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Comprehensive Plan Potable Water Sub-Element <br /> <br /> <br />Community Development Department Indian River County 39 <br /> <br />Funding Expansion/Capital Improvements <br /> <br />Being an enterprise operation, the County Utilities Department is financially self-sufficient, with no <br />general tax money allocated for utility system capital or operational expenses. Revenues to pay for <br />distribution system expansion are generated through impact fees, assessments, line extension fees, <br />and developer’s contributions. Thus, lines are paid for as they are expanded, and they are expanded <br />in response to demand. Therefore, any extension of the water distribution network is funded <br />primarily from revenue obtained from landowners who benefit from the extension. <br /> <br />Generally, capacity charges and line extension fees pay for the future capital expansions identified in <br />the Potable Water System Master Plan. If there is a need for expansion of county utility <br />infrastructure in an area sooner than the Utility Department's need assessment indicates, there must <br />be some financial commitment from other sources. In some cases, the county can extend a line <br />through an agreement between the County and a developer. This type of agreement requires the <br />developer to provide for the extension of lines at a size meeting Master Plan needs with possible <br />reimbursement provided in the future when other customers hook onto the system and pay applicable <br />charges. <br /> <br />Once the main lines are in place, smaller lines branch off into developments and subdivisions. These <br />smaller lines are funded by developers or with assessments. Through these methods, potable water <br />service is provided to an area, and assessments are the responsibility of the benefitting landowners. <br /> <br />After an assessment line is installed, individual property owners can have a plumber connect their <br />buildings to the system. Prior to receiving service, however, a property owner must pay any utility <br />capacity charges, deposits, and meter installation fees. Utility capacity charges may be financed for <br />up to 5 years. Through its local housing assistance program, the county can pay utility capacity <br />charges for very low and low income households. The county can also use federal and state grants, <br />such as Rural Economic and Community Development Program (formerly the Farmers Home <br />Administration) Grants and Community Development Block Grants, to expand water service to areas <br />with a high percentage of low and very low income households. <br /> <br />In the past, the county has acquired private water systems and incorporated them into its network. It <br />is expected that this practice will continue in the future because private systems generally cannot <br />provide the same level of service at reasonable costs that the county's centralized system can provide. <br /> <br />A list of potable water system capital improvements is provided in the Capital Improvements <br />Element (CIE) of the county’s comprehensive plan. Since the county’s CIE must be updated <br />annually, projects completed will be extracted from the list of capital improvements, and new