A city may, pursuant to the notice, protest, and hearing procedures in Section 53753, fix an annual sewer service standby or immediate availability charge to be applied on an area or frontage or parcel basis, or a combination thereof, within the city to be charged to such areas to which sewer service is made available for any purpose by the city, whether the sewer service is actually used or not. If the procedures set forth in this section as it read at the time a standby charge was established were followed, the city council may, by resolution, continue the charge pursuant to this section in successive years at the same rate. If new, increased, or extended assessments are proposed, the city council shall comply with the notice, protest, and hearing procedures in Section 53753. The city may establish schedules varying such charge according to the land uses and the degree of availability or quantity of use of such sewer service to the affected lands, and may restrict such charge to lands lying within one or more zones or areas of benefits established within such city.

The city may collect the standby or availability charge by billing the charged lands on a fiscal year basis or by other means available.

The city may collect the standby or availability charge as a part of the annual general county tax bill provided the city furnishes in writing to the board of supervisors and to the county auditor the description of each parcel for which a charge is to be billed together with the amount of the charge applicable to each parcel in sufficient time to meet the schedule established by the county for inclusion of such items on the county general tax bill. The parcel description may be the parcel number assigned by the county assessor to the parcel. In such case, the standby or availability charge shall become a lien against the parcel of land to which it is charged in the same manner as the county general taxes. Penalties may be collected for late payment of the standby or availability charge or the amount thereof unpaid in the manner and at the same rates as that applicable for late payment or the amount thereof unpaid of county general taxes.

If the city collects standby charges through the county general tax bill, the amount of the standby charge and any applicable penalty shall be stated on the tax bill separately from all other taxes, if practicable.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 27, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2008.)