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Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) Refunds <br />January 3, 1989 <br />Page 2 of 4 <br />2. AMonnt and value of refund. - The SAC charge has Increased from an <br />initial $275.00 in the early 1970*s to a current level in 1989 of <br />$575.00. The amount per property that will be refunded by the <br />M.W.C.C. is only the amount that was orxginally. paid. The M.W.C.C. <br />intends to maintain their current policy that any property receiving a <br />refund under this program would have to pay the full contemporary <br />amount at some future time that they connect to sewer, but if no <br />refund is given, then the SAC charge need never be paid again. In <br />other words, for someone who paid a $275.00 SAC charge in 1973, if <br />they hook up to sewer in 1989, they will not have to pay a new SAC <br />charge nor will they have to make up the difference. On the other <br />hand, if that same person accepted a refund in 1989 and then hooked up <br />in 1990, they would have to pay the full 1990 SAC charge which is <br />estimated at $600.00. Clearly, anyone who accepts a SAC refund is <br />taking the risk that.they won't have to pay a full SAC charge sometime <br />in the future. <br />3. Comprehensive Sewer Plan viability. - The 1973 sewer projects in <br />areas such as Hackberry Hill, Tonkawa Road, and North Arm Drive, at <br />that time were intended to be the "last sewer projects ever to be done <br />in Orono". Since then the City has sewered areas in Minnetonka <br />Bluffs, West Ferndale, North Shore Drive, and Crystal Bay. An <br />additional area under consideration at the current time is the north <br />side of Stubbs Bay. Clearly, history has shown that on a long term <br />basis, sewer is inevitable in densely developed areas of the City. If <br />and when the Stubbs Bay area is completed, there are other areas of <br />the City of such an existing developed density that sewer will likely <br />be necessary sometime in the next 10-20 years. In the overall scheme <br />of things, it would be naive to say that "the Stubbs Bay Project will <br />be the last area ever to be sewered in Orono". Therefore, we must <br />consider that other areas of the City will ultimately be sewered, and <br />SAC charges will ultimately need to be paid. Coupled with the <br />expected development pressure from the current and future Highway 12 <br />upgrades, a SAC refund program might in the long run be viewed as <br />"robbing Peter to pay Paul". <br />4. M.W.C.C./MUSA status. - Although this concern has not been <br />discussed by M.W.C.C., staff would question whether offering or.not <br />offering a refund has a political Impact on the City's relationship <br />with M.W.C.C. l.e., if we do a refund program, does it make a <br />statement to the M.W.C.C. that we will never request approval for <br />extensions of the municipal sewer system into these areas? <br />Conversely, if we don't do a program, does it suggest that we expect <br />to request additional sewer extensions in the future? Along the same <br />lines, does not doing a program indicate to Orono residents that the <br />Comprehensive Plan goals of never expanding sewer in the City, are <br />open to revision?