01-10-2000 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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^OUNnn mh^tinQ 0 I 2000 REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION CITY Of- Omvj/^q DATE: Januar>' 5,2000 ITEM NO: ^ Department Approval: Name Ron Moorse Title Cit>' Administrator Administrator Reviewed:Agenda Section: Cit>' Administrator's Report Item Description: Sewer Assessment/Cost Allocation Policy Prior to the Stubbs Bay sewer project constructed in 1992, the City’s policy was to assess properties for 100% of the costs of sewer projects. However, this policy was often in conflict with court decisions that restricted the amount of the assessment to the benefit received by the property as measured by the increase in the value of the property resulting from the public improvement. The City was unsuccessful in defending the 100% assessment in several sewer projects. This resulted in the City paying a significant percentage of the cost of these projects. For the Stubbs Bay project, the City determined that the assessment amounts would be set based on the benefit of the sewer project to the properties. This resulted in the City paying a portion of the project cost. It also avoided the legal costs of defending the assessment against appeals. \Mien the City was successful in amending the MUSA line to reflect the extension of sewer to the ten “hot spots”, the policy guiding the project assessments was that the City would continue to set the assessment level based on the benefit to the affected properties. The basis of this policy was that there were some “hot spot” neighborhoods with a large number of small homes on small lots whose value would not increase by the per unit cost of the sewer project. These neighborhoods were the ones with the greatest existing and potential septic problems whose only solution was the extension of sewer to the neighborhood. For neighborhoods where the extension of sewer was the only solution for existing and potential septic problems, the City set the assessment amount based on the amount of benefit to the property that could be defended against appeal. In neighborhoods where the vast majority of properties could solve current and future septic problems without sewer, the City detemiined a sewer project would not be constructed unless the properly owners determined that the benefit of the project w as equal to or greater than the amount of the assessments, and agreed to pay 100% of the costs through assessments. In this way, the only projects that woulu not be 100% as.sessed would be the ones with the greatest potential for public health problems related to septic systems in the absence of sewer. The City’s assessment policy has been tweaked in recent years to enable properties with fully conforming septic systems to opt out of a project and the project assessments. However, these properties will be required to pay the full per unit cost of the sewer project at such time as they connect to the sewer system in the future.