Section 5.  Fees, Payments, Account Collection , Refunds and Adjustments

 

A.            Certification fees.  Fees for the certification of seed potatoes are as listed below.

 

          1.      $50.00 per acre for acres to be certified as Nuclear and G1, and

2.             $41.00 per acre for acres to be certified as G2, G3 and G4, payment of which must be attached to the application form.

3.             $200 per greenhouse for greenhouse production to be certified as pre-nuclear and nuclear.

4.             All certification fees will be paid in full at the time of application for certification (June 10, 2007).

5.             Any application submitted after June 10, 2007, will include a $25.00 late fee.

          6.       Growers will be assessed a special travel fee to seed fields and storage facilities that are located outside an established seed producing county, and/or for reinspections at the request of the grower, and/or for inspections rescheduled due to unavailability of a grower or a grower’s agent at the time of a regularly scheduled inspection.

 

B.      Testing and Miscellaneous Fees.  Growers will be assessed fees to cover the full costs of laboratory testing of seed potatoes and miscellaneous services, including the following:

 

1.       a virus-testing fee;

2.       a bacterial ring rot confirmation test fee;

3.       a universal disease test fee; 

4.             a post-harvest fee and 

5.             a tissue culture material price, for the purchase of TC plantlets and TC microtubers

6.             fees for any other inspection, testing, or purchase from MSU; and

7.             a base cost of $20 per line or per variety will be added to the purchase of tissue culture plantlet or microtuber.

C.      Payments

 

1.       All testing and miscellaneous fees are to be paid within 60 days of the date of billing, unless otherwise specified in these rules.  The due date for all standard invoices is 60 days from the date of billing.

 

2.             All invoices not paid within 60 days from the date of billing will be considered delinquent and accrue interest at the rate of 1% per month (10% per annum) retroactive to the date of billing.

 

3.       The seed certification program will not accept an application for certification from any grower who has not paid his account in full at the time of application. The application will be returned to the grower until the grower pays all accounts in full.

 

4.       Payments shall be mailed to the Seed Potato Certification Program, MSU-Bozeman, PO Box 172060, Bozeman, Montana 59717-2060.  Checks are to be payable to Montana State University.  No cash will be accepted.

 

 

 

D.      Past Due or Delinquent Accounts

1.       Any grower having an amount more than 30 days past due on his/her account will relinquish his/her rights to further certification and other Potato Lab services until all past due amounts are paid.  Such action could result in loss of certification, and/or cancellation of special services and/or tissue culture services.

 

2.       No certified seed tags will be issued to any grower who has an amount on his/her account that is 30 days or more past due.

 

E.      Required Deposit for Certain Growers

 

1.       MSU may require any first-time grower, any grower who has been inactive for a period of time, or any grower with a poor payment record to deposit an estimated payment for services prior to that service being rendered. 

 

2.       Refusal to make such a required deposit will make that grower ineligible for certification services.

 

F.      New Grower Fee

 

To help recover the costs of the research and development which has built the Montana Seed Potato Program to what it is today, new growers, for the first two years of production, will be assessed the following surcharges:

 

1.       5% added to acreage [operations] fees,

2.       100% per test for disease testing and

3.       100% per tissue culture plantlet/microtuber.

 

G.      Collection of Past Due/Delinquent Accounts.

 

1.             Accounts that become 90 days or more past due may be turned over to the MSU Business Office for collection.  The MSU Business Office may impose additional collection fees, including attorney fees and court costs if necessary to collect an account.

 

2.       The MSU Business Office may turn a past due account over to a private collection agency, who may impose additional fees for services necessary to collect an account.

 

H.      Fee exemption.  All enrolled 4-H members and FFA students growing five acres or less of seed potatoes as a project who are within an established seed producing county are exempt from paying certification and testing fees.

 

I.        Refunds and adjustments.

 

1.       If an application is rejected or withdrawn before the first field inspection, the acreage fee will be refunded.

 

2.       If a seed lot or application for certification is rejected or withdrawn at the first field inspection, one-half of the acreage fee will be refunded.

3.       If a seed lot or application for certification is rejected or withdrawn after passing the first inspection, no fees will be refunded.

 

4.       The Seed Potato Certification Program will provide an amount not to exceed $50,000 for adjustments to the fees of growers with low yields.  Any grower whose total yield is less than 170 cwt per acre because of natural conditions will be eligible for the adjustment.   Growers whose yields fall below 170 cwt per acre because they sell a portion of their yield to the commercial market are not eligible for the adjustment.  Eligible growers will receive a credit of $10/acre which will be applied toward the certification fees for the following growing year; however, if the total requests for adjustments exceed $50,000, each eligible grower’s adjustment will be reduced proportionately.  Eligible growers must apply for adjustment no later than November 30^th of the crop year and will receive the credit in the following crop year, following verification of yields.