(A) In order to ensure impact fee revenues are spent to the proportional benefit of new development, the City Commission has established and will maintain a separate accounting fund(s) for each of the following categories of the Capital Improvement System, by impact fee benefit district:
(1) Fire-rescue facilities;
(2) General governmental buildings;
(3) Law enforcement facilities;
(4) Parks and recreation facilities;
(5) Multi-Modal Transportation System.
(B) The accounting funds shall be maintained separate and apart from each other and from all other accounts of the City. All impact fees shall be deposited into the corresponding fund immediately upon receipt.
(C) The monies deposited into an impact fee accounting fund shall be used solely for the purpose of funding capital improvement capacity within the City, including but not limited to:
(1) Design and construction plan preparation;
(2) Building construction;
(3) Permitting;
(4) Right-of-way and land acquisition, including all costs of acquisition or condemnation;
(5) Construction management and inspection;
(6) Surveying and soils and material testing;
(7) Necessary capital equipment;
(8) Repayment of monies transferred or borrowed from any budgetary fund of the City that were used to fund a capital improvement; and
(9) Payment of principal and interest, necessary reserves and costs of issuance under any bonds or other indebtedness issued by the City to provide funds to construct or acquire capital improvements to the City’s Capital Improvement System, in order to mitigate increased impacts generated by new residential, and, as applicable, nonresidential construction.
(D) Funds on deposit in an impact fee fund shall not be used, in whole or part, to pay existing debt or for previously approved capital facilities, unless such expenditures are reasonably connected to or have a rational nexus with increased impacts on such facilities by new construction.
(E) Funds on deposit in an impact fee fund shall not be used for any expenditure that would be classified as a maintenance, operation, or repair expense - in the Capital Improvement System.
(F) Funds on deposit in an impact fee fund shall not be used for any expenditure other than for the same category of Capital Improvement System fee for which the fee was collected, in accordance with the Impact Fee Study, and only within the same benefit district from which the fees were collected.
(G) The monies deposited into an impact fee fund shall be used solely to provide additional capital improvement capacity to the City’s Capital Improvement System required to accommodate new capital improvement impact projects, as provided in the City’s Five Year Capital Improvement Plan or by agreement with Broward County or other partnering agency providing capital improvements in the City impact fee benefit district.
(H) Any monies on deposit that are not immediately necessary for expenditure shall be invested in interest bearing accounts by the City. All interest income derived from such investments shall remain or be deposited in the impact fee accounting fund on which the interest was earned.
(I) The impact fees collected pursuant to this subchapter shall be returned to the applicant that paid them on the building permit if:
(1) A building permit issued for a capital improvement impact project is revoked, expires, withdrawn, or is cancelled prior to the completion of the developer’s project; or
(2) Such fees have not been expended or encumbered prior to the end of the fiscal year immediately following the seventh anniversary of the date upon which such fees were paid.
(J) Refunds shall be made only in accordance with the following procedure:
(1) The applicant shall file a refund request with the Director for a revoked, expired, withdrawn, or cancelled building permit within 180 days of such action or, where it is alleged that the City has not complied with division (I)(2) above, shall file a petition with the City Commission within one year following the end of the fiscal year in which occurs the date of the seventh anniversary of the payment of the impact fee by the original capital improvement impact project.
(2) The petition for refund shall be submitted to the Director and shall contain the following:
(a) A notarized sworn statement that the petitioner was the applicant and paid the impact fees for which a refund is sought; and
(b) A copy of the dated receipt issued for payment of the fee, or such other record as would indicate payment of the fee.
(3) Within 90 days from the date of receipt of a complete refund request application related to a revoked, withdrawn, cancelled or expired building permit, or otherwise as provided by law, the Director shall either approve or deny the request.
(4) Within 60 days from the date of receipt of a petition for refund under division (J)(2) above, or as otherwise provided by law, the Director will advise the petitioner and City Commission of the status of the impact fee refund request, and whether the impact fee paid has not been spent or encumbered within the applicable time period. If it was not, within 90 days of the petition, or as otherwise provided by law, the City Commission shall authorize the fees to be returned to the petitioner with interest at the average net interest rate earned by the City in the applicable impact fee accounting fund during the time such impact fee was on deposit. For purposes of this section, fees collected are deemed to be spent or encumbered on the following basis: The first fee in shall be the first fee out.
(Ord. O-2022-18, passed 9-21-22)