§ 24-212. Capacity expansion charge, date of charge and extended payment.

The board finds and declares that on and after the date of passage of this article, for each new connection to the water and/or sewer system, the fee unless otherwise specified by an acquisition agreement (related to non-county water and/or sewer system acquisition) shall be at a minimum, the amount specified in Appendix A—User Charge Tables for Okaloosa County Water and Sewer User Charge Ordinance for each equivalent residential unit (ERU), based upon ERU equivalencies as specified in the aforementioned Appendix A, payable in advance of the issuance of a construction permit, to defray the cost of providing the sanitary sewer lines and wastewater treatment and disposal plant capacity to serve such area. Such sums shall be paid by cash, certified check or partial payment contract within 90 days from the date that the service becomes available as applied to sewer system extension into areas where sanitary sewer service is not available.

(1)

The partial payment plan shall apply to the total charges in such amounts as are respectively set out above, including the amount of any penalty, and shall be the cash rate plus a charge of ten percent of the total cash basis, such ten percent to include recording and cancellation fees, interest and agreement preparation costs. If the partial payment plan is elected, the initial payment shall be ten percent of the charges as identified plus an amount equal to a monthly payment of $20.00 water and/or $75.00 sewer. Thereafter, amount noted above shall be billed monthly, with the last payment amount being any unpaid balance.

(2)

The partial payment plan shall only be available in those instances where the customer is currently being supplied with water or sewer services through a private well and/or septic tank located on the specific parcel of property that is being required to connect to the board's service as the result of the extension of board's water or sewer lines contiguous to the parcel of property to be served, and is intended to offset the impact to customers financially affected by the board's water and sewer connection requirement.

(3)

Effective with the passage of this article, any existing structures or facilities where the correct number of water and/or sewer capacity expansion charge ERUs have not been paid, shall be considered as having been paid if the sewer has been connected as defined in this article for more than five years prior to the adoption of this article. This section shall only apply to capacity expansion fee requirements. Any other mandatory requirements in this article concerning sewer availability, mandatory connection to available sewer, or payment of water and sewer readiness to serve charges, consumption charges and flat fees, are not affected by this section.

( Ord. No. 16-16 , § 1, 9-6-16)