 35.67 RCW.
Fees may include:
A. Fees for wastewater discharge permits, including the cost of processing the permit applications, public noticing, issuing and administering the permit, and reviewing monitoring reports submitted by users;
B. Fees for modifying or transferring permits;
C. Fees for monitoring, inspection, surveillance and enforcement procedures including the cost of collection and analyzing a user’s discharge;
D. Fees for reviewing accidental discharge procedures and construction;
E. Fees for preparing and executing enforcement action;
F. Fees for filing appeals;
G. Fees for high-strength waste and nondomestic flow; and
H. Other fees as the city may deem necessary to carry out the requirements contained herein;
I. Permit Fees. Should the director determine that adequate FOG control activities require issuance of control mechanism to FSEs and NFDs, the fees shall be as follows:
1. A five-year discharge authorization shall be one thousand dollars.
2. A one-year discharge authorization shall be five hundred dollars.
3. Permit transfer fee: five hundred dollars.
4. Permit modification fee: five hundred dollars. Permit modification fees will only be charged in a case where changes in the user’s operation require the modification, or when the user requests a modification;
J. Monitoring Fees. Any user establishing a pattern of noncompliance, or having a history of noncompliance, or suspected of being in noncompliance, may require additional monitoring visits as deemed appropriate by the director. Any additional inspections, sampling, surveillance monitoring activities, and analysis performed which detect noncompliance will be billed directly to the user;
K. Enforcement Actions. All expenses in preparing enforcement actions will be billed directly to the user;
L. Cost Recovery. The city may recover any expenses incurred due to noncompliance by a user, including, but not limited to, costs of opening a plugged sewer, costs of repairing a damaged sewer, costs of determining the cause of an SSO or CSO, and costs of cleaning up and mitigating an SSO or CSO.
All fees or charges will be collected via direct billing. Unless the director has been made aware of extenuating circumstances that would prevent prompt payment, all fees are payable within thirty days of the billing. Fees past due will be considered a violation of this chapter. Users not paying fees within sixty days of the billing period will be subject to termination of service. The director may change existing or adopt new fees. (Ord. 3071-08 § 10.1, 2008.)