Chap. 351.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 7, 17 and 19 of Chapter 335
of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1938, approved March 31, 1938, and
known, designated and cited as the ‘‘Sanitation Districts Law of 1938”, said
sections relating to fees, rents and charges, and to the rights, powers and duties
of Sanitation Commissions, and to certain powers and duties of the State
Corporation Commission relating thereto, and to add to the said act a new
section numbered 4-a, providing for the withdrawal under certain conditions, of
counties and cities from certain sanitation districts, and prescribing in such
event the rights, powers and duties of such counties and cities, of boards of
supervisors, councils and other governing bodies thereof, of certain courts, and
of the sanitation commissions of such districts. [fH B 148]

Approved March 30, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
sections seven, seventeen and nineteen of chapter three hundred and
thirty-five of the Acts of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred
and thirty-eight, approved March thirty-first, nineteen hundred and
thirty-eight, and known, designated and cited as the ‘Sanitation
Districts Law of Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-eight’, be amended
and re-enacted, and that the said act be further amended by adding
thereto a new section numbered four-a, so that the said amended
sections and the said new section shall read as follows:

Section 4-a. Withdrawals from district.—(a) Any county or city in
whole or in part embraced within a district either heretofore or here-
after created by or pursuant to any special act of the General Assem-
bly may, by resolution adopted by its governing body and filed with
the commission within six months after the creation of the district,
give notice of its intention to consider withdrawing from the district.
If such notice be given in the manner aforesaid then no election on
the question of the issuance of bonds of the commission shall be held
until at least one year after the creation of the district. If after the
giving of such notice and within one year after the creation of the
district such county or city shall have taken all proceedings and per-
formed all acts necessary for the authorization of the construction,
financing and operation by or for it of a separate sewage disposal
system, sufficient in the opinion of the State Health Commissioner to
prevent the pollution of any of the tidal waters of the district from
industrial wastes and sewage arising in or discharged from the said
county or city, then such county or city shall be entitled to withdraw
from the district and shall thereafter cease to be a part of the said
district for all purposes of this act. The governing body of any county
or city proposing to avail itself of the provisions of this section shall,
within one year after the creation of the district, furnish to the com-
mission satisfactory proof showing that it has theretofore taken all
proceedings necessary and performed all acts necessary to enable it to
construct, finance and operate such proposed separate sewage disposal
system; in the event that the commission shall not agree with the
governing body of such county or city upon the sufficiency of such
proceedings and acts and proof thereof, such governing body may
within thirty days petition any circuit or corporation court having
jurisdiction in such county or city which shall thereupon be au-
thorized to hear and determine whether or not such county or city
has complied with the applicable provisions of this section and en-
titled itself to withdraw from the district.

(b) Any county or city which elects to construct and operate
therefor a separate sewage disposal system in accordance with the
provisions of this section and the governing body thereof, for the
purpose of constructing, financing and operating such sewage disposal
system, shall be vested with all the rights and powers and charged
with all the duties otherwise vested in and imposed upon the com-
mission with reference to such county or city, including the power to
issue its bonds, construct and operate the sewage disposal system, and
fix, charge and collect fees, rents and charges for the use of such
sewage disposal system; but this transfer and vesting of rights, powers
and duties shall be no longer operative if such county or city shall not
entitle itself to withdraw from the district within one year after the
creation of the district. The foregoing provisions of this sub-section
shall be deemed to confer additional rights and powers upon any such
county or city affected, and shall in no wise deprive any such county
or city of any rights and powers otherwise vested in and conferred
upon such county or city by general law or charter provisions.

(c) No election upon the question of the issuance of bonds of the
commission shall be held within the first six months after the creation
of the district. In the event no notice of intention to consider with-
drawing from the district, in accordance with the foregoing provisions
of this section, is filed with the commission within six months after the
creation of the district, then no county or city therein may thereafter
avail itself of the provisions of this section to withdraw from such
district.

(d) Any county or city which elects to construct and operate
therein a separate sewage disposal system in accordance with the
foregoing provisions of this section shall within three years from the
creation of the district construct and provide and have in operation
in such county or city a sewage disposal system sufficient in the
opinion of the State Health Commissioner to prevent the pollution of
any and all tidal waters of the district and any and all tidal waters
within the county or city from industrial wastes and sewage arising in
or discharged from the said county or city; and the commission is
authorized and empowered to proceed by appropriate court action to
require the said county or city and the governing body thereof to
provide therein such required sewage disposal system. From and
after the expiration of three years after the creation of the district,
no such county or city nor any public body or person therein shall
discharge or suffer to be discharged directly or indirectly into any
tidal waters of the district or tidal waters in such county or city any
sewage, industrial wastes or other refuse which may or will cause or
contribute to pollution of any of such tidal waters; this provision
shall be enforceable in the manner provided for by section twenty-
two of this act.

(e) If any city shall withdraw from the district pursuant to the
foregoing provisions of this section, such city if requested by the
commission or the governing body of any county or town adjacent to
such city shall provide by its sewage disposal system for the treatment
and disposal of sewage and industrial wastes arising in or discharged
from such county or town upon such sewage and industrial wastes
being delivered to such city, and shall agree with the commission or
such county or town to treat and dispose of such sewage and wastes
so delivered at the cost of such treatment and disposal, provided the
commission or the county or town affected shall pay to the city the
cost of installing any additional sewer main or mains necessitated
thereby within such city; if the parties do not agree upon such costs,
such costs shall be determined upon petition to the State Corporation
Commission which is hereby authorized and directed to make such
determination.

(f) In the event that the members of the commission shall not
be appointed within two months after the creation of the district then
the date of the first appointment of such members shall be deemed to
be the date of the creation of such district for all the purposes of this
section.
(g) If any member of a commission shall, through removal from
the district or through any withdrawal or exclusion of any part or
parts of any district, cease to reside within the district he shall there-
upon be disqualified for holding office as a member of the commission,
and the vacancy thus created shall be filled as otherwise provided.

Section 7. Fees, rents and other charges.—(a) 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 sys-
tem. 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 uses or occupies 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.

(b) 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 re-
siding or working on or otherwise connected or identified with the
real estate 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.

(c) 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 section eight of
this act and in any event shall be such that the revenues of the com-
mission 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 said system and to assure its operation as a
going concern, including reserves, insurance, extensions, and replace-
ments, 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. Said 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.
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.

(d) Inthe event that the fees, rents or charges charged by the com-
mission 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 dis-
posal within two months thereafter, it shall be the duty of each
county, city, town and other public corporation, board or body sup-
plying 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
sub-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 re-
sponsibility 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.

(e) 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.

(f) From any action of the Sanitation Commission in prescribing
fees, rents and charges, or either of them, pursuant to the provisions
of this act, an appeal may be taken upon the petition of any county
or city constituting a part of the district, or upon petition of any fifty
persons, resident or doing business in the district, to the State Corpora-
tion Commission. At least sixty days prior to filing such petition with
the State Corporation Commission, such county, city or interested
parties shall notify the Sanitation Commission of such intended peti-
tion 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 or city 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 five
hundred dollars, and security to insure the prompt payment of all
costs which may be assessed against such county or city or other
petitioners, and after such county or city or other petitioners shall
have caused to be published in at least one newspaper, designated
by the 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 act applicable to the
Sanitation Commission, subject to the right of further appeal by the
Sanitation Commission or the said interested parties to the Supreme
Court of Appeals, such fees, rents and charges. In each such pro-
ceeding 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 Com-
mission, or shall apportion the costs between the petitioner or peti-
tioners and the Sanitation Commission, according to principles appli-
cable in courts of equity.

Section 17. Accounts and records.—Every commission shall keep
and preserve complete and accurate accounts and records of all moneys
received and disbursed by it and of all of its business and operations
and of all property and funds owned or managed by it or under its
control, and shall prepare and transmit to the Governor and to the
governing body of each city, county and town which is in whole or in
part embraced within the district, annually and at such other times
as the Governor shall require, complete and accurate reports as to the
state and content of such accounts and records, together with such
information with respect thereto as the Governor may require.

Section 19. Collection of service charges.—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 Section seven of this act, 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.