A. Payment Of Fee Required: Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this chapter, any person, firm, partnership, corporation or association or property owner who has not otherwise paid for, or contributed proportionately toward, the costs and expenses of constructing a sewer line, whether that construction has been performed by the city, a local improvement district or a private entity, or combination thereof, and who subsequently desires to connect to the city sewer system, shall be required to pay a sewer equivalency fee. In determining who has or has not paid, or contributed proportionately, toward the costs and expenses of constructing a sewer line, the sole factor shall be whether that user, or a predecessor in title of the user's property, has in fact, paid consideration to the city in cash, services or in-kind, for the construction of the sewer trunk line to which he now desires to connect, which consideration is commensurate with what the user, or his predecessor in title, would have paid under this section had the user not paid or contributed previously to the cost of construction of the sewer line.
B. Fee Set By City Council: The sewer equivalency fee for each parcel of ground connected to a trunk sewer line shall be established and set by the city council, which shall consider the use to which the property will be put, the expected flows, the amount of capacity of the trunk line that will be used by the proposed use, and the type of effluent. The council also shall take into consideration the amount of land that might be able to be serviced by the trunk sewer line, whether the land be directly adjacent to the trunk line or not, and also shall take into consideration the cost of the engineering and construction of the trunk line, in current dollars, and shall consider the interest that could have been earned on the money used to pay for the original sewer line. The sewer equivalency fee may be different for residential, commercial, and industrial users and may be different for differing users within those three (3) classifications depending upon the considerations referenced above but shall be as consistent as possible under similar factual circumstances. The sewer equivalency fee shall be assessed in terms of single-family equivalent connections. (Ord. 2122, 5-6-2014)