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III project is substantially done and coming on line and that was $.1149 a square foot. From Phase II to Phase III the assessment went up around 20% and now we're actually about 60% above Phase II. He questioned the accelerating costs and stressed that the water assessments in .Oslo Park are going to be more than 500 of the assessed value of the lots. Mr. Hawkins urged the Commission to take a look at the costs for the entire water expansion project and thanked the Commissioners for their consideration. Mr. Chastain addressed Mr. Hawkins' concerns and explained it is difficult to compare one project to the next. For Phase I the average square footage of the properties served was 15,724 square feet. For Phase V the average square footage of the properties served is 11,416 square feet. In Phase I we had 15,700,000 square feet of assessment and Phase V only has 12,318,000 square feet, so it is not a fair comparison to say Phase V is $.15 a square foot and 40 or s_o.percent higher than Phase I. Director Pinto emphasized that this is not a cost of government but a cost to government. We have set this up so no one engineering firm is doing all of the projects and to keep the phase sizes close to the same. It is set up to make it attractive enough to get competitive bidding, and fair enough to keep all of the consulting firms on sort of an even basis so that one is not getting more work than the other. When the projects are bid, we are fortunate enough in Indian River County that we get a large _ participation in competitive bidding, anywhere from 5 to 10 or 12 bidders, with bidders from local contractors and from contractors out of Michigan. One of the problems that we run into -involves the time in getting the project approved, which means that the difference between our estimates of the cost and the actual cost varies a great deal, but it should be understood that the numbers being discussed today are the maximum numbers that can be assessed. Any comparison should be based on linear feet of pipe with a reference to the total square footage of the property. This project has a lot of linear feet of pipe and minimal linear feet which is being funded through impact fees so that virtually everything in this project is being assessed. Mr. Hawkins still urged the Commission to compare what we have been paying for these various factors of construction, engineering, and administration, because he does not see any justification why the price per square foot is going up 28% from the other 3 phases. Attorney James Wilson stated that he represents Mr. and Mrs. Dale Jacobs, owner of property on the outer edge of the assessment district near Grovenor Estates. Mr. Jacobs' address is 3590 11th OCTOBER 4, 1994 23 rM BOOK JJ F,1 E �