05/23/95 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

By: WINDEMERE WOODS Jessie Hart, Finance Officer CASE # / Background: The only persons impacted by this issue are A1 and Alice Koenig, principals of Windemere Woods of Ramsey. A copy of this case has been forwarded to them accordingly and they have been apprised of the date, time and location of this meeting. Early in 1995, residents of Windemere Woods requested Council action regarding the property at 5860 - 141st Lane N.W. As a result, we wrote the attached correspondence. To date, the status of the issue is that we have retained an escrow in the amount of $1,800 from A1 and Alice Koenig, the developers of Windemere Woods, to provide for the completion of driveway paving at this property, which they own, in conformance with the development agreement. Also attached is a 1/19/95 memorandum from Tom Pertler, Assistant City Attorney, regarding the issue of retainage of the driveway escrow. Mr. Koenig has requested release of the escrow which he believes we retained inappropriately. Further, he has requested that interest be paid on the escrow retainage. It has been the policy of the City of Ramsey, since the adoption of Ordinance #84-13 in 1984, not to pay interest nor charge an administrative fee to escrow accounts. In response to Mr. Koenig's request for interest and in that our policy is not to pay interest, I have surveyed surrounding and rapidly developing communities as to their policies regarding escrows held by the City. The following is the result of that informal survey [several communities had not responded as of the writing of this case, a summary of any additional responses will be provided at the meeting]: City of Anoka - The City of Anoka, as a policy, does not pay interest on escrow accounts unless it has been separately negotiated in a development agreement. City of Andover - The City of Andover pays interest on escrow accounts utilizing a passbook rate method on a quarterly basis. City of Coon Rapi~l$ - The City of Coon Rapids, as a policy, does not pay interest on escrow accounts unless the escrow is to guarantee special assessments. They do not apply a service charge on escrow accounts. City of Eagan - The City of Eagan has included in each of their development agreements the following statement: "The City shall not be responsible for paying any interest on the account contemplated under this Agreement". The policy includes escrows not governed by development agreements. City of Elk River - The City of Elk River, through an ordinance, does not pay interest nor charge an administrative fee on escrow accounts and is currently in the process of changing the ordinance to provide more authority in collecting developers escrow accounts. City of Golden Valley - The City of Golden Valley does not have a policy but as a practice does not give interest on escrow accounts.