A. Fees for garbage and rubbish collection shall be billed and paid periodically as determined by the City. Any fee which is not paid in full on the thirty first day after billing is delinquent, except that fees which are billed semiannually shall be deemed delinquent on December 11th and April 11th. A penalty of ten percent shall be assessed on any delinquent amount. Delinquent amounts greater than one year delinquent shall accrue interest at the rate of one and one-half percent per month. Service on unpaid accounts may be reduced or discontinued thirty days after mailing notice of delinquency.

B. The City may elect to bill for garbage and rubbish collection service as a special assessment on the property taxes and charges collected by the county with property taxes. The City may also elect to bill individual persons or businesses for service provided directly to those persons or businesses; however, because the provision by the City of garbage collection service is necessary for the public health and a benefit to the public, and necessary to prevent the creation of public nuisances, any amounts billed to persons or businesses are an obligation of both the user of the property who generates the garbage and the owner of the property who benefits from its use by others, and therefore also payable by, and debts of, the owner of the property.

C. The City may employ any method provided by state law for collection of service fees, delinquent amounts, penalties and interest, and all remedies shall be cumulative.

D. No refunds will be made for decreases in service during the billing period in which the decrease occurred.

E. The City may require payment of a deposit in the amount three times the monthly service charge for any City garbage collection service ordered in any case where the owner of the affected property is not ordering the service or the City is legally unable to impose a lien on the property in the event the service charges are not paid by the person or business ordering the service. Such deposits may be credited by the City against an account after one year for residential accounts and two years for non-residential accounts, if there have been no delinquencies during the applicable period. In the event an account is closed while the City has custody of a deposit, the City shall credit the amount of the deposit against the closing bill and refund any amount remaining. (Ord. 6393-NS § 1, 1997: Ord. 6369-NS § 1 (part), 1997: Ord. 6340-NS § 1 (part), 1996: Ord. 6319-NS § 2 (part), 1996)