12/20/2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

connected with the public sewer facilities of the sewer system of the county or franchised private utility system upon approval of the department, and use such facilities within sixty (60) days following notification to do so by the department. All such connections shall be made in accordance with the rules and regulations which shall be adopted from time to time by the county. No connection of existing structures will be required to be made unless capacity is available." The BCC should consider whether this ordinance applies to those parcels that have an active and working septic tank, yet would be able to connect to a newly constructed centralized system. The COS has the following: COS Ordinance Section 102.33 -Connection required. 'The owner of improved real property wherein either sewer collection service or water distribution service, or both services, becomes available, shall cause the connections of such available services to the improvements on the premises within 30 days of receipt of notification that the utility has installed the necessary meters. The city council may extend this 30 -day period for good cause upon written request by the owner." According to Florida Statutes Title XXIX, Chapter 381.00655: (1)(a) The owner of a properly functioning onsite sewage treatment and disposal system, excluding an approved onsite graywater system, must connect the system or the building's plumbing to an available publicly owned or investor-owned sewerage system within 365 days after written notification by the owner of the publicly owned or investor-owned sewerage system that the system is available for connection. Note: There are some exceptions to this connection requirement under 381.0655 (2)(a -c). See Attachment 3 for the statute language. This policy would be a new approach in dealing with existing structures from what has been practiced in the past. The upside to the new approach would be a policy that could allow a utility to thoughtfully prepare projects, pursue additional grants and more realistically budget a project based on a set of known variables in order to determine costs, financing options and funding solutions. The down side of a new approach will be those property owners that do not have the financial wherewithal to pay for these improvements, or the perception that their local government is forcing restrictive obligations onto them. FINANCING: Currently, any utility assessment project can be financed at a 5% annual interest rate. This rate is set by the BCC each January. Staff would propose two options for Board consideration: 1) a reduction of the annual interest rate and 2) a sliding scale cost subsidy. The annual interest rate of 5% for assessment projects has been in place for several years and was reduced during the great recession time period. The reduction was to assist property owners who may have been affected by the economic downturn. An additional reduction for just the Phase 1 S2S project from a 5% to a 2% annual interest rate is proposed so that borrowing costs to the property owners is as low as possible while still allowing the utility to cover nominal administrative and financial service costs needed to service these loans. For comparative purposes, staff looked at the State of Florida revolving fund program. A State Revolving Fund (SRF) is a fund administered by a U.S. state for the purpose of providing low-interest loans for investments 'in water and sanitation infrastructure (e.g., sewage treatment, stormwater management facilities, drinking water treatment), as well as for the implementation of nonpoint source pollution control and estuary protection projects. SRF receives its initial capital from federal grants and state contributions. The current rate is just below 2%, therefore an interest rate of 2% was utilized in the calculations. The sliding scale impact free cost subsidy could be used to help entice property owners to connect sooner. Such a program may take place over a five-year period. Below is a hypothetical scenario whereby all of the subsidy funds would be available to qualified property owners in the first year. As time goes by, funding Page 6 of 8 P139