By Sara Strong
A public hearing on proposed street work and its attached assessments drew about 40 concerned citizens to Luverne Council Chambers Tuesday.
The scheduled reconstruction includes two alleys and portions of Freeman and Estey streets, Bishop, Crawford and Brown and involves assessing the 153 affected property owners.
The property owners will be assessed specific amounts depending on how much they own. The assessments are calculated at 50 percent of the sidewalk, 50 percent of the street and 100 percent of the curb and gutter work.
Some property owners have an estimated $8,000 or $12,000 on the high end that they'll have to pay for the project - but that's considering the engineer's estimate using worst-case-scenario numbers. The total estimate is between $850,000 and $1 million.
Assessments are often paid off in increments over the span of the bond the city uses to pay for the project.
After the hearing, the Luverne City Council passed a bill allowing the council to move forward with plans for the project. There will be a special meeting at 5 p.m. Friday in which the council will approve plans and specification and order advertisement for bids.
If the council ultimately decides to continue with the street reconstruction, it will have to accept the lowest responsible bid. The bids are open to the public for examination, and the council will be looking at them in March.
When the project is done, the curb and gutter will be a uniform height and allow for handicap accessibility. Drainage and resurfacing work are also a part of the project for the road that was last surfaced in 1977.
The base concrete of the streets will be preserved so the cost is less than it could be. In cases where city streets are built up from nothing, property owners have to pay all of the costs, similar to new homes built in the cityÕs subdivisions.
The streets are overdue for repair by a few years. The project was put off before because of high oil and concrete prices, making the construction costs higher than they will be this year.
The hearing
Property owners were notified by letter and in some cases visited in person about the proposed construction. The large area of construction will mean the neighborhood will be inconvenienced from April to August if it goes through.
Although the streets will be open to driving because of the concrete base, individuals' driveways and sides of streets will be blocked or dug up for weeks at a time.
Even with the inconveniences, people at the hearing said their main concerns were about the money they have to pay.
Many questioned why public streets used by all people in the community are assessed to connected property owners.
Leon Pick said, "I live on the north end of town, but I drive on Freeman and Estey at least twice a day, and there are other streets IÕve never been on."
The City Council discussed the way it assesses construction costs at previous meetings. It decided to keep the same policy as past councils to be consistent. Some cities assess total construction costs, and others pay completely for street projects. LuverneÕs percentage system is somewhere in the middle.
Pick said, "I do think that in the future we should look at a monthly rate."
He and others at the hearing compared it to utility bills that charge small fees for a new sewer system.
That would mean all city residents would pay in advance for anticipated projects.
Councilman Keith Erickson said, "People who had to pay their assessments in the past don't want to pay again for another street project."
Making the transition from assessments to general budget covering street projects would first have to be a governing decision on the part of the council. Then it would be up in the air as to how the city would collect for projects at unforeseen dollar amounts.
One property owner, Joy Vineyard, said even if she pays her assessment, she would gladly pay a few extra dollars each month in the future to prevent other property owners from facing huge assessments. She said the assessment she owes could force her to sell her home because she may not be able to afford it.
Other suggestions were that the city take on a larger portion of the bill and gradually take over all street projects; set a lower interest rate that the assessment increment payments are charged or limit individual property ownersÕ liability to a certain dollar amount.
The council can still change the way the street project will be constructed or paid for. But most citizens said they realized the streets needed the work done.
Erickson said, "I think we see that we don't want to stop the project. The streets need repair, and it is the cityÕs responsibility to do that."