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Special Assessment Policy
The Edina City Council in August 2005 approved a new Special Assessment
Policy. Under the new
policy, curb and gutter on non-State Aid residential streets will be
financed by the City’s Storm Water Utility Fund instead of adjacent
property owners. Staff recommends that curb and gutter be installed in
areas of the community where it does not exist today and maintained and
replaced as necessary in other parts of town. For 2004-2005 assessment
projects, the proposal will require an increase in storm water rates of
approximately $2 per household per quarter.
Street reconstruction costs, less
curb and gutter costs, would continue to be assessed to adjacent property
owners at 100 percent of the cost. The Valuation Group recently completed
an appraisal study and indicated that the market value benefit of street
improvements in Edina equates to the cost of the improvements being done.
Other elements of the proposal
include:
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The assessable unit for non-State Aid street
projects will be the residential equivalent unit (REU) of a lot, rather
than the front footage of the property.
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If a corner lot is subject to multiple street
reconstruction assessments over a period of years, the total assessable
cost will be the equivalent of one REU.
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Assessments must be equitable to
all homes that are being assessed.
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The term of residential roadway
assessments will continue to be 10 years.
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The interest rate of the
assessment will be pegged to assessment bonds that have been issued in
the past 12 months or the 10-year Aaa bond rate plus 2 percentage
points.
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The City will accept both
partial pre-payments and full pre-payments on assessments before
certifying the assessment to the tax rolls. For ease of administration,
a minimum of 25 percent of the assessable cost must be applied for a
partial payment.
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Assessments will be calculated
on a declining payment schedule because it is cheaper than a “mortgage
style” amortized schedule.
In addition, elements of the
Senior Deferral Program have changed for equity and fairness. The new
policy will not be retroactive to projects that have already been
assessed.
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