[Adopted 1-20-2003 by Ord. No. 2127 (Ch. 13.24 of the 1997 Code)]
Any owner of real property located within the facility planning
area ("FPA") of the City, as the FPA boundaries of the City now exist
or shall be hereafter amended, or in the event of the abolition of
the City's FPA by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ("IEPA")
or the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("USEPA"), then
as said boundaries existed at the time of the abolition of the same,
who proposes to construct public sanitary sewer disposal and/or potable
water transmission service facilities which can be used to serve other
properties in the Columbia FPA (hereinafter referred to in this Part
4 as the "sponsor") may make application to the City Council for recoupment
by said sponsor of a proportionate share of the total cost to construct
the sanitary sewer and/or water distribution facilities from off-premises,
benefitted property owners who directly connect or indirectly use
the same, in accordance with the provisions and requirements of this
Part 4. After completion of the construction and installation of the
public sanitary sewer line or water transmission main and their appurtenances
for which the sponsor is seeking recoupment, the sponsor shall provide
the City Engineer or his designee with City required verification
of the costs incurred for the improvements involved. The City Engineer
or his designee will review the same and make recommendations to the
City Council regarding the necessity and reasonableness of the same
and otherwise regarding approval for recoupment or recapture of all
or part of the costs involved. The City Council shall decide whether
or not it is in the public interest to allow for reimbursement of
all or any part of the proposed construction costs under this Part
4. If the City Council decides that it is in the public interest,
then the parties shall make and enter into an appropriate recoupment
agreement, same to be authorized and approved by enactment of a City
ordinance.
Since the making of and entering into public sanitary sewer
and/or public water recoupment agreements with land developers is
discretionary with the City, prior to the City making and entering
into such agreements it shall be the policy of the City that: the
City shall find and declare that is in the interest of the City to
cooperate with the land developer in allowing the land developer to
recoup or recapture part of the developer's costs incurred to construct
and install the sanitary sewer and/or water service involved. The
ordinance of the City authorizing such an agreement shall set forth
in the preamble of that ordinance how and why it is in the best interest
of the City to acquire the facilities involved and allow the developer
to recoup part of their costs incurred therefor. Since the City is
required to incur legal fees, engineering fees and recording costs
to make and enter into such agreements, the City may require reimbursement
of those expenses as a condition for making and entering into recoupment
agreements. Since the City is required to incur some costs for the
administration of recoupment agreements and to collect for and remit
payment of recoupment fees to land developers pursuant to recoupment
agreements, the City may require payment or reimbursement of those
expenses when making and entering into such agreements.
If the City Council finds that it is in the public interest
to assist a sponsor in recouping or recapturing funds the sponsor
expended for construction of public sanitary sewer and/or water distribution
facilities, which have been constructed by the sponsor and dedicated
to the City, the City Council shall make and enter into a recoupment
agreement with the sponsor. Once made and entered into, the recoupment
agreement shall be filed with the Recorder of each county in which
the City's FPA is located in order to notify persons interested in
connecting to or using the facilities that there will be a recoupment
charge in relation thereto. If the facilities have not been constructed
prior to the parties entering into a recoupment agreement, said contract
shall also provide for the dedication to the City of the capital improvements
involved for public use upon completion of the construction of the
same in compliance with the City's codes and ordinances and acceptance
thereof by the City. Said contract shall further provide that both
the sponsor and other potential users of the capital improvements
constructed by the sponsor shall each paying their proportionate share
of the total cost of such construction. Such recoupment shall be paid
to such sponsor based upon the schedule of payments set forth in the
recoupment agreement between the City and the sponsor. The method
of recoupment shall be determined in the negotiations between the
City and the sponsor; for example, recoupment may be based upon water
meter size for either water or sewer customers using the facilities
or based upon a per lot, tract or parcel assessment, or may be based
upon some other means of making the assessment and allocating the
costs of the construction. Such contract may also provide that the
City, at the expense of the sponsor, will assist in the acquisition
of necessary rights-of-way by the exercise of the City's power of
eminent domain to the extent the same is allowed by law. The contract
may include such other terms and conditions as are approved by the
City Council of the City.
A. The itemized and verified final costs actually expended by the sponsor
for the construction of such sanitary sewer and/or water transmission
facilities (including labor and materials, obtaining rights-of-way,
permit fees, insurance, bond premiums, legal fees, engineering fees,
and other costs essential to the construction of the facilities) shall
be filed with the City Clerk, and the City Clerk shall furnish the
same to the City Engineer or his designee. The City Engineer or his
designee shall examine said costs and make a recommendation to the
City Council with regard to the necessity and reasonableness of the
same, and as to whether the same should be approved as submitted or
adjustments made. The City Council shall then determine the amount
of the appropriate costs of construction that shall be subject to
the recoupment under this code (the "total recoupment amount" or the
"recoupment").
B. The area reasonably expected to be served by the water and/or sanitary
sewer facilities shall be the FPA of the City, as the City's FPA exists
at the time of the making of the recoupment agreement or as the City's
FPA may thereafter be amended. The owner of a lot, tract or parcel
of land in the City's FPA which receives sanitary sewer or potable
water service by a direct connection to a service line that is subject
to recoupment or which receives sanitary sewer service or potable
water service indirectly by connecting to a service line which directly
or indirectly uses a service line that is subject to recoupment shall
be assessed the applicable recoupment fee. If the FPA of the City
is amended by the IEPA after a recoupment contract is made and entered
into pursuant to this code, the City and the sponsor shall enter into
an amendment to the recoupment agreement showing the revised boundaries
of the City's FPA as the area expected to be served by the recoupment
agreement and the same shall be recorded with the recorder of the
counties in which the City's FPA is then located. In the event of
the abolition of the City's FPA by either the IEPA or the USEPA, then
and in that event, the last existing FPA of the City shall be deemed
to be the area reasonably expected to be served by sanitary sewer
and water distribution facilities constructed pursuant to recoupment
agreements made and entered into by the City, unless the City in negotiating
the recoupment agreement finds and agrees otherwise.
C. Upon verifying the total costs of constructing and installing a public
sanitary sewer line and/or public water distribution line which will
provide sanitary sewer service and/or potable water service to individual
lots, tracts or parcels of land or real estate developments located
off of the real estate premises of the sponsor's development in the
City's FPA, which sanitary sewer or water distribution improvement
is required by the City in order for the sponsor to obtain approval
of a subdivision plat or issuance of a building permit for the sponsor's
development, and for which capital improvement the sponsor is seeking
a recoupment agreement, the City Council shall determine the pro-rata
share of that cost that is attributable to the benefit of the sponsor's
development and the pro-rata share of that cost that is available
to benefit other property owners in the City's FPA who would seek
to directly or indirectly connect to the capital improvement in order
to develop their property. In order to arrive at the amount of such
costs that shall be subject to recoupment, the parties to a recoupment
agreement shall subtract from the verified total costs incurred the
pro-rata costs attributable to the benefit from the system expected
to be received by the sponsor's development (whether the assessment
is based upon size of water meter connection, a per lot or parcel
or tract assessment, or some other basis). That amount shall be subtracted
from the total costs approved by the City that is subject to recoupment
to arrive at the amount of the recoupment or total recoupment amount.
Any owner of real property who directly connects into or indirectly
uses sewerage facilities to deposit wastewater therein or uses potable
water facilities to draw water therefrom which are subject to a recoupment
agreement shall pay a recoupment fee, at a user rate to be determined
by and set forth in the recoupment agreement. The user rate to be
assessed against each benefitted property and charged to the beneficiary
served directly or indirectly by the sponsored sanitary sewer and/or
potable water improvement as established and set forth in the recoupment
agreement will be approved by the City Council, with the advice and
recommendations of the City Engineer. Once the user rate is determined
and established and the recoupment agreement is made and entered into
between the City and the sponsor, any beneficiary owning benefitted
property located with the FPA of the City who directly connects to
or indirectly uses the sponsored water or sewerage service which is
subject to recoupment will be required to pay the recoupment fee until:
1) the term of the recoupment agreement expires, or 2) the sponsor
collects the full recoupment the sponsor is due (plus interest due,
if applicable), whichever first occurs.
Should the City seek to connect a City-owned sanitary sewer
transmission line and/or potable water transmission main to a City
sanitary sewer or water distribution main that is subject to one or
more recoupment agreements, the City shall be exempt from assessment
of recoupment or recapture fees; however, subsequent customers of
the City who receive sanitary sewer and/or water service utilizing
said line or lines that are subject to one or more recoupment agreements
shall not be exempt and shall be required to pay the applicable recoupment
fee (including real estate developers/subdividers who seek to obtain
sanitary sewer service and/or water service for their subdivision
developments). For land developers/subdividers who seek to connect
property proposed to be subdivided in this City to a sanitary sewer
line or a potable water distribution line that is subject to one or
more recoupment agreements and for which a subdivision final plat
is requested to be approved by the City, prior to the City enacting
an ordinance to approve the final subdivision plat for the subdivision
property, the subdivider/developer shall pay the applicable recoupment
fee to the City Clerk for each of the proposed lots on the final plat
for the subdivision. The subdivider/developer shall provide a copy
of the receipt for payment of the applicable recoupment fee to the
City Attorney and the City Engineer for their use in making recommendations
for final subdivision plat approvals. Where a subdivision is sought
to be platted and developed in the City in stages or phases, so that
multiple final subdivision plats will be submitted to the City Council
for approval (one final subdivision plat for each stage or phase of
the subdivision), the applicable recoupment fee will be in the amount
of the appropriate assessment for the property comprising each phase
or stage. Same shall be paid prior to final plat approval for each
phase or stage. Where a subdivision in the City is sought to be enlarged
or expanded by final platting of additions to the subdivision, the
applicable recoupment fee shall be in the amount of the appropriate
assessment for the property comprising each addition and will be required
to be paid prior to final plat approval for each addition. Otherwise
(that is, except for subdividers/developers or the City), it shall
be the owners of individual lots, parcels or tracts of property who
derive benefit from service lines and facilities subject to recoupment
by depositing sewage in the City's sanitary sewerage system which
flows through a line subject to recoupment or which draws potable
water off of a City potable water service line that receives water
service directly or indirectly from a water main subject to recoupment
that shall be subject to the assessment of recoupment fee pursuant
to this code.
Nothing contained in this Part 4 shall relieve a property owner
from the obligation to pay to the City the City's usual and customary
connection fee for connecting to a City-owned sanitary sewer or water
transmission main, which connection fee (sometimes referred to as
a "tap-in" fee) shall be separate from and payable in addition to
the recoupment fee due under sewer and/or water recoupment agreements.
In any area served by two or more sanitary sewer and/or water
distribution facilities constructed under separate recoupment agreements
with the City, the recoupment charges payable to each sponsor shall
be divided proportionately between said sponsors based upon the ratio
of the total recoupable amount for each sewerage and/or water facility
to the sum of the total recoupable amounts for all of the sewerage
facilities or water facilities serving the area which are subject
to recoupment.
No sponsor shall earn or be entitled to recoupment fees under
a recoupment contract with the City made and entered into pursuant
to this Part 4 until after the sewerage facility and/or water facility
that is a subject of recoupment has been constructed in compliance
with the City's codes and ordinances, inspected by, dedicated to and
accepted by the City for public use.
The sponsor under a recoupment agreement may charge such "simple" interest on the "total recoupable amount" as shall be approved by the City Council at the time the parties make and enter into a recoupment agreement. Nothing contained in this section of this Part
4 shall require, however, that the City allow the sponsor to charge interest on the recoupment.
Any person wishing to connect a house service or other individual
parcel, tract or lot service line to the City's sanitary sewer or
water distribution system will apply in writing to the City Clerk
for a permit to make the connection. Upon receiving such application,
the City Clerk shall determine if a recoupment fee is required to
be paid by the applicant. If a recoupment fee is required, the City
Clerk shall not issue a permit to the applicant allowing the applicant
to connect to and receive City water and/or sanitary sewer service
from a facility subject to recoupment until the City has collected
from the applicant the required connection fee and, in addition thereto,
the recoupment fee or recoupment fees due under pending recoupment
agreements that apply. Such fees shall be collected by the City Clerk
and remitted to the sponsor as soon as practicable. The sponsor entitled
to such recoupment fee shall keep the City Clerk advised as to their
current address and telephone number where they can be reached in
order to assist the City Clerk in remitting recoupment payments due
them.
A sponsor under a recoupment agreement shall not be entitled
to recapture of the construction cost of any portion of a sanitary
sewer and/or water service which is located on or within the confines
of the property comprising the sponsor's development; except reimbursement
will be allowed for oversizing or on the sponsor's premises extensions
of facilities not required for the sponsor's development which are
primarily designed for off-premises use and benefit.
The right to recoupment shall continue until the total amount
of all recoupable costs (plus interest, if applicable) have been recovered
by the sponsor or until the expiration of the term of the applicable
recoupment agreement, whichever first occurs. The recoupment period
shall be for a term of years approved by the City Council, which shall
not exceed the term of 30 years from and after the date the sanitary
sewer facilities and/or water facilities have been dedicated to and
accepted by the City.
All recoupment sanitary sewers and/or water facilities shall
be constructed in accordance with the specifications and standards
required by the City's codes and ordinances in effect at the time
of the construction, and dedicated to the City for public use, after
which the same will be owned by, operated and maintained by the City.