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DUBLIN SAN RAMON SERVICE DISTRICT <br /> REGIONAL CONNECTION FEES <br /> constitutional and decisional law related to fees imposed on new developments. AB 1600 enacted <br /> Government Code §66000- §66003 related to developer fees. In general, AB 1600 contains three <br /> requirements: <br /> Local agencies must follow a process set forth in the statutes and establish a nexus between a <br /> development project and the public improvement being financed with the fee. <br /> Local agencies must segregate the fee revenues from the General Fund to avoid commingling <br /> of funds. <br /> If a local agency has unspent or uncommitted developer fees for five years or more, then it <br /> must make annual findings describing the continuing need for that money, or it must refund <br /> the fees. <br /> Since its original passage in 1988, the California Legislature has added and modified various <br /> code sections to further clarify and expand the requirements related to developer fees. In particular, <br /> Government Code §66013 contains requirements specific to water and wastewater capacity charges. <br /> Specifically, §66013 states that "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a local agency <br /> imposes fees for water connections or sewer connections, or imposes capacity charges, those lees or <br /> charges shall not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee or charge <br /> is imposed... The fundamental issue of this statutory requirement is that a maximum is set for capacity <br /> charges the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service. <br /> The statutory requirements pertaining to capacity charges in California continue to evolve. In <br /> 1998, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 1760. SB 1760 amends and expands Government <br /> Code §66013 to subject capacity charges collected after January 1, 1999 to certain accounting, <br /> expenditure, and reporting requirements. <br /> Proposed Methodology <br /> The District has a number of revenue sources that it uses to support its on -going activities. Under <br /> the District's long -range financial plan, it is the District's policy to fund capital projects through a <br /> combination of connection fees, long term debt, and pay as you go monies. New capital projects are <br /> primarily funded through connection fees while replacement capital projects are funded through rates. As <br /> part of this study, the District requested Black Veatch to apply the buy -in methodology to its assets to <br /> derive a new connection fcc schedule. In addition, to maintain sonic level of consistency and enhance <br /> public acceptance, Black Veatch also paralleled to the extent possible, the approach used in the local <br /> collection system connection fee analysis. Consequently, the methodology proposed in the following <br /> section is a combination of incremental and buy -in approaches. <br /> In order to arrive at the appropriate facilities cost, Black Veatch reviewed the District's fixed <br /> asset listing. Starting with the original service date and original cost, the estimated reproduction cost for <br /> each in- service asset was calculated. Cost escalation factors used were obtained from Engineering News <br /> Record (ENR), and reflect local conditions in the San Francisco Bay Area. To arrive at RCLD, the <br /> reproduction cost was multiplied by the estimated remaining service life percentage. The net replacement <br /> cost is then, the RCLD plus any additional asset costs placed into service in FY 08/09. By using an ENR <br /> index, the connection fcc calculation may be updated yearly if desired to more accurately reflect current <br /> BLACK VEATCH 7 MAY 2010 <br />