[Added 9-6-2022]
The City of Rochester is authorized pursuant to RSA 31:141 to assess a sewer development connection fee on new connections and development to help meet the additional sewer system demands created by the new development, including capital construction and improvement of the City's sewer system. Said fees are assessed on a capacity-buy-in approach as set forth in § 200-37 below.
This article incorporates by reference the definitions found in the City of Rochester Sewer Ordinance, Chapter 200, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See § 200-1 above.
These regulations shall govern the assessment of connection fees upon new development connections to the City's public sewer system to generate capital funds to maintain, improve and expand the sewer system to minimize the effect on existing customers in a fair and equitable manner.
The sewer development connection fee or assessment shall be imposed pursuant to these provisions only upon new development connections, including subdivisions, building construction and other land use changes, based on a capacity-buy-in approach. This approach applies to new users that are required to invest in the equity of the City's public sewer system at a rate that reflects prior investments by existing users per unit of total capacity to raise funds to meet the demands and impacts created by the new development connections to the City's sewer treatment and distribution facilities, inclusive of the system defined herein as the public sewer system. The sewer development fee shall not apply to any capital projects, including new connections or repairs, improvements, replacements, or expansion of the public sewer system initiated by the City, as approved by the City Council.
The sewer development connection fee is calculated as a per-gallon per-day charge by dividing the net equity in user-paid capital assets by the capacity of the respective sewer system in gallons per day. The portion of the sewer system capacity assigned to any new user is determined based on New Hampshire Sewer Usage Unit Design Standards, as contained in Table 1008.01 in Env-Wq 1008.3 of the New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules. The Code of Administrative Rules can be found at: https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/2020-01/Env-Wq%201000.pdf.
The sewer development connection fee will be assessed by the Department at the time of application for new connections pursuant to § 200-37. The fee shall not be assessed for any existing connections or developments. The fees shall be collected at the time of application for connection in accordance with § 200-37 above; however, the Department and applicant may establish an alternate, mutually acceptable schedule of payment of sewer development connection fees. If an alternate schedule for payment of fees is established, the Department may require the applicant to post surety, in the form of a cash bond, letter of credit or performance bond, to guaranty future payment of the assessed impact fees. The Department and City reserve the right to annually review and amend the sewer development connection fees as necessary.
A. 
An applicant may request a full or partial waiver from the Department of the sewer development connection fee assessments imposed by this article from the Department. The amount of any such waiver, including the value of the land, facilities construction, or other like-kind contributions, or improvements to be made by the applicant toward public capital facilities in lieu of a sewer development connection fee shall not exceed the value of the sewer development connection fee.
B. 
The applicant must exclude from a waiver application the value of any on-site and/or off-site contributions, or improvements that the applicant is required by the Department or City to implement or construct as a result of a plan or development approval. The required on- or off-site contributions or improvements as a result of a plan or development approval by the City must be completed by the applicant in addition to or regardless of the sewer development connection fee under this article. The value of contributions or improvements proposed as a waiver to offset the connection fee by the applicant shall be credited only towards facilities of a like kind. All costs incurred by the Department for the review of a proposed waiver, including reasonable consultant and counsel fees, shall be paid by the applicant requesting a waiver.
C. 
An applicant may apply to the Department for a waiver of a portion or the full amount of the sewer development connection fee, where such waiver application is accompanied by an independent fee calculation study that documents the proportionate capital cost impacts of the new connection or development. The Department shall review any such study and, in its discretion, make a recommendation to the City Manager as to whether a waiver should be granted or denied. The City Manager shall approve all waiver applications. All costs incurred by the Department for review of any such study shall be paid by the applicant.
A. 
All funds collected shall be properly identified and promptly transferred for deposit into an individual capital facilities connection fee account for the sewer facilities for which fees are assessed, and shall be used solely for the purposes specified in this article. The sewer development connection fee account shall be a capital reserve fund account and the City shall not accrue these fee revenues to the general fund.
B. 
Payment, administration, collection, custody and records for the sewer development connection fee account shall be done by the Finance Department upon the direction of the City Manager.
C. 
The Department shall provide a detailed report to the City Council at the end of each fiscal year identifying all public sewer system facilities expenses funded through sewer development connection fees, including all waivers requested and granted, that occurred during the fiscal year being reported.
D. 
Funds withdrawn from the sewer development connection fee account shall be used solely for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, expanding or equipping those public sewer system facilities identified in this article.
Any party aggrieved by any decision, regulation or provision under this article, as amended from time to time, shall have the right to appeal said decision first to the Department. The Department shall issue a decision within 30 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. If said appeal is denied by the Department, then the aggrieved party shall have the right to appeal to the Utility Advisory Board within 30 days.
The City reserves the right to adopt, from time to time, additional rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary and proper relating to this article, which additional rules and regulations, to the extent appropriate, shall be a part of this article.
This article shall be in full force and effect immediately following its passage, as provided by law.