§ 266. Water rates, water quality treatment, sewage, wastewater
disposal and refuse collection charges and revenues. 1. Subject to
confirmation by the board of supervisors, the administrative head or
body: (a) may establish, from time to time, wholesale and retail rate
schedules for water sold to, or a scale of charges for the collection,
conveyance, treatment and disposal of sewage, wastewater or refuse from,
public corporations, improvement districts, commercial and industrial
users and individuals to be determined on any equitable basis including
but not limited to a system of classification which, for purposes of
establishing differential rates, charges or rentals, may allocate among
areas within the district designated by the administrative head or body,
the costs of establishment of the district, the furnishing of
improvements therein and operation and maintenance of district
facilities or any combination thereof; or (b) may impose sewer rents as
provided by the general municipal law. Before any such schedules are
finally established, the administrative head or body shall hold at least
one public hearing thereon. Appeals may be taken from any rate fixing
determination of the administrative head or body to the board of
supervisors. The board of supervisors shall prescribe the manner of
holding such hearings and of taking appeals. The administrative head or
body shall also adopt rules and regulations, subject to approval of the
board of supervisors, prescribing the terms and conditions under which
service will be given to consumers, including the manner of paying bills
for service, penalties for non-payment, discounts, deposits and other
related matters. No water shall be sold to persons situated within a
city, village, water district, water supply district or fire district in
which there is a water distribution system operated by the municipality
or district without the consent of such municipality or district. No
sewage, wastewater, water quality treatment or refuse collection service
shall be furnished to individual properties situated within a city,
village or district which operates a sewer, wastewater disposal, water
quality treatment or refuse system furnishing a similar service as the
county district without the consent of such city, village or district.
If the county water, water quality treatment, sewer, wastewater
disposal, drainage or refuse district has a supply of water or
facilities and capacity in excess of its own needs, the administrative
head or body may sell such excess water to, or contract for the use of
such facilities by, municipalities, district or persons outside the
county district. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections two hundred
seventy, two hundred seventy-one and two hundred seventy-four, revenues
derived from water rates, water quality treatment charges, sewer rents
and sewage, wastewater and refuse collection charges shall be applied
toward the maintenance and operation of the water, water quality
treatment, sewer, wastewater or refuse collection system and for the
payment of debt service, to the extent such revenues are available.

2. The county treasurer, or comparable officer or body, shall collect
and receive all rates, rentals, charges and other revenue of the
district and keep a true account of all such receipts. Unpaid charges
and rents shall be a lien upon the real property upon which or in
connection with which services were provided as and from the first day
fixed for payment of such charges and rents.

3. (a) An agreement between the water quality treatment district,
acting through its administrative head, and an owner of a benefited
parcel of property shall be entered into before the procurement,
installation and maintenance of a water quality treatment unit or
device. An agreement between such parties shall also be required for the
modification and/or maintenance of a water quality treatment unit or
device which is in place at the time when the property becomes a part of
the district, however, the modification and/or unit or device must first
be approved by the state department of health. Such agreements may be
amended from time to time by mutual consent of the district, acting
through its administrative head, and the owner of a benefited parcel of
property. The agreement shall set forth the amount to be paid by the
owner attributable to the expense of procurement, installation and
modification, as the case may be, of the water quality treatment unit or
device, and shall contain a statement that the ownership of the
treatment units or devices purchased by the district shall remain the
property of the district and that charges for monitoring, testing,
operation and maintenance shall be determined annually as provided in
section two hundred seventy-one of this chapter. All of the expenses for
the procurement and installation or modification may be paid at the time
an agreement is entered into.

(b) The water quality treatment district, acting through its
administrative head, subject to the approval of the board of
supervisors, may authorize payment of the expenses of procurement,
installation or modification of the water quality treatment unit or
device over a period of time in annual installments. Such authorization
shall set forth whether the annual installments shall be due and payable
at the same time as town and county taxes are due or at another time.
The option of paying such expenses in annual installments, if provided
by authorization of the water quality treatment district, shall be
available to each property owner in the district. If such annual
installments shall be due at the same time as town and county taxes, the
water quality treatment district, acting through its administrative
head, shall transmit the amount of the annual installments to the county
treasurer, or comparable officer or body for the levy and collection and
enforcement of the same in the manner and at the same time as town and
county taxes are levied, collected and enforced.

(c) Where the annual installments are to be paid at any other time,
the authorization shall set forth the time and manner of payment and
collection. Such authorization may be amended from time to time. If any
portion or an installment for the procurement, installation and
modification of such unit or device is not paid within thirty days of
when it is due, the district, acting through its administrative head,
shall notify the owner of the property that unless such amount is paid
within ten days from the date of the notice, such unit or device may be
removed at the expense of the property owner. If the owner fails to pay
such amount by such date, the district, acting through its
administrative head, may cause such unit or device to be removed. After
such removal, the district, acting through its administrative head,
shall send the owner a statement of the amount due, together with the
amount of expense attributable to removal of such unit or device, and
the total amount thereof shall be a lien upon such real property and
collection thereof shall be enforced at the same time and in the manner
as the collection of town and county taxes are enforced with interest as
provided herein. If the unit or device is not so removed, the collection
of the amount set forth in the first notice of delinquency shall be
enforced at the same time and in the manner as the collection of town
and county taxes are enforced. The total amount set forth in such first
notice, together with interest thereon shall be a lien upon such real
property until it is paid. Interest shall be charged at the rate of one
percent per month or fraction thereof, subsequent to the expiration of
the ten days notice, until paid or the date of tax sale, whichever is
sooner.

(d) The agreement shall also contain a grant by the owner to the water
quality treatment district, its agents, employees and representatives
authorized to act on its behalf, a right of entry and access to the
property, while such property is within such district, for the purposes
of installation, modification, replacement, repair, monitoring, testing,
operation and maintenance, regeneration and removal of the water quality
treatment unit or device. Thereafter employees, agents and authorized
representatives of the district shall have a right of entry and access
to such property for the purposes specified herein, upon reasonable
notice at reasonable times. If a lessee or occupant of said property
refuses to allow such entry and access, the water quality treatment
district may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce its
right of entry and access. If entry and access was refused by the owner
of the property, the water quality treatment district may in its
discretion remove the water quality treatment unit or device at the
expense of the owner, unless such unit or device was acquired and owned
by the property owner and exclude the property from the district. Such
expense together with any other charges accrued prior to such removal
shall be collected in the manner provided in paragraph (c) of
subdivision three-a of section two hundred sixty-six of this chapter.

4. The county treasurer, or comparable officer or body, shall prepare,
and transmit to the board of supervisors, on or before the first day of
December in each year a list of those residents or property owners
within the county who are in arrears in the payment of charges and rents
for a period of thirty days or more after the last day fixed for payment
of such charges and rents without penalty. The list shall contain a
brief description of the properties for which the services were
provided, the names of the persons or corporations liable to pay for the
same and the amount chargeable to each, including penalties and interest
computed to December thirty-first. The board of supervisors shall levy
such sums against the properties liable and shall state the amount
thereof in a separate column in the annual tax rolls of the various
municipalities under the name of "county water charges," "county water
quality treatment charges," "county sewer rents," "county sewer
charges," "county wastewater disposal charges," or "county refuse
collection charges". Such amounts, when collected by the several
municipal collectors or receivers of taxes, shall be paid over to the
county treasurer, or comparable officer or body. All of the provisions
of the tax laws of the state of New York covering the enforcement and
collection of unpaid taxes or assessments for special improvements not
inconsistent herewith shall apply to the collection of such unpaid
charges and rents. Such amounts, when received by the county treasurer,
or comparable officer or body, shall be credited to the applicable
county district fund and shall be used only for such county district
purposes.