East Adams assessments draw resident complaints

WASHINGTON — As the city moves forward on a project to install a sidewalk, repave the road and address drainage problems on East Adams Street, some community members have voiced concerns.

Most of those stem from homeowners along the street, who would have to foot some of the bill through property assessments that municipal officials say would cover around 10% of the cost.

“Some of us, we worked to have it paid by the time we retired, and then all of a sudden you come up with $10,000 that has to be paid,” East Adams Street resident Judie Murphy said.

Washington City Administrator Deanna McCusker said the use of assessments for such projects was common practice.

“This is nothing new,” she said. “They are benefiting from this improvement project, so therefore they have to chip in some of the cost … new sidewalk, new driveway approaches, things to make their property better, especially for selling purposes.”

Homeowners have the option to pay their assessment in full within 30 days of the project’s completion date — expected sometime in the next year and a half — or over 10 years with interest.

Benice Cerdena, an affected resident on 12th Street, said she didn’t understand the need for interest on those payments.

“Don’t get me wrong, I support all projects for the betterment of the community,” she said. “But my thinking is, it’s a city project, I understand we have to pay something because the road will be beside our property, but … why are we paying the additional interest?”

McCusker said the interest also applied to they city’s own expenses. While the rate historically has been around 5%, it isn’t finalized until after the project’s completion.

“We are bonding for this project, and so in doing so, we in turn are having to pay interest on our money,” she said. “We can charge anywhere from 4-9% on our interest, up to 2% more than the interest rate we are paying. But typically, the common practice that we’ve done is Washington is we charge 5%.”

Council Member Illa Earnest, a former city clerk, said that interest could be minimized with partial upfront payments.

“You can pay part of what you owe in the thirty days, you don’t have to pay it all if you can’t,” she said. “But if you pay something on it, that would lower what goes to your taxes.”

Brad Priest, a resident on 14th Avenue, which is adjacent to East Adams, said he didn’t see the need to pay for a sidewalk with the project.

“I’ve worked from my home office for the past eight years, and I can count only a handful of people — outside of one of our neighbors who walks their dog — that walks by,” he said. “It’s not a very highly traveled area, so I’d really like to ask you to question and consider that, especially as concrete prices are at an all-time high.”

Mayor Jaron Rosien, however, said the sidewalk installation was a non-negotiable part of the package with any street project of this scale.

“You’re correct about the amount of traffic,” he said. “We have people that say, ‘Why are you doing the sidewalk project? This doesn’t make sense.’ The concern would be that your children or grandchildren would stand right in that same spot and say, ‘Why in the world didn’t you do this sidewalk project?’”

Jack Pope, vice president of Garden and Associates, which the city has consulted for the project’s engineering and design, said the choice to do 5-foot sidewalks was prompted by ADA requirements.

“If you go to 4 feet, you have to put 5 feet passing lanes at certain lengths along the sidewalk so that there’s an area to turn around or pull over if they’re in a wheelchair,” Pope said. “A lot of communities have adopted the 5 feet width as the overall standard because it looks more aesthetic than trying to put a 4 feet with a bump out every so often.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com