If you are building a new residential or commercial building and connecting to the City's water, sewer and/or Ridges irrigation system, a connection fee is due. A connection fee is comprised of a Tap Fee and/or a Plant Investment Fee (PIF). A Tap Fee covers the actual time and material costs to make a connection, and a Plant Investment Fee is a one-time, new connection fee that is intended to recover the cost of constructing the system.
In other words, the system has been built to serve future users. As those future users connect to the system, they have to pay back their fair share of the system construction costs. Plant Investment Fees are calculated based on the expected impact of a new connection to the system. Sometimes additional plant investment fees are due when the use of an existing connection changes.