§ 27-139. Refunds.

(a)

Refund of unexpended fees. Any capital recovery fee or portion thereof collected pursuant to this article which has not been expended within ten (10) years from the date of payment shall be refunded, upon application, to the record owner of the property at the time the refund is paid, or if the capital recovery fee was paid by another governmental entity, to such governmental entity, together with interest calculated from the date of collection to the date of refund at the statutory rate as set forth in section 302.002 of the Texas Finance Code, as amended, or any successor statute.

(b)

Method of determining refund. If a refund is due pursuant to subsection (a), the city shall prorate the same by dividing the difference between the amount of expenditures and the amount of the fees collected by the total number of service units assumed within the service area for the period to determine the refund due per service unit. The refund to the record owner or governmental entity shall be calculated by multiplying the refund due per service unit by the number of service units for the development for which the fee was paid and interest due shall be calculated upon that amount.

(c)

Recalculation of maximum impact fee per service unit and resultant refund. Upon completion of all the capital improvements or facilities expansions identified in the capital improvements plan upon which the fee was based, the city shall recalculate the maximum impact fee per service unit using the actual costs for the improvements or expansions. If the maximum impact fee per service unit based on actual cost is less than the impact fee per service unit paid, the city shall refund the difference, if such difference exceeds the impact fee paid by more than ten (10) percent. The refund to the record owner or governmental entity shall be calculated by multiplying such difference by the number of service units for the development for which the fee was paid and interest due shall be calculated upon that amount.

(d)

Conditions upon which property owners can request refunds. Upon the request of an owner of the property on which a capital recovery fee has been paid, the city shall refund such fees if:

(1)

Existing service is available and service is denied;

(2)

Service was not available when the fee was collected and the city has failed to commence construction of facilities to provide service within two (2) years of fee payment; or

(3)

Service was not available when the fee was collected and has not subsequently been made available within a reasonable period of time considering the type of capital improvement or facility expansion to be constructed, but in any event later than five (5) years from the date of fee payment.

(e)

Proportional refund when previously purchased meter replaced with smaller meter. The city shall refund an appropriate proportion of capital recovery fee payments in the event that a previously purchased water meter is replaced with a smaller meter, based on the LUE differential of the two (2) meter sizes and the per-LUE fee at the time of the original fee payment, less an administrative charge of fifty dollars ($50.00).

(f)

Petition for refund. Petition for refunds shall be submitted to the engineer on a form provided by the city for such purpose. Within one (1) month of the date of receipt of a petition for refund, the engineer must provide the petitioner, in writing, with a decision on the refund request, including the reasons for the decision. If a refund is due to the petitioner, the engineer shall notify the finance director and request that a refund payment be made to the petitioner. The petitioner may appeal the determination to the impact fee advisory committee and council, as set forth in section 27-138.

(Ord. No. 90-10, § 1(1.19), 8-28-1990; Ord. No. 2018-13, § 2(Exh. 3), 4-17-2018)