3.08.025 Deferred payment and refunds.
A. If the sewer or water line extension is provided for other than by the formation of a local improvement assessment district, the council may provide for deferred payments in the form of additional connection fees or charges and refunds of pro rata portions of the costs to the person or persons originally undertaking the payment of the costs. The deferred payments and refunds shall be made as provided in this section.
B. If a person agrees to pay all or part of the costs of extending a sewer or water trunk or lateral line to serve the person’s property, and the extension of the line would be across or adjacent to property other than that person’s own so that sewer or water service for either domestic, commercial or industrial use is available to such other property without further extension of the line, the City shall require the owners of the other property, prior to providing sewer or water service to property, to refund to the person required to pay the costs of extending the sewer or water line a pro rata portion of the costs of the extension. The amount to be refunded, including interest charges, shall be determined by the council, and the determination shall be final. The right to a refund extends to the City to the extent that the City pays all or part of the original cost of the extension. The right of the City to require refunds shall not continue for more than ten years after the installation of the water or sewer line and apportionment of the cost by the council. The council may authorize, subject to conditions and terms as it considers necessary, single-family residences, existing at the time construction begins, to hook up to the water or sewer line, for domestic use only, without requiring a refund to be made at that time.
C. When an extension is completed to the city engineer’s satisfaction, the city engineer shall file a certificate of completion and approval with the city recorder. The certificate shall also contain the full cost of the extension and what the city engineer considers to be a just apportionment of the cost. The city recorder shall forward the certificate to the council as soon as possible after filing by the city engineer.
D. The council shall, by ordinance, make a determination as to the properties benefited by the extension and shall apportion the cost among such properties as it considers reasonable. Prior to the apportionment of cost, the council may provide for a public hearing and notice as it considers appropriate. The ordinance shall be filed with the director of Records and Elections of Washington County and mailed or delivered to the property owners involved.
E. Property owners required to pay a proportionate share of the cost of the extension may pay their share:
1. in full on completion of the extension;
2. in installments as may be approved by the council; or
3. in a lump sum at the time of connection to the extension. Interest shall be charged on all amounts not paid within 30 days from the effective date of the ordinance containing the apportionment of costs. Unless otherwise provided by the ordinance, the interest rate shall be the rate established by resolution pursuant to BC 1.01.020 or at the interest rate established for the last Bancroft Bond sale, whichever is higher.
F. The proportionate share of costs for extensions shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any service connection fees or charges now or hereafter imposed by the City.