Title 5, Municipal Corporations

Any person who has a contract, agreement, license or permission, oral or written, with or from any municipality or the commissioners of public works thereof or other body charged with the duties of commissioners of public works in municipalities which have no such commissioners f…

Any person who has no contract, agreement, license or permission with or from any municipality or the commissioners of public works thereof or other body charged with the duties of commissioners of public works in municipalities which have no such commissioners, for the use of wa…

It shall not be lawful for any person to extend service pipes attached to the mains and water supply on any premises within or without a municipality without first obtaining permission therefor in writing from the municipality or the commissioners of public works or other body ch…

Any person violating any provision of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Should the city or town council of any city or town in this State which owns its electric light plant and water system, either or both, at any time receive an offer for such electric light plant or water system, the council may order a special election in such city or town for th…

Prior to the ordering of such election, such city or town council may take from the proposed purchaser such security as it may deem sufficient for the performance of the offer of purchase in the event of its acceptance.

In the event such election be ordered, six weeks' notice thereof shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in such city or town once each week for six weeks preceding the date of such election. Such notice shall contain in substance the terms of the offe…

The city or town council shall conduct the election, appoint managers therefor and canvass and declare the result thereof in the manner provided by law in reference to general elections in such city or town. All qualified electors of such city or town shall be entitled to vote in…

In the event the result of the election is in favor of the acceptance of the offer so submitted to the people, the city or town council of such city or town shall accept such offer and complete the sale by the conveyance to the purchaser of the property purchased, executing and d…

In connection with such sale, such city or town council may make and enter into an agreement with the purchaser for the operation of the property so purchased and the furnishing to the people of the city or town of electric current or water or both, as the case may be, and may fi…

In connection with such sale such city or town council may grant to the purchaser an exclusive or nonexclusive franchise for furnishing electric current or water, or both, to such city or town and the inhabitants thereof. But no such exclusive franchise shall affect any existing …

Upon the written request of any property owner requesting the city or town to extend to him water and sewer service and agreeing to pay the cost thereof the city or town may provide such service and levy an assessment against the property of the owner so requesting such service f…

Any city or town may extend its system to any property beyond the city limits provided that both the water and sewer systems are extended to such property.

Any incorporated city or town of this State may provide by ordinance for the payment of the costs of extending its water and sewer system to any property owner as herein provided.

Such assessments shall be entered in a book kept by the city or town clerk, to be entitled "water and sewer assessment liens," stating the names of the owners, the location of the property, the amount of the assessment and the time or times of payment.

When such water and sewer system is extended to property beyond the city limits the assessments shall be entered in an assessment book in the office of the clerk of the court for the county in which such city is located which shall be furnished by the city.

The assessments so laid shall constitute a lien upon the property so assessed which shall be superior to all other liens except the liens for county, State and city taxes and payment thereof may be enforced as the payment of city or town taxes is enforced. Such lien shall continu…

Upon default in the payment of any installment or deferred portion of any assessment, at the time and in accordance with the terms and conditions fixed by ordinance, the total amount of such assessment then unpaid, including deferred installments or payments and interest, shall i…

It shall by ordinance be made the duty of the city or town clerk to make entry of satisfaction on such water and sewer assessment liens book as soon as full payment is made, and the lien shall be thereby extinguished.

The amounts of money raised by such assessments shall constitute and be kept as a separate fund, to be used for the purpose for which it was raised.

The city or town council of any such city or town may issue certificates of indebtedness showing the amounts of money due to such city or town by property owners as deferred payments or installments upon such assessments and may sell any such certificates of indebtedness or borro…

Any municipal corporation in this State having a population of between three thousand and four thousand based upon the latest United States census is hereby authorized and empowered, through action of its town council, to extend its water or sewer disposal facilities, any one or …

Any municipality, as provided in SECTION 5-31-1710, may provide by ordinance for the payment of the costs of extending its water or sewer system, any one or both, to any property owner by assessments as herein provided.

Assessments shall be entered in an assessment book, to be entitled "water and sewer assessment liens for the town of __________," and shall state the names of the owners, the location of the property, the amount of the assessment and the time or times of payment, and such assessm…

The assessments so laid shall constitute a lien upon the property so assessed which shall be superior to all other liens except the liens for county and State taxes, and payment may be enforced as the payment of city or town taxes is enforced. Such lien shall continue from the da…

Upon default in the payment of any installment or deferred portion of any assessment, at the time and in accordance with the terms and conditions fixed by ordinance, the total amount of such assessment then unpaid, including deferred installments or payments and interest, shall i…

The municipality shall require the town clerk to make entry of satisfaction on the water and sewer assessment liens book as soon as full payment is made, and the lien shall be thereby extinguished, and the municipality shall adopt a suitable ordinance to require this duty of the …

The amounts of money raised by such assessments shall constitute and be kept as a separate fund, to be used for the purpose for which the money was raised.

The town council of any municipality as provided in this article may issue certificates of indebtedness showing the amounts of money due to such municipality by property owners as deferred payments or installments upon such assessments and may sell any such certificates of indebt…

Any city or town in this State owning a water or light plant may, through the proper officials of such city or town, enter into a contract with any person without the corporate limits of such city or town but contiguous thereto to furnish such person electric current or water fro…

The limitation of two years imposed by SECTION 5-31-1910 shall not apply to cities having a population of over seventy thousand according to the 1940 United States census, and such cities may enter into a contract as set forth in said section with persons, other cities, towns, pu…

The limitations imposed by SECTION 5-31-1910 shall not apply to cities having a population of over fifty thousand and not more than sixty thousand as shown by United States Government census of 1950. Such cities may contract as set forth in said section with persons or other citi…

No person shall turn, remove, raise or in any manner tamper with any cover of any manhole, filter, bed or other appurtenance of any public sewer without a written permit from the proper authorities of such works and no person except those engaged by the proper authorities shall e…

The General Assembly takes note of the fact that incorporated cities and towns (municipalities) throughout the State have in many instances experienced considerable growth with the result that sewage collection and treatment facilities must be extended and enlarged in order to se…

For all purposes of this article: (a) The term "municipality" shall mean any incorporated city or town now or hereafter existing; (b) The term "council" shall mean the governing body of any municipality as now or hereafter constituted; (c) The term "water distribution agency" sha…

Each council is empowered by ordinance duly adopted: (1) To place into effect and revise whenever it so wishes or may be required a schedule of sewer service and sewer connection charges for the use of and connection to any sewage disposal system which it may operate. Prior to th…

If the notice or notices prescribed by paragraph (1) of SECTION 5-31-2030 shall have been given and any hearing requested pursuant thereto shall have been held, all sewer service charges imposed by the council following that procedure under authority of this article and not paid …

At any election for bonds held to meet the costs of acquiring property of the character referred to in SECTION 5-31-610 the elector shall vote for three citizens of the city or town whose terms of office shall be respectively two, four and six years and until the general election…

In a city with a population of more than thirty thousand persons and fewer than fifty thousand persons, according to the most recent official United States Census, in addition to the commissioners of public works to be elected as provided in Section 5-31-210, the mayor and the ch…

In cities of fifty thousand inhabitants or more, in addition to the three commissioners of public works to be elected as provided in SECTION 5-31-210, the mayor and the chairman of the committee on water supply, if there be such a committee, shall be ex officio commissioners of p…

The following cities and towns shall have no board of commissioners of public works: Abbeville, Allendale, Barnwell, Beaufort, Belton, Bennettsville, Blackville, Bluffton, Bowman, Branchville, Camden, Central, Chapin, Cheraw, Cherry Grove Beach, Chesnee, Chester, Clemson, Clinton…

For the purposes of this article, "political subdivision" means a municipality, county, or special purpose district which operates a sewer system authorized by law.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a political subdivision by resolution or ordinance duly adopted may provide for the expenditure of funds collected by way of front-foot assessments or per-parcel assessments for sewer improvements in accordance with this article.

In the event that a political subdivision, pursuant to special or general act, has collected funds by way of front-foot assessments or per-parcel assessments to defray the cost of construction of sewer collection lines, these funds may be applied by the political subdivision to t…

Before the expenditure of funds in accordance with this article, the political subdivision first shall find by resolution or ordinance that the conditions set forth in Section 5-31-2330 are satisfied. The political subdivision also shall set forth in its resolution or ordinance a…

(A) If the commissioners of public works unanimously, by resolution, petition the municipal council to abolish the commission, the municipal council may, after a public hearing, adopt an ordinance abolishing the commission of public works. (B) The municipal council of any municip…