A. INTRODUCTION AND POLICY
A tap-in fee shall be charged to each property owner making a connection to the Village's sanitary sewer system. The primary purpose of the tap-in fee shall be to cover costs of inspection and other administrative fees that are borne by the Village of Richfield. A permit to open or tap a sanitary sewer for residential building shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00). A permit to open or tap a sanitary sewer for a commercial or industrial user shall be two hundred dollars ($200.00).
Each tap-in fee shall be reviewed to assure that any previously applied assessment costs present a true representation of the affected property. The assessment policy shall be reviewed for the existing property at the time of a tap-in fee consideration. Additional fees such as property expansion user fees may also be charged to a connecting property at the time of connection. The assessment policy and property expansion user fees shall be as defined below.
B. ASSESSMENT POLICY
Properties within the Village which have been changed by consolidation or property splits, or properties annexed to the Village which become part of an existing property already served by the appropriate sewer district, shall be subject to this assessment policy review and any additional costs shall be included in a total tap-in fee.
Outlined below are the modifications with regard to any assessment and/or tap-in fee procedure.
1. Property Modifications - Any existing properties which lie within the Village and are modified through means of a split, consolidation or other appropriate means shall be reviewed for compliance with the current assessment policy in effect as of the time of certification of assessments to the County Auditor for the appropriate sewer district.
The assessment formula shall be applied to each of the modified property(ies) to determine if any adjustment to the cost of the assessment is required. The parameters to be investigated shall include: front footage, acreage, zoning, land value and existing system utilization.
Any increase in the adjusted assessment costs shall be paid to the Village within sixty days of a certified notification to the property owner.
2. Annexed Properties - Any property that is annexed to the Village if adjacent to a property currently in an existing sewer district, and which has previously been assessed, shall be subject to this policy.
For the purpose of this policy any sewer service provided these annexed lands shall be provided after payment of an additional tap-in fee for those areas not previously assessed.
The additional fee shall be calculated in accordance with the current assessment formula in effect as of the time of certification to the County Auditor of the affected sewer district. The formula shall be applied to those parameters of the formula applicable to the annexed area and shall include front footage, acreage, zoning, land value and existing system utilization.
3. Formula - The formula shall be as finalized at the time of certification to the County Auditor. It shall be reviewed annually and dollar values adjusted each year to reflect construction cost modifications as outlined in the Construction Cost Indices as provided by the Engineering News Record.
C. NEW SERVICE
The cost for a new service shall be completely borne by the property owner. This service shall be installed by a licensed contractor, having secured all permits as set forth by the Village. The design and construction shall be in accordance with the design and construction standards of the Village.
A tap-in fee shall be applied for each connection. The tap-in fee and the assessment cost shall be reduced by the amount of the actual cost of the improvement to the owner from the central sewer to the owner's property line.
D. PROPERTY EXPANSION USER FEES
In the event of a property undergoing significant change after assessment fees had been determined, the Administrator may impose additional property expansion user fees to reflect actual usage at the time of connection or improvement, whichever occurs later. This property expansion user fee shall be applied to any nonresidential building addition and any residential dwelling wherein additional dwelling units are to be added. A schedule of these property expansion user fees shall be determined by the Village and may change from time to time. The fees in effect at the time of a submittal for expansion shall be assessed to the affected property and included in the total tap-in fee.
(Ord. 5-1991. Passed 1-17-91.)