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1. How do I pay my sewer tax bill?

After completion of the sewer district, a tax bill will be issued to cover the cost of the sewer project. At that time each property owner will be sent a letter stating the exact amount of their tax bill. You have 2 options to pay for your sewer tax bill.

• The first option is to pay the tax bill in full within 30 days of the issuance of the tax bill with no interest being charged.
• The second option is to take advantage of the city's installment plan. With this plan your payments are spread out over a 15-year period, with the first payment being due one year after the issuance of the tax bill. One-fifteenth of the assessment, along with the interest on the unpaid balance, is due annually. On the annual payment date, additional payments can be made to the principal balance. At any time during the 15-year period the balance can be paid in full. This payoff would also include the interest to the payoff date (very similar to a home loan). Tax bill interest rates are generally less than most home loans.

Springfield also has a sanitary sewer lateral loan program to assist in the cost of connecting houses / businesses to the sewer system. The cost to connect the building service to the public sewer is a separate cost to the property owner. The lateral loan program allows for loans up to $1,500 to be repaid over 120 months at an interest rate of 6% per annum.

Financial assistance is also available from community development funds for applicants meeting income guidelines for both the sewer district tax bills and the building lateral connection. This program can help with up to 100% of these costs. Call Marti Fewell at 417-864-1039 for information on this program.

2. How do you initiate the construction of public sewers?

Requests for public sewers are typically initiated by a property owner or owners from a neighborhood with concerns about the working order of their septic systems. This typically occurs when septic systems are showing signs of failing (surfacing sewage) or are not working properly.

Failing septic systems can cause health hazards, not only to the property owner but also to the entire neighborhood. Requests for public sewers are referred to the city council as required by the city charter.

3. How is my monthly sewer bill calculated?

There is both a customer charge and a volume charge for your monthly sewer bill. The monthly sewer bill for residential service is calculated by adding the customer charge to your monthly volume charge per 100 cubic feet (CCF) which is based upon your average water usage during the months of January, February, and March.

For example, the average monthly residential water usage (volume) is 6 CCF. The monthly sewer bill calculation from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 is a $17.21 customer charge plus the volume charge ($1.68 volume charge per CCF times 6 CCF), totaling $27.29 per month.

This monthly sewer use charge is collected to fund the maintenance and operation costs of the system.

Please call (417) 864-1924 if you have any questions concerning your monthly sewer bill.

4. What actions are taken for sewer districts?

The city charter requires city council to act on a district sewer at least 4 times from the time it is initiated through completion. The various actions are:

• Acceptance of the lowest responsible bid
• Authorize the issuance of tax bills
• Establish district or joint district boundaries
• Resolution of necessity

5. What are the advantages of public sewers?

Public sewers are recommended and often required by both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for the collection and transport of wastewater to a permitted treatment facility. This is especially important for urban density developments because public sewers greatly reduce the potential for health hazards and contamination of our ground water supply.

Septic systems, at best, are temporary substitutes for public sewers. The geology of the Ozarks is generally considered unacceptable for individual treatment systems. Because of our karst topography, septic systems can and do fail often without our knowledge.

Unfortunately, our karst topography also can often provide a direct connection from septic system leach fields to our ground water. To minimize this impact to our ground water, both the City of Springfield and Greene County have adopted regulations that require a minimum size tract of 3 acres for individual treatment systems.

6. What determines the cost per property for public sewers?

The property owner cost is equal to the district cost divided by the district square footage, multiplied by the property owner square footage.

Property Owner Cost = (District Cost / District Square Footage) * Property Owner Square Footage

In 1999, city council implemented an assistance program to cap the property owners' costs for constructing the public sewers at $8,300 (which includes a $300 facility charge) per single family residential tract for all those opting to use the assistance program. No matter what size individual tract you own or what extra ordinary costs may be involved in your sewer district, this assistance program can be used to cap your tax bill at a maximum of $8,300. This does not include the cost to connect your home / business to the public sewer.

7. Where are the sewer lines located?

Some of the sewer lines are built within the street parkway and some are built within easements. If shrubs, trees, flowers, etc. are within the road right-of-way or sewer easement area, it is the property owners' responsibility to relocate them if they want to preserve or transplant them to another location.

8. Who is responsible for the construction clean up?

The contractor is responsible for all clean up, reseeding of the disturbed areas, and for returning the parkways and easements to as near as practical to the original condition.