Virginia Law

Article 4. Fees, Rents and Charges.

Every commission is hereby authorized and empowered to charge and collect fees, rents, or other charges for the use and services of the sewage disposal system. Such fees, rents and charges may be charged to and collected from any person contracting for the same or from the owner or lessee or tenant, or some or all of them, who use or occupy any real estate which directly or indirectly is or has been connected with the sewage disposal system, or from or on which originates or has originated sewage or industrial wastes, or either, which directly or indirectly have entered or will enter the sewage disposal system, and the owner or lessee or tenant of any such real estate shall pay such fees, rents and charges to the commission at the time when, and place where, such fees, rents and charges are due and payable.

1946, p. 353; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

Such fees, rents and charges being in the nature of use or service charges, shall as nearly as the commission shall deem practicable and equitable, be uniform throughout the district for the same type, class and amount of use or service of the sewage disposal system, and may be based or computed either on the consumption of water on or in connection with the real estate, making due allowance for commercial use of water, or on the number and kind of water outlets on or in connection with the real estate or on the number and kind of plumbing or sewage fixtures or facilities on or in connection with the real estate, or on the number or average number of persons residing or working on or otherwise connected or identified with the real estate to or on any other factors determining the type, class and amount of use or service of the sewage disposal system, or on any combination of such factors.

1946, p. 353; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

The commission shall prescribe and from time to time when necessary revise a schedule of such fees, rents and charges which shall comply with the terms of any contract of the commission with the holders of bonds of the commission made pursuant to §§ 21-269 to 21-275 and in any event shall be such that the revenues of the commission will at all times be adequate to pay all expenses of operation and maintenance of the sewage disposal system of the commission, necessary to preserve the system and to assure its operation as a going concern, including reserves, insurance, extensions, and replacements, and to pay punctually the principal of and interest on any bonds or other indebtedness of the commission and to maintain adequate reserves or sinking funds therefor. The schedule shall be so prescribed and from time to time revised by the commission after public hearing which shall be held by the commission upon such public notice as the commission may determine to be reasonable.

1946, p. 354; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

The commission shall likewise fix and determine the time or times when and the place or places where such fees, rents and charges shall be due and payable and may require that such fees, rents and charges shall be paid in advance for periods of not more than six months.

A copy of the schedules of all fees, rents and charges in effect shall at all times be kept on file at the principal office of the commission, and such schedules shall at all reasonable times be open to public inspection.

1946, p. 354; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

In the event that the fees, rents or charges charged by the commission for the use and services of the sewage disposal system by or in connection with any real estate shall not be paid as and when due, then and at that time interest shall begin to accrue thereon at the rate of one per centum per month and the owner, lessee or tenant, as the case may be of such real estate shall, until such fees, rents and charges shall be paid with such interest to the date of payment, cease to dispose of sewage or industrial waste originating from or on such real estate by discharge thereof directly or indirectly into the sewage disposal system, and if such owner, lessee or tenant shall not cease such disposal within two months thereafter it shall be the duty of each county, city, town and other public corporation, board or body supplying water to or selling water for use on, such real estate, within five days after receipt of notice of such facts from the commission, to cease supplying water to, and selling water for use on, such real estate. If such county, city, town or other public corporation, board or body shall not within such time cease supplying water to, and selling water for use on, such real estate, the commission may shut off the supply of water to such real estate and for such purpose, may enter on any lands, waters and premises of such county, city, town or other public corporation, board or body, or of any person. The water supply to or for any person, or for use on real estate of any person, shall not be shut off or stopped under the provisions of this section, if the State Health Commissioner, upon application of the local board of health or health officer of the county, city or town wherein such water is supplied or such real estate is located, shall have found and shall certify to the authorities charged with the responsibility of ceasing to supply or sell such water, or to shut off the supply of such water, that ceasing to supply or shutting off such water supply will endanger the health of such person and the health of others in such county, city or town.

1946, p. 354; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

The commission shall keep and preserve a complete register, or registers, open to public inspection, of all fees, rents and other charges which have been charged by the commission to the owners or lessees or tenants of any real estate for the use and services of the sewage disposal system and have become due and payable and have not been paid. Such register or registers shall be kept in such place or places as the commission shall determine.

1946, p. 355; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

From any action of the sanitation commission in prescribing fees, rents and charges, or either of them, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, an appeal may be taken upon the petition of any county, city or town constituting a part of the district, or upon petition of any fifty persons, resident or doing business in the district, to the State Corporation Commission. At least sixty days prior to filing such petition with the State Corporation Commission, such county, city or town or interested parties shall notify the sanitation commission of such intended petition and of the fees, rents and charges complained of, in order that the sanitation commission may be afforded an opportunity to make such changes in such fees, rents and charges as it shall deem proper. After such petition shall have been filed with the State Corporation Commission and after such county, city or town or other petitioners shall have, if required by the State Corporation Commission, executed and filed with the State Corporation Commission a bond payable to the Commonwealth and sufficient in amount, but not in excess of $500, and security to insure the prompt payment of all costs which may be assessed against such county, city or town or other petitioners and after such county, city or town or other petitioners shall have caused to be published in at least one newspaper, designated by the State Corporation Commission and of general circulation within the district, such notice of such appeal as shall be prescribed by the State Corporation Commission, the State Corporation Commission is authorized to make such examinations and studies, to hold such hearings as may be required, to issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and the production of records, memoranda, papers and other documents before the State Corporation Commission or any officer or agent thereof, to administer oaths and to take testimony thereunder, and to fix in accordance with the provisions of this chapter applicable to the sanitation commission, subject to the right of further appeal by the sanitation commission or the interested parties to the Supreme Court, such fees, rents and charges. In each such proceeding the State Corporation Commission shall ascertain the costs incurred by it, including in such costs actual expenses incurred and a fair apportionment of overhead expenses, and shall assess the same against either the petitioner or petitioners, or the sanitation commission, or shall apportion the costs between the petitioner or petitioners and the sanitation commission, according to principles applicable in courts of equity.

1946, p. 355; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii7.

The commission shall have the right to recover the amount of any fees, rents or other charges charged by the commission to the owner or lessee or tenant or contracting party, as set forth in § 21-260, for the use and services of the sewage disposal system by or in connection with such real estate and of the interest which may accrue thereon, by any action, suit or proceeding permitted by law or in equity.

1946, p. 362; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii19.

Any commission, and any county, city or town in whole or in part embraced within the district, are authorized to enter into a contract or contracts on such terms and conditions as such contract or contracts may contain, providing for the collection by such county, city or town and payment over to the commission of the fees, rents or other charges charged or to be charged by the commission to the owners or lessees or tenants of real estate within such county, city or town, or providing for the payment to the commission by such county, city or town of a sum or sums of money in lieu of all or part of the fees, rents and other charges which would otherwise be charged by the commission to the owners or lessees or tenants of real estate within such county, city or town. Such county, city or town is vested with powers to do everything necessary or proper to carry out and perform every such contract, including the same powers with respect to fees, rents and other charges as are conferred by this chapter upon a commission, and to provide for the payment or discharge of any obligation thereunder by the same means and in the same manner as any other of its obligations, except that no tax shall be levied on real estate for such obligation. The commission is authorized to reduce ratably in accordance with such contract the fees, rents and other charges which would otherwise be charged by the commission to the owners or lessees or tenants of real estate within such county, city or town, but nothing in this section or any such contract shall be construed to prevent the commission from charging to and collecting from such owners or lessees or tenants of such real estate, in the same manner as provided for such fees, rents and other charges, any deficiency in any payment agreed to be made by such county, city or town.

1946, p. 362; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560iii20.