Council hears objections to plan to create runoff utility, possible taxation Aug. 13, 2009 If public comments were any indication, the Common Council is in for a very uphill road in its deliberations over a storm water utility.
At Wednesday’s regular monthly session, aldermen approved commissioning a study, but not before hearing from what will likely be a growing gallery of comments against the plan, which former alderman Bob Stimac Jr. called a “gutter tax.”
Lifelong resident Matt Lehrer noted that he bought his childhood home from his parents, and “the more taxed we get, the more I realize what a mistake I made.”
And Rand Molle, a downtown business owner, said more taxes are not the answer.
“We need rain to make things grow and then you want to tax us on it,” he said.
The council commissioned MSA Engineering to study creation of the utility, which would tax residents and businesses on the amount of storm water runoff their properties place into the city’s overburdened system.
The resolution calls for MSA Engineering to spend the next few months analyzing the various hard surfaces throughout the community, including roofs and driveways, and coming up with recommendations for some sort of fees. The company will be paid $36,253 to complete the work, with the dollars repaid from future revenues if a utility is created.
Vote to commission the study, which is only one in a long series of steps that would be required before the creation of the utility, was 6-2. Joe Kapusta and Vern Cahak were opposed and Tim Kassis was absent.
Mayor Bill Brandt said the contract with MSA calls for a series of informational meetings and educational efforts.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there already,” he said.
In other matters, aldermen approved an jurisdictional agreement with the state Department of Transportation transferring control of 1.28 miles of Highway 64 from Western Avenue to Superior Street—through the downtown area—from state to local control.
The change will take place following the completion of the Highway 64 bypass slated for 2011 and 2012.
As part of the bypass project, the council is in the midst of planning for the rebuilding of the roadway through the downtown, with 80 percent of the funding coming from the state. Downtown revitalization is included in the program.
Aldermen moved forward with a sidewalk reconstruction project, the focus of public hearings last month, awarding the contract with Duffek Sand and Gravel.
Duffek’s bid includes removal of existing sidewalks, 80 cents a square foot; excavation, $1.15 a square foot; replacement, $3.50 a square foot; and backfilling, 45 cents a square foot.
Property owners will be assessed 75 percent of the cost with the city covering the remaining 25 percent.
In other business, aldermen:
—confirmed Mayor Bill Brandt’s appointment of Ted Strobel to the Broadband Utility Commission, replacing Peter Nystrom, who resigned.
—voted to allow the street department to expand into the adjoining lot already owned by the city, along Pierce Avenue to alleviate a shortage of space and storage.
—agreed to earmark $1,000 in hotel/motel economic development funds to cover labor costs incurred by the Park, Recreation and Cemetery Department for two weekend baseball tournaments.
—and voted to make the space along the east side of Third Avenue between the east driveway of Park View Manor and its parking lot a non-parking zone to improve the vision and safety of vehicles exiting Park View Manor.
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