It’ll cost $1,000 more for a new business or home to tap into Farmville’s water and sewer system because of a rebate change recently agreed to by town council members.

The rebate, previously $3,000 for the tap fees, which are applicable to a $4,000 fee for residences and $4,500 fee for businesses, has been in place for about 18 months, according to Town Manager Gerald Spates.

The rebate was first put into place to spur economic growth, which it has, Spates said.

The unanimous decision by town council to dial back the rebate from $3,000 to $2,000 per tap came following an Oct. 12 public hearing, which drew no comments. Council unanimously adopted the ordinance change with no discussion.

“We decided to lower the tap fees so that … would spur new development, which it has,” Spates said.

The change, according to the amended ordinance, is applicable to new taps purchased through June 2017.

“The idea of the thing was if you own two or three lots and you were anticipating you were going to build, you could go ahead and pay the tap fee,” Spates said. “If you didn’t build them, then you didn’t get a rebate. If you built them, you got a rebate.”

He said the rebate encouraged “people to go ahead and do the project.”

The ordinance change is retroactive to Sept. 14.

“It is, basically, a continuation of the incentive that we previously had,” Farmville Mayor David Whitus said, noting the rebate has “spurred a lot of growth,” citing new hotels under construction. “We hope that that incentive will continue to spur economic growth.”

“I think it accomplished what we were looking at,” Spates reiterated. “If a business locates in the enterprise zone, they get it cheaper anyway.”

Part of the reason for decreasing the rebate includes paying for improvements on the system, which is where most of the tap fee revenue is directed.

“The bigger ones that it helped were the hotels,” Spates said of the incentive, noting the construction and proposed construction of several in town. “That’s a big incentive for somebody. I think this, and I’m hoping what’s going to happen with this — this will be the rates that will carry on down the road.”