Article VII - User Charges and Fees; Permits; Alternatives to Master Water Meter; Encroachments; Wastewater Pump Stations and Force Mains

It is the purpose of this article to provide for the recovery of costs from users of the County sewerage system(s) for the implementation of the program established herein and for the construction, operation and maintenance of said system(s). The County will adopt user charges and fees from time to time as necessary to meet the system(s) budgetary requirements.

For a property which uses water, all or a part of which is from a source other than a government-owned water system, there shall be a sewer user charge, separate from and in addition to any sewer user charge based on the consumption of water from the government-owned water system.

1. Such separate or additional sewer user charges shall be measured by the quantity of water from the source other than the government-owned water system which is discharged into the County's sewers from such property. The owner of such property shall install, without cost to the County, a meter to measure the quantity of water received from a source other than the government-owned water system and discharged into the County's sewer. No meter shall be installed or be used for such purposes without the approval of the County.
2. The owner of such property shall pay for such water so discharged into the County's sewers an amount as though all such water came from the government-owned water system.
3. If the owner of such property fails to install and maintain, at his own expense, an approved meter, the County shall make an estimate of the amount of water from sources other than the government-owned water system which is discharged into the County's sewers from such property, using the consumption from similar operations, and if none, a formula based upon the operations of the business of the occupant of the premises as a standard, and bill such estimated water so discharged into the County's sewer as though the same were metered.

1. Whenever a property upon which a sewer user charge is hereby imposed uses water from the government-owned water system for an industrial or commercial purpose so that the water so used is not discharged into the County sewerage system, the quantity of the water so used and not discharged into the County's sewers shall be excluded in determining the sewer user charges of such property and shall be measured by a device approved by the County and installed and maintained without cost to the County, and provided that the water supply of such property is metered and the owner pays for such water at metered rates.
2. The sewer user charges are based upon the consumption of government-owned water systems. City water to be paid by the owner of such property shall be computed at the rates established for sewer service and using a quantity of water equal to the total quantity of water furnished such property by the government-owned water system, less a quantity not discharged into the County's sewer; provided, however, that where, in the opinion of the County, it is not practical to install a measuring device to determine continuously the quantity of water not discharged into the County's sewers, the County shall determine periodically, in such a way and by such method as it may prescribe, the quantity of water discharged into the County's sewers, and the quantity of metered water used to determine the sewer user charges shall be the portion so determined of the quantity measured by water meter or meters.

All charges, fees and other penalties shall be as determined by the County and set forth in a fee schedule.

1. A onetime charge which shall be payable to Henderson County by users of all of the County sewerage systems, the capacity depletion fee is intended to compensate the County for capacity utilized within the County sewerage system. The amount of the capacity depletion fee, the manner in which it is calculated and other particulars in regard to said capacity depletion fee shall be set and established from time to time by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors of Henderson County's water and sewer districts in a fee schedule. The moneys generated by the capacity depletion fee will be used in regard to Henderson County's sewer systems for capital projects, emergency repairs and operations and maintenance at the discretion of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors of Henderson County's water and sewer districts.
2. Commissioners or as Directors of Henderson County's water and sewer districts. In addition to capacity depletion fees imposed by Henderson County, users of the County's sewerage system may be subject to fees imposed by other government entities which have contracted to transport/treat wastewater from the County's sewerage collection system.

The monthly sewer service fee is a monthly charge which shall be payable to Henderson County by all users other than municipal use service providers, developer service providers, property owners' association service providers and public utilities. The amount of this service fee, the manner in which it is calculated and other particulars in regard to said monthly sewer service fee shall be set and established from time to time by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts in a fee schedule. This service fee will be used in regard to the County's sewerage systems for capital projects, emergency repairs and operations and maintenance at the discretion of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts.

1. The monthly municipal sewer service fee is a monthly charge which shall be payable to Henderson County by all municipal service providers. The amount of this service fee, the manner in which it is calculated and other particulars in regard to said monthly municipal sewer service fees shall be set and established from time to time by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts in a fee schedule. This service fee will be used in regard to the County's sewerage systems for capital projects, emergency repairs and operations and maintenance at the discretion of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts.
2. The monthly developer sewer service fee is a monthly charge which shall be payable to Henderson County by all developer service providers. The amount of this service fee, the manner in which it is calculated and other particulars in regard to said monthly developer sewer service fee shall be set and established from time to time by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts in a fee schedule. This service fee will be used in regard to the County's sewerage systems for capital projects, emergency repairs and operations and maintenance at the discretion of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts.
3. The monthly property owners' association sewer service fee is a monthly charge which shall be payable to Henderson County by all property owners' association service providers. The amount of this service fee, the manner in which it is calculated and other particulars in regard to said monthly property owners' association sewer service fees shall be set and established from time to time by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts in a fee schedule. This service fee will be used in regard to the County's sewerage systems for capital projects, emergency repairs and operations and maintenance at the discretion of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts.
4. The monthly public utility sewer service fee is a monthly charge which shall be payable to Henderson County by all public utilities. The amount of this service fee, the manner in which it is calculated and other particulars in regard to said monthly public utility sewer service fee shall be set and established from time to time by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts in a fee schedule. This service fee will be used in regard to the County's sewerage systems for capital projects, emergency repairs and operations and maintenance at the discretion of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners sitting as the Board of Commissioners or as Directors/trustees of Henderson County's water and sewer districts.

1. Except as provided in § 94-40B, all users shall apply for a sewer permit. All applications (including those submitted pursuant to § 94-40B below) shall be submitted to the County in care of the Utilities Director and shall be accompanied by any applicable fee(s) and such other documentation as the County shall require.
2. All municipal service providers, property owners' association service providers, developer service providers and public utilities shall make application for a master sewer permit to allow connection into the County sewerage system by the service provider or public utility and shall also be required to make application for a sewer permit on behalf of each of their customers. Henderson County shall not accept any application from a customer of a municipal service provider, a property owners' association service provider, developer service provider or a public utility. The municipal service provider, property owners' association service provider, developer service provider and/or public utility must grant Henderson County, CCWSD, their staff and other agents access to the master water meter 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, for the purposes of reading the master water meter and checking the accuracy of the master water meter. Such right of access must be granted prior to the issuance of the master sewer permit.
3. Before the CCWSD will issue a master sewer permit to a developer service provider that owns, operates, and maintains or proposes to construct a private sewage collection system (serving or intended to serve the separate properties in the categories of development in § 94-8C(2)(a)) that connects or will connect to the County sewer system with a common connection, the developer service provider shall be required to furnish written documentation (acceptable to the County's Utilities Director and the Office of the County Attorney) that (a) a property owners' association has been established for the subject categories of development and each separate owner in the referenced development is legally required to be a member of said property owners' association and pay (subject to a lien enforceable by the association and by Henderson County on the owner's property in development) all assessments levied by the property owners' association, which may levy the same on its own part but must levy the same upon the demand of Henderson County for reimbursement of the costs of the monthly sewer service and other fees imposed by CCWSD or Henderson County, or for the operation, maintenance, repair and replacement of the sewage collection system; and (b) within 1 year of the date the master sewer permit is issued, the property owners' association shall become the owner of the subject sewage collection system and as such shall become a property owners' association service provider that is responsible for the operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of the said sewage collection system as well as for paying all of the monthly sewer service fees and other fees imposed by CCWSD and/or Henderson County. If the developer of the subject categories of development still owns properties therein, at the time the property owners' association becomes the owner of the sewage collection system, the developer shall be responsible for securing separate County sewer permits on behalf of each proposed new sewer customer. For any properties not owned by the developer, the property owners' association service provider shall be responsible for securing separate County sewer permits on behalf of each proposed new sewer customer.

As an alternative to the requirement, found elsewhere in this Ordinance, of installing a master water meter, the County Utilities Director may approve a different method of capturing the water usage information that is to be used to calculate the sewer bill(s). Such different method must:

1. Accurately measure the subject water usage; and
2. Provide the necessary information at minimal or no cost to CCWSD; and
3. Be readily available to CCWSD.

Encroachments are required by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for sewer lines

to be constructed on the NCDOT rights-of-way. In cases where the NCDOT will not grant an encroachment

to a private party (to construct a sewer force main in the NCDOT rights-of-way) without CCWSD signing

the encroachment as the second party, it is the policy of CCWSD to (1) require the private party to sign an

agreement to indemnify CCWSD for any expenses CCWSD incurs due to the encroachment; (2) require the

private party to sign the encroachment as the third party; and (3) after which CCWSD will sign the subject

encroachment as the second party. It is the intent hereof that the private party own the sewer force main and

bear all the expenses associated therewith. CCWSD will resolve problems identified by the NCDOT and

then recover any resulting costs from the private party.

1. CCWSD will not take ownership of wastewater pump stations/force mains constructed or proposed by others. Wastewater pump stations/force mains increase operating costs, are subject to failure causing spills which degrade the environment and result in fines, can cause major problems during storm events, require additional staff, limit sewer service to the greater community, and encourage development of marginal property rather that directing growth in areas identified by the Board of Commissioners.
2. One of goals of the Cane Creek Water and Sewer District (CCWSD) is for the District's sewer system to be expanded by developers constructing gravity sewer line extensions. If it isn't technically possible to serve a proposed project with a gravity sewer line, the developer can consider providing the sewer service via a wastewater pump station and force main. However, before the CCWSD will consider issuing a permit for a developer to construct a wastewater pump station and force main, the developer shall have to meet certain requirements, including but not limited to having a North Carolina licensed civil engineer provide the CCWSD with a letter explaining why it is not technically possible to serve the proposed property with a gravity sewer line.