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Comprehensive Plan Capital Improvements Element The Capital Improvements Element (CIE) itself consolidates the capital improvements needs of all elements of the Comprehensive Plan into an overall five-year Capital Improvements Schedule. The overall program lists the needs, costs, timeframes, priorities, and the necessary financial resources to implement the identified capital improvement projects in the various elements of the plan in the next five years. Impact Fees/Capacity Charges Impact fees are charges to developers for off-site improvements that must be provided by the local government to serve new development. This financing technique is one strategy that the county can use for implementing the CIE. Currently, the county has nine impact fees in place; these are traffic impact fees, which became effective in 1986, and eight additional impact fees which became effective in June of 2005. Those eight new impact fees are assessed for the following service delivery categories: solid waste, public schools, fire/ems, parks and recreation, correctional facilities, law enforcement, libraries, and public buildings. In October 1999, the county's water and sewer impact fees were reclassified as capacity charges. A capacity charge is a fee charged to the direct beneficiaries of improvements in order to fund the capital cost incurred by the water and wastewater utility to provide capacity to serve new utility customers. Enterprise Funds Enterprise funds are used to account for operations financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises, when the intent of the governing body is that the full costs of providing the service to the general public on a continuing basis be financed or recovered primarily through user charges. Currently, the county operates its solid waste services, golf course facility, building department services, shooting range, and utility services as enterprise funds. As a tool for affecting the timing and location of development, user charges may be designated to vary with the quantity and location of the service provided. Thus, charges could be greater for providing services further from urban areas, and less for distances closer to urban areas. In this way, user charges could affect the economics of development locating further away from urban areas. Analysis The analysis section of this element analyzes the county's historic and projected revenue and expenditure patterns to assess the county's fiscal ability to provide adequate capital improvements. These capital improvements have been identified in other comprehensive plan elements and are needed to meet the demands of existing and future development. As part of this analysis, revenue and expenditure projections are identified and analyzed, and a fiscal assessment of needs (costs) versus projected available revenue is included. Community Development Department Indian River County 26