Upon receipt of monies requested for an escrow account, the
Village Administrator shall cause such monies to be placed in a separate
interest-bearing account in the name of the Village and shall keep
a separate record of all such monies deposited and the name of the
applicant and project for which such sums were deposited.
Upon receipt and approval by the Village Board of itemized vouchers
from consultants for services rendered on behalf of the Village regarding
a particular application, the Village Administrator shall cause such
vouchers to be paid out of the monies so deposited and shall debit
the separate record of such account accordingly. The consultant shall
make copies of such vouchers available to the applicant at the same
time the vouchers are submitted to the Village.
The Village Board shall review and audit all such vouchers and
shall approve payment of only such consultant charges as are reasonable
in amount and necessarily incurred by the Village in connection with
the review and consideration of applications. A charge or part thereof
is reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable relationship to the
average charge by consultants to the Village for services performed
in connection with the review of a similar application. In auditing
the vouchers, the Village Board may take into consideration the size,
type and number of buildings to be constructed, the topography of
the site at issue, environmental conditions at such site, the infrastructure
proposed in the application, and any special conditions the Village
Board may deem relevant. A charge or part thereof is necessarily incurred
if it was charged by the consultant for a service which was rendered
in order to protect or promote the health, safety or other vital interests
of the residents of the Village and protect public or private property
from damage.
If at any time during the processing of an application there
shall be insufficient monies on hand to the credit of an applicant
to pay the approved vouchers in full, or if it shall reasonably appear
to the reviewing board that such monies will be insufficient to meet
vouchers yet to be submitted, the reviewing board shall cause the
applicant to deposit additional sums as the board deems necessary
or advisable in order to meet such expenses or anticipated expenses.
In the event the applicant fails to deposit the requested review
fees into an escrow account, any application review, approval, permit
or certificates of occupancy may be withheld or suspended by the reviewing
board, officer or employee of the Village until such monies are deposited.
Upon completion of the review of an application or upon the
withdrawal of an application, and after all fees already incurred
by the Village have been paid and deducted from the escrow account,
any balance remaining in the escrow account shall be refunded within
60 days after the applicant's request.