Sec. 18.1-79. When bills to be paid; overdue accounts.

(a) Sewer service charges shall be due upon receipt of the statement rendered by the county and shall be considered delinquent thirty (30) days following the billing date. A late charge of ten percent (10%) of the amount due or ten dollars ($10.00), whichever is greater, shall be added to all service charges when they are first considered delinquent. Interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum shall be charged on the aggregate of the payment and penalty due beginning with the date the penalty is applied. If any bill shall not be paid within forty-five (45) days of the billing date, the water supply to the premises shall be discontinued as provided for in section 18.1-82 of this chapter.

(b) In lieu of discontinuing water service as provided for in paragraph (a) of this section, the county administrator may enter into agreements by which the owners of the premises for which bills for service are unpaid may be allowed to pay the amount owed including the penalty and interest owed in installment payments, such agreements to contain such other reasonable terms and conditions as may be necessary to ensure payment, and to be approved as to form by the county attorney. Such agreements shall provide that late payment of any installment payment or a failure to pay current amounts due shall result in immediate discontinuance of the water supply to the premises.

(c) Any unpaid sewer connection fee or any installment thereof, or any unpaid service charge, together with any penalty and interest, shall become a lien superior to the interest of any owner, lessee, or tenant, and next in succession to county taxes on the real estate benefited by any such facilities. Such lien may be discharged by payment to the county of the total amount of such lien, together with penalty and interest accrued thereon to the date of payment. If any such charges remain unpaid for a period of sixty (60) days from the billing date, the county administrator shall within thirty (30) days certify such charges as being unpaid to the clerk of the circuit court who shall docket the same in the appropriate lien books of the circuit court.