(A) The policy of the Board of Public Works and Safety covering a sewer main extension requested by a party or parties desiring service from the utility required such party or parties to pay for the cost of the extension. This policy intends to place the cost of the installation of local sewer mains upon the owners of the properties benefited.
(B) Large main, interceptors, and relief sewers will be paid for the utility providing funds are available. (Note: A LOCAL SEWER shall mean one which by its size and character, is designed and intended to supply sanitary sewer service with adequate capacity for peak flows, only for properties abutting the street, alley, easement, or other public land in which the sewer is laid but which is not designed and intended to serve collateral sewers necessary for non-abutting properties.)
(C) This extension policy shall be set forth as follows.
(1) Free extensions. The utility will upon written request for service from a prospective group of prospective customers located in the same neighborhood, make free of charge an extension necessary to give service to the petitioning prospective customers when the total estimated revenue for a period of six years, from the prospective customer or customers is approximately equal to the cost of the extension; provided, however that in the judgment of the utility, the prospects are that the patronage or demand for sewer service will be of such permanency as to warrant the expenditure involved, providing the utility has such funds available.
(2) Extension above free limit. If the extension required in order to furnish service at any point within the corporate limits of the city, or for any adjacent suburb of said city, is greater than the free extension specified herein, such an extension shall be made under the following conditions:
(a) Petition for service. Upon the presentation of a written petition for sewer service by an interested person or persons, the utility will enter into an agreement with said petitioners covering the necessary main extension, describing the installation, the method of apportioning such costs among the petitioners, the total estimated cost if possible and relevant facts and undertakings, said agreement shall contain a statement by the petitioners that they are willing to pay their proportionate share of the main extension if the project is constructed. Detailed engineering design will not proceed if the petitioners do not agree to pay the necessary cost of the extension over and above the free limit as described herein. The petition is good for one year. An extension of time may be requested if necessary.
(b) Engineering and detailed cost estimate. When the petitioners agree in writing to pay their proportionate share of the main extension, the utility will conduct the necessary field survey work and engineering design resulting in a detailed engineer estimate of the cost of the project. Based upon the engineers’ estimate, the project cost will be spread proportionately between the petitioner or petitioners.
(c) Contract for service. Upon completion of the engineers’ estimate, the utility will enter into a sewer main extension contract with said petitioners which shall include a description of the installation, the estimated cost, the method of apportioning such costs among the petitioners, arrangement for payment and other relevant facts and undertaking.
(d) Initial deposit. Prior to advertising for bids or starting construction as the case may be, the petitioners will be required to deposit their share of the main extension with the utility. The total initial deposit may be made in a cash payment or it may be made by an irrevocable letter of credit acceptable to the utility and issued by a national banking association or a bank chartered under the laws of the state or secured in any other manner which is mutually acceptable to the parties and which guarantees payment of the deposit immediately upon completion of construction of the extension.
(e) Cost basis. The amount to be paid by petitioners for main extension shall be the total costs of contractual labor and expense, utility labor and expense, material (including handling charges and hauling costs), inspection, testing, overhead, and engineering. Where feasible, petitioners may, by agreement with the utility, furnish all or part of the foregoing cost elements, except inspection and testing; provided, however, that all such cost elements furnished conform to the standards of the utility and that the utility be given certified statements of the actual costs of such elements paid for by the petitioners.
(f) Engineering and over-sizing.
1. Main extension design and specifications shall either be prepared by the Utility Department or be approved by the Utility Department before installation when done by others. No pipe size smaller than that required giving such party adequate sewer service or less than eight inches in diameter shall be used.
2. If the design for future use or other engineering considerations indicate the need for a sewer main larger than eight inches, then the utility will assume the cost for over-sizing provided funds are available.
3. The computation of cost, either actual or estimated, shall be based on an eight-inch main, unless a larger main as determined by the utility, in which event the cost, estimated or actual, shall be based on the main required.
(g) Ownership of mains. After completion and acceptance by the utility, the sewer main extension shall become the property of and shall be maintained by the utility. The utility may connect additional sewer mains to an extension without incurring any financial obligation to persons sharing the cost of the first extension.
(h) Refund provision. The contract between the utility and the original petitioners shall provide that any person who did not share the original cost of the extension and who wishes to use the extension within a period of 15 years from the date of the acceptance of such extension shall be required to pay a fair and proportionate share of the original cost of the extension.
(i) Exclusion of new subdivisions. New subdivisions will be excluded from eligibility agreements. The developer shall pay the entire cost of the necessary sewer main construction and recover the cost in the lot price. Sewer main extensions from the terminus of existing sewer mains to the subdivision, which would be subject to future connections, are eligible for refund agreements.
(j) Recording extension contracts. In order to ensure collection of share and connection charges for those providing funds for sewer main installations, the utility shall file the original sewer main extension contracts with the Recorder of Grant County, Indiana.
(k) Waiver of protest to annexation.
1. Petitioners for sewer main extensions and sewer service outside the corporate limits of the city will be required to execute a written agreement that the owner and his or her successors waive any right to remonstrate against or otherwise object to, interfere with, or oppose, any pending or future annexation by the city as a condition of receiving said sewer main extension and sewer service.
2. This document shall be recorded and cross referenced to the property deed by the Utility Department.
(l) Lateral extensions.
1. The utility may connect additional sewer mains to an extension without incurring any financial obligations to persons sharing the cost of the first extension. However, the utility will not permit a prospective customer whose property is contiguous to the first extension to obtain service for an additional extension installed laterally from said first extension unless the customer pays a proportionate share of the first extension.
2. The utility shall collect in advance from the owner of such property a service connection charge as follows:
Single-family residences | $450 |
6-inch connections (except single-family) | $900 |
8-inch connections | $1,800 |
(Ord. 2-2002, passed 4-23-2002)