Hallsville Water Rates ordinance (§ 705.320)

A. Rates. The minimum user charge per billing cycle shall be twenty dollars ($20.00) for the first thousand (1,000) gallons. In addition, each customer shall pay a user rate charge of thirteen dollars and twenty-five cents ($13.25) per one thousand (1,000) gallons of water after the first one thousand (1,000) gallons.

B. Methods Of Calculating Said Rates.

1. The user charge system shall generate adequate annual revenues to pay the cost of annual operation and maintenance, including replacement, and cost associated with debt retirement of bonded capital associated with financing the water system, which the City may by ordinance designate to be paid by the user charge system. That portion of the total user charge which is

designated for operation and maintenance, including replacement of the water system, shall be established by this Article.

2. That portion of the total user charge collected which is designated for the operation and maintenance, including replacement purposes as established in this Section, shall be deposited in a separate non-lapsing fund known as the "Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Fund," and will be kept in two (2) primary accounts as follows:

a. An account designated for the specific purpose of defraying operation and maintenance costs, excluding replacement of the treatment works (Operation and Maintenance Account).

b. The Depreciation and Replacement Account shall be an account designated for the purpose of ensuring replacement needs over the useful life of the water system. Deposits in the Depreciation and Replacement Account shall be made with a minimum annually in the amount of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00) with a maximum of sixty thousand dollars ($60,000.00).

c. Debt Service Fund. There shall be a debt service fund that will be kept in two (2) separate accounts, to be known as "Principal Debt Service" and "Interest Debt Service." Their amounts will set per Schedule A, part of 2000 G.O. Bond, on file in the City offices. This is also combined with the G.O. Bond of personal property tax assessed per the State Revolving Funds Series 2000A terms of certificate. Monies shall be applied on the dates, in the amounts and order as follows in the Bond document, Article VI.

3. Fiscal year-end balances in the Operation and Maintenance Account and the Replacement Account shall be carried over to the same accounts in each subsequent fiscal year and shall be used for no other purposes than those designated for these accounts. Monies which have been transferred from other sources to meet temporary shortages in the Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Fund shall be returned to their respective accounts upon appropriate adjustment of the user charge rates for operation, maintenance and replacement. The user charge rate(s) shall be adjusted such that the transferred monies will be returned to their respective accounts within the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the monies were borrowed.

4. The City shall review the user charge system annually and revise user charge rates as necessary to ensure that the system generates adequate revenues to pay the costs of operation and maintenance, including replacement, and that the system continues to provide for the proportional distribution of operation and maintenance, including replacement costs among users and user classes in accordance with Schedule A of Part 1 of the 2000 G.O. Bond on file in the City offices.

5. The City will notify each user at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate being charged for operation and maintenance, including replacement of the treatment works.