48-2027. Fees, rentals and service charges; reserve fund; investments; lien

A. The board of directors of a sanitary district may charge and collect fees, including the fees listed in subsection G of this section, and sewer rentals and service charges for any service performed or property furnished by the district.

B. The board of directors may charge and collect fees and service charges for any plan reviews, site evaluations, construction inspections, monitoring inspections, follow-up inspections and any other service performed by the department of environmental quality if the sanitary district and the department of environmental quality have entered into an intergovernmental agreement pursuant to title 11, chapter 7, article 3 in which the department of environmental quality has agreed to provide any of such services in the sanitary district, except that:

1. Such fees and service charges shall not exceed the actual cost of performing such services.

2. State agencies are exempt from paying such fees and service charges.

3. Fees shall not be charged or collected by both the department of environmental quality and a sanitary district for the same service.

C. Revenue collected under subsections A and B of this section shall be paid into the county treasury to be credited first to the bond fund of the district to be used in the payment of principal and interest on the bonds if the proceedings relative to the issuance of the bonds provide for a pledge of such revenues or if the district has budgeted all or a portion of such revenues to the payment of the bonds in the certificate submitted to the board of supervisors pursuant to section 48-2025, subsection C and, second, to the operating fund of the district.

D. The proceedings relative to the issuance of any bonds may provide for a pledge of all or any part of the revenues of the district derived from any source other than taxes levied pursuant to section 48-2025 as additional security and source of payment of all or any specific issue of the district's bonds. The pledge shall be supplemental to and not in lieu of the liability of all taxable real property for the payment of the bonds. The pledge may be secured by an assignment of all or a part of such revenues to a bank doing business in this state. The treasurer may be instructed by the board of directors of the district to make monthly, semiannual or annual payments to such bank to provide for payment of the bonds and coupons as the same shall mature. When revenues are assigned to a bank for payment, such bank may be named as a paying agent on the bonds and coupons so secured in lieu of the county treasurer, and in that event, the county treasurer shall remit any taxes collected pursuant to section 48-2025 to such paying agent in time for prompt payment of maturing bonds and coupons.

E. The proceedings for the issuance of bonds may provide for a reserve fund in a sum found by the board of directors of the district to be sufficient to secure payment of maturing principal and interest in the event of a deficiency. The reserve fund may be funded from either bond proceeds or revenues available for that purpose in any fiscal year after provision has been made for payment of principal and interest and operating costs. The district may covenant to maintain the reserve fund throughout the life of any bonds. Whenever the annual revenues are insufficient to meet maturing principal or interest or sinking fund payments in any fiscal year, the reserve fund shall be exhausted prior to the making of an emergency levy.

F. Upon direction of the board of directors of the district, monies held in any fund may be invested by the county treasurer or the bank acting as assignee under any pledge in any securities or obligations qualifying as investments for state monies under section 35-324.

G. Fees which the district may charge pursuant to this section include:

1. User fees, which are proportional shares of the cost of the operation, maintenance and replacement of the wastewater collection, treatment and effluent disposal system.

2. Hookup fees for connection to the district sewer system, not including the cost of the actual physical connection.

3. A lateral fee, which is a fee for the cost of constructing a sewer lateral from the property line of the user to the middle of the easement or right-of-way in which the sewer is located.

4. A capacity fee based on the cost of developing the sewage collection, treatment and effluent disposal facilities required to treat the flow of sewage which enters the sewage system from a particular sewer connection.

5. An availability fee, which is a charge levied against all property in the district which is not connected to the sewer system but which lies adjacent to a sewer line for the benefit to that particular parcel of property of having the sewer line and capacity in the treatment works and effluent disposal facilities to accommodate the development of the property. The availability fee shall be no more than fifty per cent of the user fee.

6. A late fee if the payment of any fee prescribed by this section is delinquent for more than fifteen days.

H. All fees shall be initially determined and annually reviewed by the board of directors following a public hearing at which all interested persons may appear and be heard on any matter relating to the amount of the fees or the method of determining the fees. Not less than twenty or more than thirty days before the public hearing the board of directors shall publish a notice of the time and place of the hearing and a statement of the rates to be considered or reviewed. Any person wishing to object to the establishment or continuation of the rates, before the date set for the hearing, may file the objection with the chairman of the board of directors.

I. A sanitary district may file a lien on property for the nonpayment of user fees for services provided to the property if the payment of the fees is delinquent for more than ninety days.

J. Before filing the lien, the sanitary district shall provide written notice to the owner of the property. The notice shall be given at least thirty days before filing the lien and shall include an opportunity for a hearing with a designated sanitary district official. The notice shall be either personally served or mailed to the property owner, at the last known address by certified mail, or to the address to which the tax bill for the property was last mailed. If the owner does not reside on the property, the notice shall be sent to the last known address.

K. The unpaid user fees, from the date of recording in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the property is located, are a lien on the property until the fees are paid. The lien is subject and inferior to the lien for general taxes and to all prior recorded mortgages and encumbrances of record. A sale of the property to satisfy a lien obtained under this section shall be made on judgment of foreclosure and order of sale. A sanitary district may bring an action to enforce the lien in the superior court in the county in which the property is located at any time after the recording, but failure to enforce the lien by this action does not affect its validity. The recorded unpaid user fees are prima facie evidence of the truth of all matters recited in the recording and of the regularity of all proceedings before the recording.

L. Unpaid user fees including any late fees assessed pursuant to this section accrue interest at the rate prescribed by section 44-1201.

M. A prior assessment of unpaid user fees for the purposes provided in this section does not bar a subsequent assessment for these purposes and any number of liens on the same lot or tract of land may be enforced in the same action.

N. The sanitary district shall determine the status of leased residential property before filing a lien pursuant to subsection I of this section and a lien may not be filed if both of the following apply:

1. The lessee of the leased residential property has agreed in writing to be responsible for those fees.

2. The owner of the leased residential property has recorded a copy of the written agreement of the lessee's responsibility for payment of the user fees pursuant to this section. The copy of the written agreement shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the residential property is located.