§ 258-78. Powers and duties.

The authority shall have the following powers and duties:

(1)

To acquire, construct, operate, and maintain water supply and water transmission and distribution facilities. Such water supply facilities shall include all practical means of obtaining water, including, but not limited to, withdrawals of surface water and groundwater, recycling of waste water, and desalinization.

(2)

To adopt rules for its own government and proceedings and to adopt an official seal for the authority. Such rulemaking power includes, but is not limited to, the power to ration water which the authority supplies during periods of drought or water shortage and the power to establish regulations for water conservation and reuse.

(3)

To employ engineers, attorneys, accountants, financial or other experts, and such other agents and employees as the governing board of the authority may require or deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act, or to contract for any such services.

(4)

To construct, reconstruct, install, erect, acquire, operate, maintain, improve, extend, or enlarge a water system within or without the district and the environs thereof; and to issue its general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, or assessment bonds, or any combination of such bonds, to pay all or part of the cost of such construction, reconstruction, erection, acquisition, or installation of such water system and to enter into agreements with other units of government for such purposes.

(5)

To levy and assess ad valorem taxes without limitation of rate or amount on all taxable property within the boundaries of the district for the purpose of paying principal of and interest on any general obligation bonds which may be issued for the purposes of this article.

(6)

Except as provided in Laws of Fla. ch. 83-375, § 13, to acquire in the name of the authority, by purchase, gift, or eminent domain, such lands and rights and interest therein, including riparian rights, within and without the boundaries of the district, except that eminent domain shall not be exercised outside the boundaries of the district, and to acquire such personal property as it may deem necessary in connection with the construction, reconstruction, improvement, extension, installation, erection, operation, or maintenance of any water system within and without the boundaries of the district, for or on behalf of the authority, and to hold and dispose of all real and personal property under its control. Property within the boundaries of the district already devoted to a public use may be acquired by the authority by eminent domain. The right of eminent domain conferred by this article shall be considered the superior right, and the doctrine of prior public use shall not be valid as a defense by any unit of government or water system owner whose property is condemned in an eminent domain proceeding under this act. However, eminent domain shall not be exercised to acquire any off-site water distribution system of a publicly owned water distribution system as prohibited in subsection (14).

(7)

To enter into water supply agreements with water distribution systems and to set uniform rates which shall apportion to the parties to such agreements and to other users a uniform or equitable share of the capital cost, indebtedness, financing cost, renewal and replacement cost, and operation and maintenance costs of the water furnished, based upon a consideration of present and future water supply needs of such water distribution systems.

(8)

To acquire in the name of the authority, by purchase or gift, lands, or rights and interest therein, within and without the boundaries of the district, to construct, operate, or maintain water systems to serve customers within or without the boundaries of the district or to acquire, by purchase or gift, any water distribution system.

(9)

To fix and collect rates, fees, and other charges to persons or property or both for the use of a water distribution system used and operated by the authority, and to fix and collect charges for making connections with any such water distribution system and to provide for reasonable penalties on any users or property for any such rates, fees, or charges that are delinquent. Such rates, fees, and charges shall be just and equitable and uniform for users of the same class and, where appropriate, may be based or computed either upon the quantity of water consumed or upon the average number of persons residing or working in or otherwise using or occupying such premises or upon any other factor affecting the use of the facilities furnished or upon any combination of the foregoing factors as may be determined by the authority on any other equitable basis. No rates, fees, or charges shall be fixed under this subsection until after a public hearing at which all the users of the proposed water distribution system or owners, tenants, or occupants served or to be served thereby, and all others interested, shall have an opportunity to be heard concerning the proposed rates, fees, and charges. Such public hearing may be adjourned from time to time. Notice of such public hearing, setting forth the proposed schedule or schedules of rates, fees, and charges, shall be given by one publication in a newspaper published in the county and circulating in the district at least ten days before the date fixed in such notice for the hearing.

(10)

To levy and impose special assessments against the real property within the boundaries of the district upon a determination that the water supply and transmission facilities and, where applicable, distribution facilities, provide a benefit to such real property. The benefits shall be assessed upon the property specially benefited by the improvements in proportion to the benefits to be derived therefrom, and the special benefits shall be determined and prorated by a method prescribed by the governing board.

a.

The governing board, if it elects to assess a special benefit, shall declare by a resolution the nature of the proposed improvement, designate the location of the improvement, and state the part or portion of the expense thereof to be paid by special assessments, the manner in which said assessments shall be made, when said assessments are to be paid, and what part, if any, shall be apportioned to be paid from the funds of the authority. The resolution shall also designate the lands upon which the special assessment shall be levied, and, in describing said lands, it shall be sufficient to describe them as "all lands and lots abutting and contiguous to or bounding and abutting upon such improvements or specifically benefited thereby and further designated by the assessment plat herein provided for." The resolution shall state the total estimated cost of the improvement. Such estimated cost may include the cost of construction or reconstruction; the cost of all labor and materials; the cost of all lands, property, rights, easements, and franchises acquired; financing charges; interest; cost of all engineering, legal, financial, and other services; all other expenses necessary or incidental to determine the feasibility or practicability of such construction or reconstruction; administrative expenses; and such other expenses as may be necessary or incidental to the financing herein authorized.

b.

Upon the adoption of the resolution, the governing board shall cause said resolution to be published one time in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county.

c.

Upon the adoption of the resolution, the governing board shall cause to be made an assessment roll in accordance with the method of assessment provided for in said resolution, which assessment roll shall be completed and filed with the records of the governing board as promptly as possible. The lots and lands assessed, the amount for the benefit to and the assessment against each lot or parcel, and, if said assessment is to be paid in installments, the number of annual installments in which the assessment is divided shall be entered and shown on said assessment roll.

d.

On the completion of said assessment roll, the governing board shall by resolution fix a time and place at which the owners of the property to be assessed, or any other persons interested therein, may appear before said governing authority and be heard as to the propriety and advisability of making such improvements, as to the cost thereof, as to the amount of payment therefor, and as to the amount thereof to be assessed against each property so improved. Notice in writing of such time and place shall be given to such property owners. Such notice may be given by placing in the U.S. Postal Service, at least ten days prior to such hearing, a copy of such notice to each property owner at his last known address, the names and addresses of such property owners to be obtained from the records of the county property appraiser or from such other sources the governing board deems reliable. The proof of such mailing shall be made by an affidavit of the secretary of the governing board, said proof to be filed with the minutes of the governing board. Failure to mail said notice or notices shall not invalidate any of the proceedings herein. Notice of the time and place of such hearing shall also be given by two publications, a week apart, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The last publication shall be at least seven days prior to the date of the hearing. Said notice, which shall be published, shall contain a map showing the general area which will be specially benefited and shall contain the name and the amount to be assessed against each piece or parcel of property.

e.

At the time and place named in the notice provided for in subsection d, the governing board of the authority shall meet as an equalization board to hear and consider any and all complaints as to the special assessments and shall adjust and equalize the assessments on the basis of justice and right. After the special assessments are so equalized and approved by resolution, such assessments shall stand confirmed and, until paid, shall remain legal, valid, and binding first liens upon the property against which such assessments are made; however, upon completion of the improvement, the governing board shall credit to each of the assessments the difference in the assessment as originally made, approved, and confirmed and the proportionate part of the actual cost of the improvement to be paid by special assessments as finally determined on the completion of theimprovement, but in no event shall the final assessments exceed the amount of benefits originally assessed. Promptly after confirmation, the assessments shall be recorded in the public records of Brevard County and the record of the lien shall constitute prima facie evidence of its validity.

f.

The special assessments shall be payable at the time and in the manner stipulated in the resolution authorizing the improvement. Such assessments shall remain liens, coequal with the lien of all state, county, district, and municipal taxes and superior in dignity to all other liens, titles, and claims until paid. Such assessments shall bear interest at a rate prescribed by the governing board in the resolution which it adopts.

g.

Each annual installment provided for shall be paid upon the date specified in said resolution, with interest upon all deferred payments, until the entire amount of said assessment has been paid, and, on the failure of any property owner to pay any annual installment due or any part thereof, or any annual interest on deferred payments, the governing board shall cause to be brought the necessary legal proceedings to enforce payment thereof with all accrued interest and penalties, together with all legal costs incurred, including a reasonable attorney's fee, to be assessed as part of the costs, and, in the event of default in the payment of any installments of any assessment or any accrued interest on said installment, the whole assessment, with the interest and penalties thereon, shall immediately become due and payable and subject to foreclosure. In the foreclosure of any special assessment, service of process against unknown or nonresident defendants may be had by publication as now provided by law. The foreclosure proceedings shall be prosecuted to a sale and conveyance of the property involved in said proceedings as now provided by law in suits to foreclose mortgages.

h.

If any special assessment made under the provisions of this section to defray the whole or any part of the expense of said improvement is either in whole or in part annulled, vacated, or set aside by the judgment of any court, or if the governing board of the authority is satisfied that any such assessment is so irregular or defective that the same cannot be enforced or collected, or if the governing board omitted to make such assessment when it might have done so, the governing board shall take all necessary steps to cause a new assessment to be made for the whole or any part of any improvement or against any property benefited by any improvement, following as nearly as possible the provisions of this act, and, in case such second assessment shall be annulled, said governing board may obtain and make other assessments until a valid assessment is made.

i.

Any informality or any irregularity in the proceedings in connection with the levy of any special assessment under this article shall not affect the validity of the same where the assessment roll has been confirmed by the governing board, and the assessment roll as finally approved and confirmed shall be competent and sufficient evidence that the assessment was duly levied, the assessment was duly made and adopted, and that all other proceedings adequate to the adoption of said assessment roll were duly had, taken, and performed as required by this article; no variance from the directions hereunder shall be held material unless it is clearly shown that the party objecting was materially injured thereby.

(11)

To sue and be sued in the name of the authority and to restrain, enjoin, or otherwise prevent the violation of this article or of any resolution, rule, or regulation adopted pursuant to the powers granted by this article.

(12)

To establish and define all service areas and the duty to serve for publicly owned water distribution systems within the boundaries of the district, reconcile differences between water distribution service areas of water distribution systems and the authority, and to develop and mandate water distribution service area rights and obligations of publicly owned water distribution systems within the boundaries of the district to insure a reasonable plan and method of water distribution within all areas of the district by the authority or the appropriate water distribution system. Included in such power to establish and define service areas is the power to set and declare amortization schedules for existing franchise areas and service areas of publicly owned water distribution systems to insure the reasonable availability of water in all areas of the district.

(13)

To review and approve any proposed or existing condition of service imposed by any publicly owned distribution system within the boundaries of the district which imposes any restrictions or requirements which do not uniformly apply to all customers within the service area of the publicly owned distribution system. No such condition of service shall be effective until approved by the authority.

(14)

The authority shall have the right to contract with any water distribution system to provide water distribution within any area of the district or to acquire by purchase or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain all or any part of any water system facilities owned and operated by any publicly owned water system within the boundaries of the district; except that the authority is prohibited from exercising the power of eminent domain to acquire any off-site water distribution system of a publicly owned water distribution system. The acquisition price or measure of full compensation value of any such publicly owned water system facilities, or any part thereof, which shall be set by a court if the power of eminent domain is exercised, shall be the amount of the outstanding indebtedness of the water system or an amount equal to the portion of the outstanding indebtedness attributable to the acquired or condemned facilities, if the indebtedness does not encumber or a covenant does not prohibit the sale or transfer of a portion of such system, whichever amount is less. If a publicly owned water system is acquired or condemned, the outstanding indebtedness attributable to such acquired or condemned facilities shall be refunded by the authority, the rights of any holders of obligations defeated or all rights and obligations of the holders of the obligations represented by such outstanding indebtedness shall be preserved and protected, and all expenses of the refund shall be paid by the authority. If there is a covenant which is impaired by such partial refund, a full indebtedness refund, including all the expenses of the refund, shall be made by the authority. It is not the intention of this article that the rights of the holders of any obligations shall be impaired.

(Laws of Fla. ch. 83-375, § 6; Laws of Fla. ch. 87-481, § 1)