A. Upon the request of an owner of the property on which an impact fee has been paid, the municipality or county shall refund the impact fee if existing facilities are available and service is not provided or the municipality or county has, after collecting the fee when service was not available, failed to complete construction within the time allowed under Section 11 [5-8-11 NMSA 1978] of the Development Fees Act or service is not available within a reasonable period of time after completion of construction considering the type of capital improvement or facility expansion to be constructed, but in no event later than seven years from the date of payment under Subsection A of Section 11 of the Development Fees Act.

B. Upon completion of the capital improvements or facility expansions identified in the capital improvements plan, the municipality or county shall recalculate the impact fee using the actual costs of the capital improvements or facility expansion. If the impact fee calculated based on actual costs is less than the impact fee paid, including any sources of funding not anticipated in the capital improvements plan, the municipality or county shall refund the difference if the difference exceeds the impact fee paid by more than ten percent, based upon actual costs.

C. The municipality or county shall refund any impact fee or part of it that is not spent as authorized by the Development Fees Act within seven years after the date of payment.

D. A refund shall bear interest calculated from the date of collection to the date of refund at the statutory rate as set forth in Section 56-8-3 NMSA 1978.

E. All refunds shall be made to the record owner of the property at the time the refund is paid. However, if the impact fees were paid by a governmental entity, payment shall be made to the governmental entity.

F. The owner of the property on which an impact fee has been paid or a governmental entity that has paid the impact fee has standing to sue for a refund under this section.

History: Laws 1993, ch. 122, § 17.