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STORMWATER UTILITY
(A) A stormwater utility fee is hereby imposed upon each lot and parcel within the City for services and facilities provided by the Stormwater Management Utility. For purposes of imposing the stormwater utility fee, all lots and parcels will have the appropriate fee determined based upon impervious area.
(B) The Director is directed to prepare a list of lots and parcels within the City and assign a classification of residential, non-residential or undeveloped to each lot or parcel.
(1) The City Commission, upon recommendation of the Director, shall, by resolution, establish or amend the average square footage of impervious area of the ERU and shall, by resolution, establish or amend a reasonable rate for each ERU.
(2) The fee imposed for residential properties shall be the rate for one ERU multiplied by a factor, to be established by a resolution of the City Commission upon recommendation of the Director, which represents the average amount of impervious surface for the particular type of residential use, and divided by the impervious area of one ERU.
Fee = ERU rate X impervious factor
ERU (in acres)
ERU (in acres)
(3) The fee imposed for non-residential properties as defined herein shall be the rate for one ERU, to be established by resolution of the City Commission multiplied by the numerical factor obtained by dividing the total impervious area of a non-residential property by the ERU.
(ERU rate) x (impervious area)
(ERU impervious area)
(ERU impervious area)
(4) The fee imposed for undeveloped properties as defined herein shall be the rate for one ERU multiplied by a factor and then divided by the square footage for one ERU. Said rate and factor shall be established by resolution of the City Commission.
(5) The Director shall be responsible for determining the impervious area based on data supplied by the County Property Appraiser, or by the property owner, tenant, or developer if such information is unavailable. The Director may require additional information as necessary to make the determination. The billing amount shall be updated by the Director based on any additions or deletions to the impervious area as approved through the building permit process.
(6) The minimum fee for any non-residential parcel shall be equal to the rate for one ERU and shall be established by resolution of the City Commission.
(7) The fee imposed to unoccupied developed lots and residential and non-residential parcels shall be the rate for one ERU multiplied by the numerical factor obtained by dividing the total impervious area measured by the ERU and said fee shall be established by resolution of the City Commission.
(Ord. O-93-52, passed 10-20-93; Am. Ord. O-2019-19, passed 9-18-19)
(A) Bills or statements for the stormwater utility fee shall be rendered monthly in accordance with the regular utility billing cycle by the utility billing division of the city for all properties subject to the fee. Bills shall be payable at the same time and in the same manner and subject to the same penalties as set forth in Chapter 51 of the code of ordinances for water. Any partial payment of a combined utility bill shall be applied pro rata to the stormwater utility fee along with the other charges on the bill. Any unpaid stormwater utility fee shall constitute a lien against the property, which lien shall be prior to all other liens on such property except the liens of state, county and municipal taxes and shall be on a parity with the lien of such state, county and municipal taxes. Such lien, when delinquent for more than 30 days, may be foreclosed by the city in the manner provided by the laws of Florida for the foreclosure of mortgages on real property.
(B) For properties normally receiving monthly utility bills for other services, the stormwater utility fee shall be included in the monthly utility bill rendered to the established customer. At the discretion of the City Finance Director, fee waivers for short term inactive utility accounts accruing fees of $10 or less in a six month period may be made for purposes of administrative convenience.
(C) For properties not receiving monthly utility bills for other services, the bill or statement for the stormwater utility fee shall be sent to the owner of the property as determined from the tax rolls. The Utility Billing Division may render annual, or semi-annual billing, at the beginning of the defined period on such properties as determined to be in the best interest of the city.
(D) The owner of a property is ultimately responsible for all fees imposed under this chapter.
(Ord. O-93-52, passed 10-20-93)
(A) Requests for adjustment of the stormwater utility fee shall be submitted by the Director, who shall be given the authority to administer the procedures and standards, and review criteria for the adjustment of fees as established herein. All requests shall be judged on the basis of the amount of impervious area on the site, or the need for additional/enhanced stormwater facilities. No credit shall be given for the installation of facilities required by any agencies having jurisdiction for stormwater management. The following procedures shall apply to all adjustment requests of the stormwater utility fee:
(1) Any owner who has paid his stormwater utility fees and who believes the impervious area determination to be incorrect may, subject to the limitations set forth in this subchapter, submit an adjustment request to the Director.
(2) Requests for adjustment of stormwater utility fees shall be in writing, and shall set forth, in detail, the grounds upon which relief is sought, and shall be filed with the Director.
(3) Adjustment requests. Upon a determination of a valid request, the City will make the appropriate abatement or deduction for a maximum of 12 months prior to receipt of the adjustment request or the date the error was discovered, whichever is earlier.
(4) The owner requesting the adjustment may be required, at his own cost, to provide supplemental information to the Director including, but not limited to, survey data and engineering reports, performed by either a registered professional land surveyor (R.P.L.S) currently registered in the state or a professional engineer (P.E.) currently registered in the state of Florida. Failure to provide such information may result in the denial of the adjustment request.
(5) Adjustments to the stormwater utility fee will be made upon the granting of the adjustment request, in writing, by the Director. Denials of adjustment requests shall be made in writing, by the Director.
(B) The Director or his designee shall prepare an administrative policy which sets forth an appeal procedure to be followed by an owner whose request for adjustment is denied. Such procedure shall be designed so that an owner may receive timely review of a denial of adjustment and shall provide for a final appeal of an adverse determination to the City Commission.
(C) When billing errors are discovered with the exercise of due diligence and the event of error was on the part of the City in the making of any charge or in the amount thereof, the City will make the appropriate adjustment for up to 12 months prior to the date the error was discovered.
(Ord. O-93-52, passed 10-20-93; Am. Ord. O-2019-19, passed 9-18-19)
(A) Procedures and standards developed by the Director and a representative of the Engineering Department shall define appropriate means by which to optimize development capital contributions in the implementation of basic specific stormwater systems. These basic specific capital contributions shall take the form of fee-in-lieu-of or availability charges. Each situation will be analyzed by the Director and a specific written decision will be developed. The application of each is defined as follows:
(1) Fee-in-lieu-of is applied to a site specific procedure, wherein a development's stormwater contribution (quantity and quality) is assessed to determine its share of the capital needs of the facilities required to serve the development in question. This capital contribution would be used to implement city-owned stormwater facilities. The process does not apply wherein the stormwater facilities are privately held. Each application is evaluated against the city's stormwater master plan for the watershed involved, or while the master plan is incomplete, the cumulative impacts from the development.
(2) Availability charge is administered on a site specific basis identical to the fee-in-lieu-of procedure noted above; the only difference is that the capital investment advanced by the city in implementing a stormwater facility is now recovered through an availability charge. The capital charge is determined on a pro-rata share of the capacity used by the new applicant or by the cumulative impact from the development upon all impacted facilities.
(Ord. O-93-52, passed 10-20-93)
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