New Owner Information

Pacific City is not an incorporated city, but rather a community that is under the legal jurisdiction of Tillamook County for land use, county road maintenance, and law enforcement. Pacific City Joint Water-Sanitary Authority (PCJWSA) does have the authority to enact ordinances and policy resolutions that regulate the use of water and sewer services within its geographic boundaries. Those ordinances and policy resolutions are enforced by Tillamook County.

Billings and Payments: We bill property owners, not tenants. We do not offer reduced rates for vacations or absentee owners. Water meters are read between the 18th and the 22nd of each month. During this time, we expect your water meter to be free of encumbrances - i.e. sand, rocks, debris, vehicles and landscaping. If we have to remove encumbrances to read your meter, it will be at your expense. Billings are sent during the last week of each month and are due and payable on the 10th of the month following the billing. You may pre-pay your bill as far ahead as you wish. We accept credit card payments, have an auto-pay system and you may also pay online at www.PCJWSA.com.

Water consumption, as shown on your billing, is measured in cubic feet. To calculate how many gallons you have used, multiply the cubic feet by 7.48. If your consumption is less than 400 cubic feet, the water portion of your bill will be $21.45. Our rate sheet will tell you how to figure the cost of consumption over 400 cubic feet. Unless you have a commercial account, sewer service is billed at a flat rate of $25.35. Also included on your bill are water and sewer capital improvement charges (CIC) water at $8.50 per month and sewer at $2.00 per month, and streetlight electricity, which is currently $0.59 per month. Your bill will be no less than $57.89 per month.

If you are a commercial metered account, your sewer user fees may be higher. The flat rate of $25.35 for sewer is based on a maximum consumption of 399 cubic feet of water used during the billing period. For commercial accounts there is an additional charge of $2.27 for every 100 cubic feet of water used over 399.

Delinquent Accounts: If your account becomes delinquent, we will first send you a warning notice of impending service termination unless your balance is paid by the date indicated on the notice. If you do not respond by that date, your service will be locked and a $100.00 service lockoff fee added to your account balance. In order to have your service restored, you will then be required to pay the entire balance. We charge 18% per annum for past due balances. Our fee for returned checks due to insufficient funds, stop payment, closed account, etc. is $20.00 per returned check. If you have financial difficulties and are unable to pay your entire bill, call our office for short-term options.

Other Information: If PCJWSA’s scheduled maintenance activities, such as line flushing, threaten to interrupt your water service for an extended period, our policy has been to inform you, either by a message in the lower left-hand corner of your monthly water/sewer bill or a hand-delivered notice to your residence. However, a waterline break would constitute an emergency, and our priority is to get the water shut off and repairs made to the waterline as soon as possible, so it isn’t likely we would have time to deliver a notice to your door. If your water has been off due to a waterline break or waterline flushing, once water is restored open your taps and let the water run until clear before consuming.

The water meter that serves your property belongs to PCJWSA. We repair and replace the meter as required. It is not there for use as your personal shutoff valve. If you use it and break it, you will be billed for its repair and any measures PCJWSA must take to ensure contamination of the water system has not occurred because of your actions. We recommend you install a shutoff valve near your structure’s foundation so that you can turn your water off and on as needed. If you do not have a personal shutoff valve and you need to have the water shut off, please call our office at 965-6636 or 965-6547 and someone will be dispatched to turn your meter off. If the callout is during our working hours and at our convenience, there is no charge, but if it is outside our working hours, we charge $25.00 per callout. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, excepting scheduled holidays.

If your meter is shut off at your request, you will continue to receive monthly billings, unless you opt for an ‘Indefinite Lockoff,’ whereby we turn your meter off, place a padlock on it and stop billing until you send us a written notice to unlock it. The procedure is to submit a signed request telling us when to lock the meter and include the fee of $200.00 plus your account balance.

Recreational Vehicles: If you have a travel trailer, motor home or other mobile dwelling unit, you are prohibited by PCJWSA and Tillamook County from connecting the unit(s) to your existing water and sewer services. If you plan to provide sewer and water stub-outs for an RV or accessory structure, you must first obtain a construction/placement permit from Tillamook County Community Development, which is located in the basement of the courthouse at 201 Laurel Avenue in Tillamook, Oregon. You will also be required to submit permit applications to PCJWSA for water and sewer services, plus connection fees. Violations for unlawful connections to water and sewer systems may carry fines of no less than $250.00 (two hundred fifty dollars) per day.

Accessory Structures: If you plan to build an accessory structure on your property that includes a dwelling unit, in addition to obtaining a building permit from Tillamook County, you will be required to obtain water and sewer permits from PCJWSA and pay additional water and sewer connection fees and user fees. A dwelling unit is a structure that includes any 3 of the following:

• Dishwashing machine
• Sink intended for meal preparation (wet bars exempt)
• Garbage disposal
• Toilet
• Refrigeration
• Cooking facilities

Backflow Prevention Assembly The Oregon State Health Division and Uniform Plumbing Code both require property owners to install backflow prevention assemblies on their waterlines if their dwellings or accessory structures use the water service for other than usual living needs. Examples of unusual uses would be the use of underground sprinklers or a recirculating heating system using under-floor waterlines. For more examples of unusual uses, ask for our Cross Connection Control Survey.