Sec. 26.1. (a) Owners of property connected or to be connected to and served by the sewage works authorized under this chapter may file a written petition objecting to the rates and charges of the sewage works so long as:

(1) the petition contains the names and addresses of the petitioners;

(2) the petitioners attended the public hearing provided under section 26 of this chapter;

(3) the written petition is filed with the municipal legislative body within five (5) days after the ordinance establishing the rates and charges is adopted under section 26 of this chapter;

(4) the written petition states specifically the ground or grounds of objection; and

(5) the petitioners have not filed a petition with the commission under IC 8-1.5-3-8.3 appealing the same rates and charges of the utility.

(b) Unless the objecting petition is abandoned, the municipal clerk shall file in the office of the clerk of the circuit or superior court of the county a copy of the rate ordinance or ordinances together with the petition. The court shall then set the matter for hearing at the earliest date possible, which must be within twenty (20) days after the filing of the petition with the court. The court shall send notice of the hearing by certified mail to the municipality and to the first signer of the petition at the address shown on the petition. All interested parties shall appear in the court without further notice, and the municipality may not conduct any further proceedings concerning the rates and charges until the matters presented by the petition have been heard and determined by the court.

(c) At the discretion and upon direction of the court, the petitioners shall file with the petition a bond in the sum and with the security fixed by the court. The bond must be conditioned on the petitioners' payment of all or part of the costs of the hearing and any damages awarded to the municipality if the petition is denied, as ordered by the court.

(d) Upon the date fixed in the notice, the court shall, without a jury, hear the evidence produced. The court may confirm the decision of the municipal legislative body or sustain the objecting petition. The order of the court is final and conclusive upon all parties to the proceeding and parties who might have appeared at the hearing, subject only to the right of direct appeal. All questions that were presented or might have been presented are considered to have been adjudicated by the order of the court, and no collateral attack upon the decision of the municipal legislative body or order of the court is permitted.

(e) If the court sustains the petition, or if it is sustained on appeal, the municipal legislative body shall set the rates and charges in accordance with the decision of the court.

As added by P.L.77-1991, SEC.5. Amended by P.L.139-2012, SEC.6.