N.Y. County Law § 266: Water rates, water quality treatment, sewage, wastewater disposal and refuse collection charges and revenues

§ 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.