title
Ordinance amending water/wastewater connection charges and eliminating wastewater winter maximum calculation (B)
Ordinance No. 211448
An ordinance of the City of Gainesville, Florida, amending the Code of Ordinances relating to utilities; deleting section 27-103, connection charge installment payments; amending sections 27-129 and 27-171 to provide water and wastewater connection credits for certain customers; deleting Section 27-169.1, wastewater winter maximum calculations and adjustments; amending the code of ordinances to make it gender neutral; providing directions to the codifier; providing a severability clause; providing a repealing clause; and providing an effective date.
explanation
As a standard industry practice, GRU charges connection charges for new customer connections to the water and wastewater systems. These charges, along with other new development related fees, are reviewed and adjusted on an annual basis. GRU has been using the Engineering News Record Construction Cost Index for annual inflationary adjustments in most years, with detailed reviews of the basis for these charges on a periodic basis. Based on the construction cost index, connection charges and other related fees are proposed to increase by 8.24% from 2022 to 2023.
Staff is also proposing to delete the Connection Charge Installment provision (Section 27-103) from the City ordinance. This provision allowed owners of existing homes connecting to GRU water and/or wastewater to finance connection charges over 10 years. This provision is no longer needed since ConnectFree pays for connection charges to connect existing homes. Also, it is no longer supported by the GRU Customer Information System.
Staff is also proposing an ordinance modification regarding connection charge credits which apply to redevelopment. Under this provision, if applicable connection charges had been paid for a structure that previously existed on a property, GRU will issue a credit toward connectio...
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