(A) At any time after the formation of any county sewer district, the board of county commissioners, when it considers it appropriate, on application by a person or public agency for the supply of water to properties of that person or public agency located outside of the district, may contract with the person or public agency for supplying water to those properties from water supply facilities acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed by the county to serve the district, on terms that the board considers equitable. The amount to be paid by the person or public agency to reimburse the county for costs of acquiring or constructing those facilities shall not be less than the original or comparable assessment for similar property within the district or, in the absence of an original or comparable assessment, an amount that is found by the board to be reasonable and fairly reflective of that portion of the cost of those facilities attributable to the properties to be served. The board shall appropriate any moneys received for that service to and for the use and benefit of the district. The board may collect the amount to be paid by the person or public agency in full, in cash or in installments as a part of a connection charge to be collected in accordance with division (F) of section 6103.02 of the Revised Code, or, if the properties to be served are located within the county, the same amount may be assessed against those properties, and, in that event, the manner of making the assessment, together with the notice of it, shall be as provided in this chapter.

(B) Whenever water supply facilities have been acquired or constructed by, and at the expense of, a person or public agency and the board considers it appropriate to acquire the facilities or any part of them for the purpose of supplying water to territory within a county sewer district, the county sanitary engineer, at the direction of the board, shall examine the facilities. If the county sanitary engineer finds the facilities properly designed and constructed, the county sanitary engineer shall certify that fact to the board. The board may determine to purchase the facilities or any part of them at a cost that, after consultation with the county sanitary engineer, it finds to be reasonable.

Subject to and in accordance with this division and division (B) or divisions (C), (D), and (E) of section 6103.05 of the Revised Code, the board may purchase the facilities or any part of them by negotiation. For the purpose of paying the cost of their acquisition, the board may issue or incur public obligations and assess the entire cost, or a lesser designated part of the cost, of their acquisition against the benefited properties in the manner provided in this chapter for the construction of original or comparable facilities.

Effective Date: 03-12-2001 .