5.90.030 General.
(a) SDC is a fee established pursuant to provisions of the Public Utilities Article, § 25-403(b), Annotated Code of Maryland, to help finance the capital cost of upgrading existing plants and facilities as well as the construction of new capital projects attributable to the addition of new service.
(b) The base SDC fee level is established by Commission resolution representing a formal adoption of the fee level mutually agreed upon by the Montgomery and Prince George County Councils.
(c) The SDC fee for a nonresidential property or a dwelling unit or housing unit within multi-unit dwelling with more than five toilets is determined by the type and number of fixtures, existing and/or proposed, for which hookup to the WSSC’s water and/or sewerage system(s) is proposed. The SDC levy is the sum of SDC water charges and SDC sewer charges, prevailing at the time of application for hookup, which are associated with the individual fixtures proposed for hookup.
(d) The SDC fee for a residential unit with five or fewer toilets is determined by the number of toilets, existing and/or proposed, for which hookup to the WSSC’s water and/or sewerage system(s) is proposed. The SDC levy is the sum of SDC water charges and SDC sewer charges, prevailing at the time of application for hookup, which are associated with the number of toilets proposed for hookup.
(e) Except as provided by subsection (i) of this section, a property’s calculated SDC fee is payable in full and shall accompany the application for plumbing permit for hookup of a property’s fixtures to the WSSC system. Any credit pursuant to the Development Services Code, WSSC Chapter 11.155, may be substituted as payment, on a dollar for dollar basis, as therein described. Collected SDC fees shall be deposited in established revenue accounts and reconciled through the Service Applications and Records Section’s remittance-processing system.
(f) When a request is made to add a fixture(s) to a plumbing permit which has been issued under a previous SDC rate structure and which has not received final inspection approval, the additional SDC shall be calculated and collected based upon the fixture unit rate in effect at the time of request, except that the total SDC for a residential unit permit with five or less toilets shall not exceed the current base SDC fee for such a unit.
(g) When an application is made to add a toilet(s) to an existing dwelling or housing unit within an existing multi-unit dwelling, the resulting permit may be subject to a SDC fee only if the unit was previously assessed a SDC fee or an increase is required in the size of the unit’s connection or meter. In either situation, a SDC fee will be actually assessed only if the number of toilets is being increased from one toilet based rate category to the next. For housing units with five or fewer toilets, the SDC fee assessed will be equal to the difference in the SDC base charge currently applicable to the number of existing toilets and that applicable to the total number of existing and proposed toilets. The SDC fee assessed for existing housing units with more than five toilets is the sum of the SDC base fees at the current SDC rate structure for all added fixtures.
(h) When an application is made to add fixtures to a nonresidential unit, the resulting permit may be subject to a SDC fee only if the unit was previously assessed a SDC fee or an increase is required in the size of the unit’s connection or meter. In either situation, the SDC fee assessed is the sum of the SDC base fees at the current SDC rate structure for all added fixtures.
(i) A residential applicant who elects to delay paying a portion of the system development charge shall pay one-half the charge at the time of filing application for plumbing permit. The remaining one-half of the system development charge for each residential unit shall be paid to the Commission within 12 months after the first payment or prior to the transfer of title to the property, whichever occurs first. A residential applicant must provide security for the remaining one-half of the system development charge at the time of filing the plumbing permit application in one of the following forms:
(1) An irrevocable letter of credit that is automatically renewed from a bank that is rated “C” or better by Thomson Bankwatch.
(2) A financial guaranty bond in a form substantially similar to the form attached here as Appendix A. The bond shall be executed by the applicant and a corporate bonding company licensed to transact such business in the State of Maryland and named on the current list of “Surety Companies Acceptable on Federal Bonds” as published in the Treasury Department Circular Number 570. The expense of this bond shall be paid by the applicant. If at any time the surety on any such bond is declared bankrupt or loses its right to do business in the State of Maryland or is removed from the list of surety companies accepted on federal bonds, the applicant shall, within 10 days after notice from the Commission to do so, substitute an acceptable bond in such forms and sum and signed by such other surety or sureties as may be satisfactory to the Commission.
(3) For the resident applicant who certifies that he or she applies for four or fewer permits for the construction of residential units within the same calendar year, the General Counsel is hereby authorized to accept other forms of security proposed by the applicant and that in the judgment of the General Counsel will protect the Commission’s interests in the same manner as the letter of credit and financial guaranty bond described above.
(j) Fixtures verified by WSSC inspection prior to removal may result in credits toward SDC in a replacement structure. Following written application by a registered master plumber, postcard permit inspections to confirm fixtures prior to removal will be the basis for calculating any SDC credit. No credit will be afforded for rough-in piping or fixtures removed prior to inspection. SDC credit under this subsection may only be obtained by submitting the original master plumber’s copy of the approved postcard permit document at the time of application for hookup of the replacement or remodeled structure. Credit obtained under this provision may only be used toward the remodeling of the existing structure or the redevelopment of a property from which the original fixtures were removed. (Amended during 2019 codification; CUS 98-01 § 3)