(1) (a) The urban district, as provided in section
32-11-217 (1)(e) and elsewhere in this article, may fix, modify, and collect, or cause
to be collected, service charges for direct or indirect connection with, or the use or
services of, the facilities of the district, including without limitation minimum
charges and charges for the availability of the facilities or services relating thereto.
(b) Such service charges may be charged to and collected in advance or
otherwise by the district at any time or from time to time from any person owning
real property within the district or from any occupant of such property which
directly or indirectly is, has been, or will be connected with the drainage and flood
control system of the district or from which or on which originates or has originated
rainfall, other surface and subsurface drainage, and storm and flood waters (or any
combination thereof) which have entered or may enter such system, and such
owner or occupant of any such real property shall be liable for and shall pay such
service charges to the district at the time when and place where such service
charges are due and payable.
(c) Such service charges of the district may accrue from any date on which
the board reasonably estimates, in any resolution authorizing the issuance of any
securities or other instrument pertaining thereto or in any contract with any person,
that the facilities comprising the system or any project being acquired or improved
and equipped will be available for service or use.
(2) (a) Such service charges, as nearly as the district deems practicable and
equitable, shall be reasonable, and shall be uniform throughout the district for the
same type, class, and amount of use or service of the district's system, and may be
based or computed on measurements of drainage flow devices duly provided and
maintained by the district or by any user as approved by the district, or on the
consumption of water in or on or in connection with the real property, making due
allowance for commercial and other use of water discharged into any sanitary
sewer system and for any infiltration of groundwater and discharge of surface
runoff into such sewer system, or on the capacity of the capital improvements in or
on or connected with the real property, or upon the availability of service or
readiness to serve by the district's system, or on any other factors determining the
type, class, and amount of use or service of the district's system, or on any
combination of such factors. The district may give weight to the characteristics of
any real property, including without limitation the characteristics of capital
improvements, both proposed and existing, in any subdivision or other area in the
urban district, and any other special matter affecting the runoff of rainfall, of other
surface and subsurface drainage, and of storm and flood waters (or any
combination thereof) from such real property directly or indirectly into the district's
facilities.
(b) Reasonable penalties may be fixed for any delinquencies, including
without limitation interest on delinquent service charges from any date due at a
rate of not exceeding one percent per month, or fraction thereof, reasonable
attorneys' fees, and other costs of collection.
(3) The district may prescribe and from time to time when necessary revise a
schedule of such service charges, which shall comply with the terms of any
contract of the district, and in any event shall be such that the revenues from the
service charges of the district will at all times be adequate, except to the extent
that the proceeds of any taxes or other moneys are available and used, after an
allowance is made for delinquencies accrued and reasonably estimated to accrue
by the board in the payment of such service charges, whether resulting from any
delinquency of any person or from any other cause:
(a) To pay all operation and maintenance expenses;
(b) To pay punctually the principal of and interest on any securities payable
from revenues of the district's facilities and issued or to be issued by the district;
(c) To maintain such reserves or sinking funds therefor; and
(d) To pay any expenses incidental to the facilities of the district or any
project authorized in this article, any contingencies, acquisitions, improvements,
and equipment, and any other cost, as may be required by the terms of any contract
of, or as may be deemed necessary or desirable by, the district.
(4) Such schedule shall thus be prescribed and from time to time revised by
the district. A public hearing thereon may be, but is not required to be, held by the
district at least seven days after such published notice is given, as the district may
determine to be reasonable. The district shall fix and determine the time or times
when and the place or places where such service charges shall be due and payable
and may require that the service charges shall be paid in advance for a period of not
more than one year. A copy of such schedule of service charges in effect shall at all
times be kept on file at the principal office of the district and shall at all reasonable
times be open to public inspection.
(5) The general assembly has determined and hereby declares that the
obligations arising from time to time of any person to pay service charges fixed in
connection with the district's facilities shall constitute general obligations of the
public body or other person charged with their payment; but as such obligations
accrue for current services and benefits from and use of such facilities, the
obligations shall not constitute an indebtedness of the public body within the
meaning of any constitutional, charter, or statutory limitation, or other provision
restricting the incurrence of any debt.
(6) No board, agency, bureau, commission, or official other than the board of
the district has authority to fix, prescribe, levy, modify, supervise, or regulate the
making of service charges, nor to prescribe, supervise, or regulate the performance
of services pertaining to the district's facilities, as authorized in this article; but this
subsection (6) is not a limitation on the contracting powers of the district acting by
and through its board.