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<br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: County Commissioners <br />John Link, County Manager <br />COPIES: Geoff Gledhill, County Attorney <br />Rod Visser, Assistant County 1v~anager <br />Craig Benedict, Planning Director <br />Diane Reid, Economic Development Director <br />..--- <br />PROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Engine ''~ <br />DATE: October 11, 1999 <br />SUBJECT: Efland sewer system fees <br />As per the request. of Commissioner Jacobs, please find attached the section of Orange Water and Sewer <br />Authority's fee manual that outlines OWASA's water and sewer availability fees. As indicated by the <br />fee structure outlined in these pages, OWASA collects a residential availability fee that varies on the <br />basis of square footage of the residential unit receiving service. <br />Provisions of OWASA's purchase and sales agreement with the University of North Carolina require <br />that its fees and rates reflect the actual cost of providing utility service to those who are paying the fees <br />and rates. OWASA has previously indicated that fees and rates charged one utility customer or <br />type/class of utility customer may not to be used to subsidize the cost of providing utility service to <br />another utility customer or type/class of customer. OWASA staff recommended the variable fee <br />structure which was adopted by the OWASA board of directors on the basis of a comparative analysis of <br />its domestic water use (and sewer use) records and last three years of Chapel HilUCarrboro building <br />permit data. Staff analyzed the data to determine if there was a correlation between property value., and <br />water/sewer use, property acreage/lot size and water/sewer use and house size and water/sewer use. The <br />analysis showed a direct correlation between home size and water/sewer use. Accordingly, OWASA has <br />adopted a domestic water and sewer availability fee structure that has been broken down into the <br />following categories: <br />^ homes less than 1701 square feet <br />^ homes between 1701 and 2400 square feet <br />^ homes between 2401 and 3100 square feet <br />^ homes between 3101 and 3800 square feet <br />^ homes lazger than 3800 square feet <br />OWASA's stepped sewer availability fees currently range from $1310 to $2001. The minimum sewer <br />availability fee is increased by 1.69 percent for a home larger than 1701 square feet, by 23.7 percent for <br />a home larger than 2401 square feet, by 34.1 percent for a home larger than 3100 square feet, and by <br />