Minutes - Council - 02/13/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Councilmember Elvig stated as Chair of the Public Works Committee, they face this conundrum often. He appreciates the position of Councilmembers Dehen and Look. The Council has deliberated this policy over and over, and the net result is the citizens will pay for the roads. The money will either come in through the general fund or from the assessments. He has not paid for a City assessment on his road since he moved into his home 13 years ago; he will be assessed this year. But he does not pay a higher assessment for other roads through the general fund. Councilmember Elvig stated there are so many roads that are coming up for improvements that it was determined to keep the level in this fund at about $350,000. A lot of these roads were built in the 1970's and 1980's, so they are now getting caught with a lot of maintenance coming due. For people just moving into town with a brand new road if this maintenance were to be funded through the general fund they would be paying higher taxes to pay for the older roads. No matter what happens the citizens will pay, whether that is now via taxes, or half now and half when the road is repaired. Mayor Gamec stated as of right now if the City were to pick up the total cost of these improvements through the general fund the cost would be about $1 million to $1.2 million to add into the budget. With this policy the cost is split 50/50. City Engineer Jankowski indicated this year it is anticipated that approximately $381,000 will be received from assessments. Councilmember Look stated with regard to his property, which is a couple of acres on the southeast portion of Ramsey, at the time he was assessed he paid around $2,000 per year in taxes, and it was a 10% hit on their tax bill. If the whole City were to contribute it may be an additional $10 to $15 added onto the tax bill every year. He agrees the money will be the same, and the citizens will pay, but it is not that same hit and it doesn't involve public hearings and assessments. Councilmember Dehen stated he understands that ultimately the citizens will pay for these improvements, but as a City they are claiming their tax rate is competitive within a certain percentage, while they are not comparing themselves apples to apples. The comparison may be that the citizens might be paying more in taxes. He understands the logistics of it is that the citizens ultimately have to pay for this, but rather than hitting people with the assessments and making them pay that chunk of change the policy should be looked at. He lives on Bowers Drive, and they had an overlay done a couple of years ago. There will always be the issue with the person that just got assessed. It will hurt a little whenever there is a change, but he believes the change of policy should be made as soon as they can, while still going forward with the improvements to the roads. He does not think the roads should suffer, but the policy should be looked at and changed. Councilmember Strommen suggested the policy be included on a work session for further discussion. Councilmember Olson concurred. She stated at this point a lot of assumptions are being made about what Ramsey citizens pay in taxes with assessments versus what other communities are paying without assessments. In the first place, they do not know the breakdown of which cities City Council / February 13, 2007 Page 9 of 25