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Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) Refunds <br />January 3, 1989 <br />Page 3 of 4 <br />5. PrograM administration. - The program as established by the <br />M.W.C.C. has no specific provision for the City to receive <br />reimbursement for its efforts as administrator of the program at the <br />local level. Significant staff time would be expended in developing, <br />transmitting, receiving, and processing applications, and issuing <br />checks to individual property owners. Furthermore, anticipating that <br />such a program would only be taken advantage of by a portion of the <br />eligible property owners, careful records will have to be kept to <br />insure that future SAC charges are paid or not paid for appropriate <br />properties if sewer connections occur. <br />Additionally, such a program would necessitate City Attorney time in <br />reviewing specific "full disclosure" dc :uments that would have to be <br />filed for each property receiving a refund (discussed further below). <br />If a program were * to be undertaken, staff weald recommend the <br />following procedure: <br />A) Formal notification to eligible property owners by certified <br />mail. <br />B) Transmittal of refund applications to interested parties. <br />C) Establishment of a deadline for receipt of all applications <br />(in order to make it a one-time effort). <br />D) Receipt and processing of applications. <br />E) Request for a single check from M.W.C.C. <br />F) City transmittal of individual checks to individual <br />recipients. , <br />G) Filing in the chain of title "full disclosure of <br />ramifications" document signed by property owner. <br />The cost of such a program is estimated at 400 hours of in-house staff <br />time at an average of $15.00 per hour, plus initial mailing costs of <br />$600.00, attorney fees estimated at $1,000.00, and an average $20.00 <br />per property filing cost for the "full disclosure" documents. The <br />relatively high amount of staff time estimated is based on the <br />anticipated number of questions and phone calls, as well as follow-up <br />efforts over the next umpteen years. In summary, it is estimated that <br />this program will cost the City $7,500.00 in staff time, postage and <br />consulting fees, in addition to the $20.00 per property document <br />filing fee. These costs would be recovered by charging a $45.00 <br />application fee if all 323 eligible properties partake in the progr^. <br />However, if only 1/3 of the eligible properties partake, the <br />application fee might have to increase.