Purpose and intent. The Village Board hereby finds and determines that in order to protect and safeguard the Village of Caledonia, its residents and their property, with respect to land development within the Village, all buildings, structures, highways, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer facilities, water supply utilities, other utilities and parks within any such development should be designed and constructed in a competent and workmanlike manner and in conformity with all applicable governmental codes, rules and regulations and, where applicable, dedicated and conveyed to the Village in a legally sufficient manner, that in order to assure the foregoing, it is essential for the Village to have competent engineers retained by the Village to review and approve plans and designs, make recommendations to the Village Board and Planning Board, inspect the construction of highways, drainage, sewer, other facilities and parks to be dedicated to the Village and to recommend their acceptance by the Village, and to have competent attorneys retained by the Village to negotiate and draft appropriate agreements with developers, obtain, review and approve necessary security instruments, insurance and other legal documents, review proposed deeds and easements to assure the Village is obtaining good and proper title and to generally represent the Village with respect to any issues with respect to such development, and that the cost of retaining such competent engineers and attorneys should ultimately be paid by those who seek to profit from such developments rather than from general Village funds which are raised by assessments generally paid by taxpayers of the Village. This section is enacted under the authority of New York State Municipal Home Rule Law § 10, Subdivision 1, Paragraphs (ii)a(12) and d(3), and New York State Municipal Home Rule Law § 22. To the extent Village Law does not authorize the Village Board or Village Planning Board to require the reimbursement to the Village of legal, engineering, and other professional service expenses incurred by the Village in connection with the review and consideration of any of the application for the permits or approvals described hereinafter, it is the expressed intent of the Village Board to change and supersede such statutes. More particularly, such statutes do not authorize the deferral or withholding of such approvals in the event such expenses are not paid to the Village. It is the expressed intent of the Village Board to change and supersede Village Law and any other provision of the New York State Village Law or General Municipal Law to empower the Village to require such payment as a condition to such approvals.

Reimbursement of fees and expenses.

Deposit amounts.

Deposit and payment of reimbursements. Simultaneously with the filing of an application as defined herein, and prior to the commencement of any construction of buildings, highways, drainage facilities, utilities or parks therein, the applicant or developer, as the case may be, may be required to deposit with the Village Supervisor a sum of money, as determined in Subsection C above, which shall be used to pay the costs incurred by the Village for engineering, legal, or other professional services as described in this section. The process for the management of said deposits and fees shall be as follows:

Simultaneously with the filing of an application as defined herein and prior to the commencement of any construction of buildings, highways, drainage facilities, utilities or parks therein, the applicant or developer, as the case may be, shall deposit with the Village Mayor a sum of money, as determined in the following section of this article, which sum shall be used to pay the costs incurred by the Village for engineering and legal services as described in this article.

Upon receipt of such sums, the Village Mayor shall cause such monies to be placed in a separate non-interest-bearing account in the name of the Village and shall keep a separate record of all such monies so deposited and the name of the applicant or developer and project for which such sums were deposited.

Upon receipt and approval by the Village Board of itemized vouchers from an engineer and/or attorney for services rendered on behalf of the Village pertaining to the application or development, the Village Mayor shall cause such vouchers to be paid out of the monies so deposited and shall furnish copies of such vouchers to the applicant or developer at the same time such vouchers are submitted to the Village.

The Village Board shall review and audit all such vouchers and shall approve payment of only such engineering and legal fees as are reasonable and necessarily incurred by the Village in connection with the review, consideration and approval of any application for development, and the inspection of all construction and acceptance of highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks within or in conjunction with such development. For purpose of the foregoing, a fee or part thereof is reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable relationship to the average charge by engineers or attorneys to the Village for services performed in connection with the approval or construction of a similar development and, in this regard, the Village Board may take into consideration the size, type and number of buildings, structures or facilities to be constructed, the amount of time to complete the development, the topography of the land on which such development is located, soil conditions, surface water, drainage conditions, the nature and extent of highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks to be constructed and any special conditions or considerations that the Village Board may deem relevant; and a fee or part thereof is necessarily incurred if it was charged by the engineer or attorney for a service which was rendered in order to protect or promote the health, safety or other vital interests of the residents of the Village, or to protect public or private property from damage from uncontrolled surface water runoff and other factors, and to assure the proper and timely construction of highways, drainage facilities, utilities and parks, protect the legal interests of the Village, including receipt by the Village of good and proper title to dedicated highways and other facilities and the avoidance of claims and liability, and such other interests as the Village Board may deem relevant.

If at any time during or after the processing of such application or in the construction, inspection or acceptance of buildings, highways, drainage facilities, utilities or parks there shall be insufficient monies on hand to the credit of such applicant or developer to pay the approved vouchers in full, or if it shall reasonably appear to the Village Mayor that such monies will be insufficient to meet vouchers yet to be submitted, the Village Mayor shall cause the applicant or developer to deposit additional sums as the Mayor deems necessary or advisable in order to meet such expenses or anticipated expenses.

In the event that the applicant or developer fails to deposit such funds or such additional funds, the Village Mayor shall notify, as applicable, the Chairman of the Planning Board, Village Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and/or Village's Code Enforcement Officer of such failure, and any review, approval, building permit or certificates of occupancy may be withheld by the appropriate Board, officer or employee of the Village until such monies are deposited.

The issuance of a final certificate of occupancy shall not occur unless and until all fees incurred hereunder have been paid in full.

After final approval, acceptance and/or the issuance of a certificate of occupancy relating to any specific development, and after payment of all approved vouchers submitted regarding such development, any sums remaining on account to the credit of such applicant or developer shall be returned to such applicant or developer, along with a statement of the vouchers so paid.

The amount of the initial deposit for the various developments covered by this article shall be as set forth in a schedule of deposits, established from time to time, by resolution of the Village Board. Said schedule shall remain in effect and shall apply to all applicants and developers until amended or revised by subsequent resolution.

The deposits required by this article shall be in addition to any application fees as may be required by other laws, rules, regulations or laws of the Village and shall only be used to offset the specific expenses of the Village in connection with the application or development and shall not be used to offset the Village's general expenses of legal, engineering, and/or other professional services for the several Boards of the Village, nor its general administration expenses.