§13-404. Sewer Bills and Assessments.
(1) When sewers are constructed in any street, the owners
of the abutting properties shall be assessed for the construction of the
sewer.
[45] (a) The assessment shall be
at the rate of $9.00 for each foot of ground fronting on the
street.
[46] (b) No additional
assessment shall be made against a property upon which a residence, maintained
solely as such, has been erected, having a front on more than one street, where
an assessment has been previously made for, or a lawful connection has been made
to, a sewer laid along one of the
fronts.
[47] (.1) Before a connection
may be made to a sewer laid along the remaining front or fronts, the owner
thereof shall pay a service charge equal to the assessment charge, established
under Section (c) hereof and subject to the multiple frontage allowance therein
provided in effect at the time the sewer was
constructed.
[48] (.2) Where a sewer
is simultaneously laid on more than one front of a property upon which a
residence, maintained solely as such, has been erected, an assessment shall be
made for one front only. If the frontages are unequal, the assessment shall be
made for the shorter or shortest frontage. In the event that the first
connection is made to a long front, there shall be charged for each additional
connection to any remaining front or fronts a service charge equal to the full
assessment charge for that long front in effect at the time the sewer was
constructed, except that the multiple frontage allowance provided in Section (c)
shall be applicable to such service
charge.
[49] (.3) The foregoing shall
only apply to the laying of sewer pipe completed after the enactment date
hereof.
(c) Allowances for all other multiple frontage lots shall be
made as follows:
(.1) An allowance shall be made of two-thirds the
length of one of the fronts, but the allowance shall not exceed 75 feet on any
lot;
(.2) The allowance shall be made on the street having the longer
frontage; in case both fronts are equal the allowance shall be made on the side
where the sewer is constructed last;
(.3) Where a full block has not
been subdivided, the frontage of the lot for computing the allowance shall be
taken as one-half the length of the
block;
[50] (.4) Where the lot has not
received an allowance on the side where a sewer has been previously constructed,
an allowance shall be made on the remaining side, but more than one allowance
shall not be made on any lot.
(d) No assessment for the construction of
sewers shall be made against places of religious worship, non-profit places of
burial, institutions of purely public charity, alleys, driveways, street
intersections, or other properties exempt by statute or
ordinance.
[51] (2) When property has
been assessed for the construction of a sewer the property shall not be assessed
for subsequent laying of sewer pipe in the same
street.
[52] (3) Upon completion of any
sewer, the Water Department shall:
(a) provide for the prompt
computation of the amount of each assessment in accordance with the provisions
of this Section, including all items of regulation and
measurement;
(b) assess such amounts against the properties abutting on
the street in which the work was done, in the name of the registered owners;
and
(c) prepare assessment bills.
(4) The Water Department
shall endorse each assessment bill so as to indicate that the work has been
completed in accordance with the provisions of the
contract.
[53] (5) When the assessment
bills are retained for collection by the City, a copy of the assessment bill
shall be served by the Water Department upon the registered owner of each
property. If the registered owner cannot be found the bill may be left upon the
premises. These assessment bills shall contain a notice that if the bill is not
paid within 30 days from service, it will be forwarded to the Law Department for
lien and collection.
[54] (6) The
Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia shall be required to pay the
assessment bill made against any residential property in an urban renewal area
where the Redevelopment Authority of the City determines the improvement is a
general benefit to the urban renewal area as defined by Title I of the United
States Housing Act of 1949, as
amended.
[55]