Street project to proceed despite residents' concerns
HILLSDALE — The city of Hillsdale has used special assessment districts as a catalyst to fund local street improvements since adopting the SAD policy in February 2021, and has now completed a handful of projects.
On Monday, Aug. 21, the city council approved road work to another section of roadways in town — on West St. Joe Street spanning from Bacon Street to Barnard Street and on Griswold Street spanning from Barnard Street to Waterworks Avenue.
The council’s approval of the work came after some residents expressed concerns with the project, which will require them to pay an additional $5,000 over 10 years in property taxes to assist in completing the $1,281,411.43 project.
Funds collected from the properties in the SAD will account for nearly 13% of the project’s funding with the remaining 87% coming from local street funds.
Karla Adams, who owns property on West St. Joe Street, expressed frustrations as she was barely comfortable in paying her already high property taxes this year.
She penned a letter to the city council offering alternative, cheaper ideas to offset costs for the project to no avail.
Nancy Hutchins, another resident on West St. Joe Street, said she survives on Social Security and that she “barely made it for taxes this year when they went up.”
Another property owner, a landlord, inquired about the use of special assessment districts and said that if his properties were subjected to the special tax levy he would likely have to raise rent even further.
Despite the verbal opposition, the council approved the special assessment district for the project to be funded.
Councilman Bruce Sharp said funding local street projects was unlikely to come from the state of Michigan and that “it’s something the local people are going to have to face” as special assessment districts are “the best answer we have found.”
The city’s charter dictates that if more than 50% of the number of property owners in the selected assessment district had written opposing letters to the council, the improvements could not have been made without a super-majority vote of the council (7-2 or greater).
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Infrastructure work in the newly created special assessment district will not begin until 2024.
Following a public hearing on the issue, the council took up other discussions about local infrastructure noting that half of the city’s 18 culverts — including six that allow the St. Joseph River to flow through the city — are assessed in poor condition.
At a cost of nearly $1 million per culvert to replace, the city has looked at all possible funding options including Senate appropriation funding which never came to fruition.
— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Street project to proceed despite residents' concerns
