266. Water rates, water quality treatment, sewage, wastewater disposal and refuse collection charges and revenues. 1. Subject to confirmation by the board of supervisors, the administrative head or body: (a) may establish, from time to time, wholesale and retail rate schedules for water sold to, or a scale of charges for the collection, conveyance, treatment and disposal of sewage, wastewater or refuse from, public corporations, improvement districts, commercial and industrial users and individuals to be determined on any equitable basis including but not limited to a system of classification which, for purposes of establishing differential rates, charges or rentals, may allocate among areas within the district designated by the administrative head or body, the costs of establishment of the district, the furnishing of improvements therein and operation and maintenance of district facilities or any combination thereof; or (b) may impose sewer rents as provided by the general municipal law. Before any such schedules are finally established, the administrative head or body shall hold at least one public hearing thereon. Appeals may be taken from any rate fixing determination of the administrative head or body to the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors shall prescribe the manner of holding such hearings and of taking appeals. The administrative head or body shall also adopt rules and regulations, subject to approval of the board of supervisors, prescribing the terms and conditions under which service will be given to consumers, including the manner of paying bills for service, penalties for non-payment, discounts, deposits and other related matters. No water shall be sold to persons situated within a city, village, water district, water supply district or fire district in which there is a water distribution system operated by the municipality or district without the consent of such municipality or district. No sewage, wastewater, water quality treatment or refuse collection service shall be furnished to individual properties situated within a city, village or district which operates a sewer, wastewater disposal, water quality treatment or refuse system furnishing a similar service as the county district without the consent of such city, village or district. If the county water, water quality treatment, sewer, wastewater disposal, drainage or refuse district has a supply of water or facilities and capacity in excess of its own needs, the administrative head or body may sell such excess water to, or contract for the use of such facilities by, municipalities, district or persons outside the county district. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections two hundred seventy, two hundred seventy-one and two hundred seventy-four, revenues derived from water rates, water quality treatment charges, sewer rents and sewage, wastewater and refuse collection charges shall be applied toward the maintenance and operation of the water, water quality treatment, sewer, wastewater or refuse collection system and for the payment of debt service, to the extent such revenues are available.
2. The county treasurer, or comparable officer or body, shall collect and receive all rates, rentals, charges and other revenue of the district and keep a true account of all such receipts. Unpaid charges and rents shall be a lien upon the real property upon which or in connection with which services were provided as and from the first day fixed for payment of such charges and rents.
3. (a) An agreement between the water quality treatment district, acting through its administrative head, and an owner of a benefited parcel of property shall be entered into before the procurement, installation and maintenance of a water quality treatment unit or device. An agreement between such parties shall also be required for the modification and/or maintenance of a water quality treatment unit or device which is in place at the time when the property becomes a part of the district, however, the modification and/or unit or device must first be approved by the state department of health. Such agreements may be amended from time to time by mutual consent of the district, acting through its administrative head, and the owner of a benefited parcel of property. The agreement shall set forth the amount to be paid by the owner attributable to the expense of procurement, installation and modification, as the case may be, of the water quality treatment unit or device, and shall contain a statement that the ownership of the treatment units or devices purchased by the district shall remain the property of the district and that charges for monitoring, testing, operation and maintenance shall be determined annually as provided in section two hundred seventy-one of this chapter. All of the expenses for the procurement and installation or modification may be paid at the time an agreement is entered into.
(b) The water quality treatment district, acting through its administrative head, subject to the approval of the board of supervisors, may authorize payment of the expenses of procurement, installation or modification of the water quality treatment unit or device over a period of time in annual installments. Such authorization shall set forth whether the annual installments shall be due and payable at the same time as town and county taxes are due or at another time. The option of paying such expenses in annual installments, if provided by authorization of the water quality treatment district, shall be available to each property owner in the district. If such annual installments shall be due at the same time as town and county taxes, the water quality treatment district, acting through its administrative head, shall transmit the amount of the annual installments to the county treasurer, or comparable officer or body for the levy and collection and enforcement of the same in the manner and at the same time as town and county taxes are levied, collected and enforced.
(c) Where the annual installments are to be paid at any other time, the authorization shall set forth the time and manner of payment and collection. Such authorization may be amended from time to time. If any portion or an installment for the procurement, installation and modification of such unit or device is not paid within thirty days of when it is due, the district, acting through its administrative head, shall notify the owner of the property that unless such amount is paid within ten days from the date of the notice, such unit or device may be removed at the expense of the property owner. If the owner fails to pay such amount by such date, the district, acting through its administrative head, may cause such unit or device to be removed. After such removal, the district, acting through its administrative head, shall send the owner a statement of the amount due, together with the amount of expense attributable to removal of such unit or device, and the total amount thereof shall be a lien upon such real property and collection thereof shall be enforced at the same time and in the manner as the collection of town and county taxes are enforced with interest as provided herein. If the unit or device is not so removed, the collection of the amount set forth in the first notice of delinquency shall be enforced at the same time and in the manner as the collection of town and county taxes are enforced. The total amount set forth in such first notice, together with interest thereon shall be a lien upon such real property until it is paid. Interest shall be charged at the rate of one percent per month or fraction thereof, subsequent to the expiration of the ten days notice, until paid or the date of tax sale, whichever is sooner.
(d) The agreement shall also contain a grant by the owner to the water quality treatment district, its agents, employees and representatives authorized to act on its behalf, a right of entry and access to the property, while such property is within such district, for the purposes of installation, modification, replacement, repair, monitoring, testing, operation and maintenance, regeneration and removal of the water quality treatment unit or device. Thereafter employees, agents and authorized representatives of the district shall have a right of entry and access to such property for the purposes specified herein, upon reasonable notice at reasonable times. If a lessee or occupant of said property refuses to allow such entry and access, the water quality treatment district may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce its right of entry and access. If entry and access was refused by the owner of the property, the water quality treatment district may in its discretion remove the water quality treatment unit or device at the expense of the owner, unless such unit or device was acquired and owned by the property owner and exclude the property from the district. Such expense together with any other charges accrued prior to such removal shall be collected in the manner provided in paragraph (c) of subdivision three-a of section two hundred sixty-six of this chapter.
4. The county treasurer, or comparable officer or body, shall prepare, and transmit to the board of supervisors, on or before the first day of December in each year a list of those residents or property owners within the county who are in arrears in the payment of charges and rents for a period of thirty days or more after the last day fixed for payment of such charges and rents without penalty. The list shall contain a brief description of the properties for which the services were provided, the names of the persons or corporations liable to pay for the same and the amount chargeable to each, including penalties and interest computed to December thirty-first. The board of supervisors shall levy such sums against the properties liable and shall state the amount thereof in a separate column in the annual tax rolls of the various municipalities under the name of "county water charges," "county water quality treatment charges," "county sewer rents," "county sewer charges," "county wastewater disposal charges," or "county refuse collection charges". Such amounts, when collected by the several municipal collectors or receivers of taxes, shall be paid over to the county treasurer, or comparable officer or body. All of the provisions of the tax laws of the state of New York covering the enforcement and collection of unpaid taxes or assessments for special improvements not inconsistent herewith shall apply to the collection of such unpaid charges and rents. Such amounts, when received by the county treasurer, or comparable officer or body, shall be credited to the applicable county district fund and shall be used only for such county district purposes.
Last modified: February 3, 2019