§ 51.02 FINDINGS.
   (A)   Necessity for potable water. The Village Council has previously found and currently reaffirms that the residents, businesses, industries and governmental and charitable agencies located in the village need to have potable and otherwise usable water.
   (B)   Availability of potable water. The Village Council has previously found and currently reaffirms, that the supply of potable water available from private wells or other sources within the village is insufficient to assure that all residents, businesses, industries and governmental and charitable agencies will have sufficient potable water available for their use and other water necessary for industrial and fire prevention and control unless the village offers water to properties located within the village.
   (C)   Method of measuring use of Water Supply System. The Village Council has previously found and currently reaffirms that the most practical, cost-effective and accurate method, given available technology of measuring the use of the water supply provided by the Water Supply System by any user, is by a meter or meters controlled by the village.
   (D)   Continuation of water supply service. The Village Council has previously found and further currently reaffirms that in order to provide and continue to provide clean, potable and otherwise usable water to all users of the Water Supply System, in quantities necessary for all varieties of use, it is necessary from time to time to install improvements, enlargements, extensions and repairs to the Water Supply System.
   (E)   Purpose of fees. The fees for the use of and connection to the Water Supply System are hereby established for the purpose of recovering the cost of operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and improvement of the Water Supply System and to comply with federal and state laws and regulations, to provide for the payment of principal of and interest on any bonds authorized to be issued as and when the same become due and payable, and to provide an account for reasonable and necessary improvements to the Water Supply System. The fees shall be made against all users of the Water Supply System in a fair and equitable manner and based on the level of service provided, in accordance with the purposes herein described, as well as the following:
      (1)   All premises connected to the Water Supply System shall be charged and shall make payments to the village in amounts computed on the basis of this subchapter;
      (2)   The rates and fees for water supply service by the Water Supply System are established herein to adequately provide for bond requirements and to ensure that the Water Supply System does not operate at a deficit. The rates and fees shall be established by resolution of the Village Council based upon advice of the village's engineers and administrative staff; and
      (3)   The charges, rates and fees shall be set so as to recover costs from users in reasonable proportion to the cost of serving those users.
   (F)   Proportionality, fairness and benefits of rates and fees. The Village Council has previously found and further currently reaffirms that the most fair and reasonable method of providing for the operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and improvement of the Water Supply System is to charge each user a proportionate share of the cost of:
      (1)   Retiring debt secured by the net revenues of the Water Supply System issued to pay for improvements and replacements to the Water Supply System;
      (2)   Ongoing repair, replacement and improvement and budgeted as part of the annual costs of the Water Supply System; and
      (3)   Operation, administration and maintenance costs of the Water Supply System.
   (G)   Water service charges. The village has investigated several methods of apportioning the costs of the water service provided by the Water Supply System. Based on its investigation, the Village Council has previously found and currently reaffirms that to ensure the stability and viability of the Water Supply System for the benefit of its users, the fairest and most accurate way to apportion the costs of operation, maintenance, replacement and improvement of the Water Supply System is to charge each user:
      (1)   A commodity charge for water usage which is based on the user's actual metered use of water supplied by the Water Supply System;
      (2)   A readiness-to-serve charge for water usage based on meter size, which fee reflects each user's proportionate share of the fixed costs of operating and maintaining the Water Supply System;
      (3)   A capital connection fee to be paid by persons connecting to the Water Supply System or changing their user classification in order to defray certain capital costs incurred to provide sufficient capacity to all users; and
      (4)   The other fees and costs for services as authorized by this subchapter.
         (a)   The Village Council further has previously found and currently reaffirms that the charges, rates and fees set forth herein and by resolution fairly and accurately apportion the fixed and variable costs of providing water service among the users of the Water Supply System, and that the commodity charge and readiness-to-serve charges provide actual benefits to the users in the form of ready access to water that would be unavailable if the charges were not imposed.
         (b)   In addition to the findings set forth above, the Village Council has previously found and currently reaffirms that the capital connection fee is a fair and proportionate charge for new users of the Water Supply System, and that the opportunity to connect to the Water Supply System provides actual benefits to each new user equal to or greater than the amount of the charge.
(Ord. 69, passed 10-24-2005; Ord. 164, passed 10-24-2022)