(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.
Such service charges may be charged to and collected in advance or otherwise by thedistrict 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.
Such service charges of the district may accrue from any date on which the boardreasonably 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:
To pay all operation and maintenance expenses;
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;
To maintain such reserves or sinking funds therefor; and
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.
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.
The general assembly has determined and hereby declares that the obligations arisingfrom 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.
No board, agency, bureau, commission, or official other than the board of the districthas 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.
Source: L. 69: p. 758, § 31. C.R.S. 1963: § 89-21-31.