Several of the residents along a proposed tear out and complete reconstruction of a portion of Adams Street were present at Monday’s Carroll Council meeting for a workshop on special assessments. These assessments, according to City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, are only in the discussion stage, no decisions are being made at this point. These are an option that allocates a portion of the street reconstruction and possibly utility service updates to the homeowners along the route who will benefit from the project. He says the city is simply not investing enough in the 64 miles of roadway within the city limits.
Those residents were on hand to hear about three different scenarios presented by McClure Engineering Company that showed the impact to homeowners at 33.4 percent, 3.4 percent and 13 percent assessment rates on project estimates. Depending on lot sizes, the cost spread out over 10 to 15 years could range from $1,224 to $15,853. These are added to the semiannual property taxes for the selected duration or until paid in full and those examples can be found included below. Additional work could be requested by the homeowner for sidewalks or driveways, and this would add to that assessment amount. Other necessary utility work could also increase those numbers. CEO of McClure, Terry Lutz, answered a question raised by Ryan Gallegos about whether the assessments followed the property or the homeowner.
Roadwork done on Adams south of Highway 30 was brought up and residents wanted to know why that wasn’t assessed and instead was paid for with the tax dollars of all residents. In a similar vein, Jeff St. Peter asked why there is no discussion on spreading this out citywide since the council is working on a long-term plan.
Lutz explains that though it may appear they are picking on Adams Street, they are actually selecting the street in most need of repair. Establishing policy is a critical component as the city will be utilizing that to ensure a fair distribution of costs for future projects on other streets. When consistently applied, at some point everyone in town will be paying for improvements. Adams Street residents will just be paying first, Lutz adds, and chances are their assessments will be lower than those for future projects as construction costs rise. Once set, the assessment cannot go up, it can only go down. The litmus test for allowability says it must be beneficial to the property owner, proportional, fair, reasonable and consistently applied. This was a lengthy workshop, lasting more than an hour and 15 minutes, with many more details and options discussed. The full audio, the projected costs and bonding scenarios can also be found here.
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Full audio on special assessment discussion 12-13-21:
Link to special assessment scenarios:
doc-211181-Conceptual_Assessments-120821
Link to General Obligation (GO) bonding scenarios:
Carroll_Street_Reconstruction_GO_Bond_Scenarios_12-10-2021
