CHAPTER 9

An Act to amend and reenact § 4-a of Chap 309 of the Acts of Assembly
of 1920, approved March 19, 1920, which chapter provided a charter
for the city of Bristol, the ‘section conferring power on the city of
Bristol to require connection with the sewerage system and to ampose
and collect fees, rents and charges for water and sewer services

Approved February 7, 1952

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section four-a of Chapter three hundred nine of the Acts of
Assembly of nineteen hundred twenty, approved March nineteen, nineteen
hundred twenty, be amended and reenacted as follows:

. § 4-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph twelve of sec-
tion four of this act, the city shall have power to require the owner, tenant
or occupant of each lot or parcel of land which contains a sanitary sewer
owned by the city or which abuts upon a street or other public way which
contains such sanitary sewer and upon which lot or parcel of land a
building exists for residential, commercial or industrial use, to connect
such building with such sanitary sewer and to cease to use any other
means for the disposal of sewage, sewage waste or other polluting matters,
and to fix, charge, and collect rates, fees, rents or other charges for water,
for the use and services of the sewage disposal system and for other
public utilities or services, products, or conveniences, operated, rendered
or furnished by this city. Such fees, rents or other charges for water
and for the use and services of the sewage disposal system may be charged
and collected from the owner or lessee or tenant, or some or all of them,
who or which owns, uses or occupies any real estate which directly or
indirectly is or has been connected with the water system and/or 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 to the city such fees, rents and
charges at the time and place where the same are due and payable.

Such fees, rents and charges for water and for use and services of
the sewage disposal system, being in the nature of uSe or service charges,
shall, as nearly as the city council shall deem practicable and equitable,
be uniform for the same type, class and amount of water used and/or 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 allowances for the 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 average number
of persons residing or working on or otherwise connected or identified
with the real estate, or on any other factors determining the type, class
and amount of water used and/or the type, class and amount of use or
service of the sewage disposal system, or on any combination of such
factors, or on such other basis or bases as the city council may determine.
Such fees, rents and charges shall be due and payable at such time or
times as the city council may determine. The revenue derived from any
or all such fees, rents and charges for furnishing water is hereby declared
to be revenue of the city water system and the revenue derived from any
or all such fees, rents and charges for the use and services of the sewage
disposal system is hereby declared to be revenue of the sewage disposal
system.

The city council shall have the right and power to combine charges
for water and sewer service in one statement and to bill the beneficiary
of such services therefor in such manner as to require the payment of
both charges as a unit and to enforce the payment of such charges by
discontinuing either the water service or the sewer service, or both. In
the event the fees, rents or charges charged for furnishing water and/or
for the use and services of the sewage disposal system by or in connection
with any real estate shall not be paid when due, a penalty of ten per centum
shall at that time* be added thereto, and the owner, lessee or tenant, as
the case may be, of such real estate shall until such fees, rents and charges
for the same be paid * together with such penalty, cease to use water
and/or 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 have
paid such fees, rents and charges together with such penalty within ten
days after the same shall have become due, the city or person or corpora-
tion supplying the water for the use of such real estate shall cease supply-
ing water thereto. When the water for the use of such real estate has
been shut off as above provided, it shall not be turned on again unless and
until the delinquent charges together with the penalty as aforesaid and
a reasonable service charge, to be fixed by the city council, for shutting
it off and turning it on again, have been paid.

such fees, rents and charges and penalty thereon may be recovered
by the city of Bristol, by action at law or suit in equity.

The city council may designate the city treasurer as the collector and
custodian of all fees, rents and charges payable and paid to the city for
public utilities, or other services, products, or conveniences operated,
rendered or furnished by the city as set forth in this section; or the city
council may designate some other person or persons as such collector or
collectors and custodian or custodians, provided that any person or persons
so designated and appointed shall keep a correct account of all such
receipts and expenditures therefrom and shall take the oath of office and
give bond as required by sections fifty-seven and fifty-eight of this charter.
2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.