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BOOK 95 PacE 199 County's collected water and sewer impact fees are being spent substantially at the rate they are taken in, and the per unit cost for facility expansions exceeds the assessed impact fee rates as noted previously, the Utilities Department must rely on other revenue sources to fund necessary capital expansions. Since the Utilities Department is an enterprise operation, only two funding methods are available for use. The first is using bond financing, and the second is charging current utility customers through their utility service rates. The Utilities Department has primarily relied upon bond financing to fund its expansion activities. The bond financing method pledges the Department's impact fees revenues as the re -payment source for the issued bonds. This allows the county to fund its expansion activities with the impact fees revenues it receives. The second method of charging the current utility customers for the cost of the system's capacity expansions is discouraged under the policy that growth should pay for itself, and it is this policy which leads to the bond financing programs. Generally, charges to existing customers are made only to cover the general operating and maintenance expenses and capital replacement costs which will be encountered in operating the utility facilities. Bond financing allows the Utilities Department to avoid raising its utility rates in order to fund facility expansions. O City of Vero Beach The City of Vero Beach Utilities Department is operated similar to the County Utilities Department. The City, like the County, collects a water impact fee from all development which is connecting to water service. The City, however, collects a sewer impact fee only from development located within its service area but outside the city limits. The City does not assess a sewer impact fee for development within the city limits. The City has collected $6,310,125 in water impact fees.since 1981 and ;1,080,038 in sewer impact fees since 1987. City Utilities, like the County, has effectively spent the impact fee funds it has collected on its current ongoing facility expansion programs. Furthermore, the City's capital improvements plan for the 1993 to 1998 period identifies $16,674,884.00 in anticipated expenditures to complete the capacity improvements necessary to accommodate its anticipated service area growth. Since the City's impact fee funds are spent substantially as they are collected, and the City's assessed impact fees are less than the County's assessed impact fees, the City must rely on other funding sources to complete facility expansions. Since the City Utilities Department is an enterprise fund operation, it is also limited to using bond financing programs or additional rate charges to its existing customers to fund facility expansions. The City, observing the policy that growth must pay for itself, has also focused on the use of bond financing to fund facility expansions. Like the County, the City has pledged its anticipated impact fee revenues as the source of re -payment for bonds which were issued to fund facility expansions. By using bond financing, the City charges its existing customers for operation, maintenance and capital replacement costs, while avoiding the need to charge its existing customers for facility expansions. • Electric Impact Fees The City of Vero Beach is the only government agency which offers electric facility service in Indian River County. The City implemented its electric impact fee 1987. This electric impact fee is collected from all development which connects to the City's electric service within the City's electric service area. The City has collected $1,724,536 in electric impact fees since their inception in 1987. These electric impact fees, however, have 20 MAY 189 1995 M M M