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Public Services and Facilities Providing public facilities and ser. vices like streets, sewer and water lines, fire and poiice protection, etc, is expensive. Communities may want to consider the costs and benefits of providing them to accomodate future development in floodplain areas. Policies limiting the provision of these services in floodplain areas in order to control development would Mave to be preceded by one or more floodplain engineering studies. Once floodplain areas have been deiine- ated, community officials can deter- mine which areas would be affected. and what specific limitations are appropriate. Taxation How land in floodplain areas is taxed can affect how property owners view their options for that land. If floodplain land is undeveloped and a community wishes to have it remain that way, taxing the land at lower rates may encourage owners to keep it undeveloped, particularly if they knew that tax rates would increase substantially if the land were rezoned or developed. For floodplain areas that are already developed, a community can offer tax credits or provide low interest loans for floodproofing or other flood protection improvements, or for relocation. Urban Renewal Urban renewal areas are sometimes located in floodplains. For this reason communities may want to consider combining urban renewal objectives with those of floodplain management. Urban renewal policies affect areas of a community that are already developed. They can, there- fore, address both areas that have just been damaged by flooding and areas that have not recently been damaged by flooding but for which some protection from flood hazards is desired. An urban renewal program that addressed flooding problems could include some structural improvements to protect buildings in the flood fringe along with the removal of buildings in the floodway. The sites of those removed buildings would then be converted to open space uses. Residents of the removed buildings would be relocated to safer areas. 28 Fee Structure for Flood Control and StQrm Drainage Facilities Policies regarding who pays for flood control and storm drainage improvements and how they pay can be an important part of a com- munity's floodplain management pro' gram. Any system for allocating costs for structural improvements to reduce flooding and storm drainage problems in a community involves answering two questions: first, "Is there something in the floodplain which is worth protecting by spend- ing money for improvements?" and second, "Which members of the com- munity should pay for those improve- ments?" Answering these questions can help direct the way a com- munity's floodplains are managed. One option is to have property owners in the floodplain or in the storm drainage service area pay for the improvements. This would be feasible for areas that are already developed through special improve- ment districts or the like, or for un- developed areas, as subdivision improvements or as special improve- ment district projects, Under this option property owners outside the floodplain or storm drainage service area would pay nothing for the improvements. Another option is to have everyone within a drainage basin pay for improvements in that basin. This option is based on the notion that every acre in a basin contributes runoff and therefore has a share in the problems, including both upiand and lowiand areas. A vehicle for . implementing this option is to create a local drainage district or utility and to assess a mill levy or a monthly fee to pay for construction of improve- ments and for their maintenance and operation. Since every portion of the community would fall in some drain- age basin, everyone in the com. munity would pay for improvements in their particular drainage basin.