Mayor John Engen Our next committee report comes from the public works committee with a sidewalk program on Eaton Street. Ms. Becerra.
Alderperson Becerra Thank you Mayor. I move that we approve and authorize the Mayor to approve the resolution to confirm the final ordering of the Eaton Street Phase I right-of-way improvement project. And may I speak to that motion?
Mayor John Engen Please.
Alderperson Becerra This is a project that has been on our CIP for quite some time and in fact it ranked second on that list of projects. It also would provide 3,106 lineal feet of new sidewalks in a neighborhood that has been very vocal about getting the infrastructure in place. We all know the benefits of sidewalks and what it does for transportation connectivity, health, and equity, and I also want to point out that adjacent property owners have been notified through all the, the processes that we have in place and have been of the cost of this project and have been made aware of all the different options that they have to finance this project. So, I will be voting in support of this. Thanks.
Mayor John Engen Thanks Ms. Becerra and I think I'll ask you to make the second motion, as well. If we're going to approve the project we're probably ought to award a bid and then we can have discussion.
Alderperson Becerra Yes, happy to. So, I also move that we approve and award the bid for Eaton Street Phase I right away improvements project to Knife River at a cost not to exceed $1,141,208.81 and authorize the return of bid bonds. And may I speak briefly to that motion please?
Mayor John Engen Ms. Becerra.
Alderperson Becerra This, this bid came higher than anticipated by our engineering department and this is consistent with a lot of the bid projects that we have had in the recently. Cost has gone up for materials and labor, etc. So, this is not, it's unfortunate but it's not surprising given what we're seeing community wide, and I would be in support of it. Thanks.
Mayor John Engen Thank you Ms. Becerra. With that, if folks would like to comment on either of the motions before the body, you are welcome. Are there comments or questions from Council members. Ms. Vasecka.
Alderperson Vasecka I forgot the, the new order of business for with the new rules because I wanted to save my comments to see if they were going to the public was going to speak to it. Am I allowed to do my discussion after the public?
Mayor John Engen You're welcome to speak now.
Alderperson Vasecka I'll wait until I hear from the public.
Mayor John Engen Okay. Seeing none, Ms. Jordan.
Alderperson Jordan Apologies, I'm just checking…..are we voting on these separately are they going to be voted on together?
Mayor John Engen We'll vote on them, we can vote on them separately.
Alderperson Jordan Thank you.
Mayor John Engen Yep. Anyone in the audience care to comment on these items this evening? Seeing none in our live audience and none among our attendees, Ms. Vasecka.
Alderperson Vasecka Okay. Well, so I spoke about this on Wednesday, and we did have one neighbor on Eaton Street that reached out his very large frustrations. On, on this increase in the bid for it, he was talking with his neighbors and said that a lot of the neighbors could not afford this and did not want the sidewalks so it would be at this cost and also it's mentioned that maybe if we could postpone this until construction costs go down, just put it, put it down the road for a little later date, and I agree with that. I might vote for it in the future because I do, I do really like sidewalks you know they are they are very necessary, and they are needed at some point but not at the homeowner's financial detriment. So, I will not be supporting this today.
Mayor John Engen Further discussion? Mr. Nugent.
Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you Mr. Mayor. I was hoping that I could have Mr. Sipe answer a question.
Mayor John Engen I'm sorry….
Alderperson Mike Nugent Monte….Can I ask Monte a question?
Mayor John Engen You may.
Alderperson Mike Nugent All right. I guess I have two questions. One, do we know if the, the public comment we talked about last Wednesday that jump to $9,000.00 is a single family residence or a multi-family residence?
Mayor John Engen Mr. Sipe.
Monte Sipe It is a single family residence.
Alderperson Mike Nugent Okay and is $9,000.00 the max out of pocket for a single family?
Monte Sipe Yeah that is correct, for one and two family with our recent revision that was done in 2020 that's our latest funding model where we did put a cap on one and two family dwelling at $9,000.00.
Alderperson Mike Nugent And they can finance that $9,000.00 over 20 years?
Monte Sipe Yeah they have the option of an 8, 12, or 20 year term. We also have some deferral options that are open up to a single family residential. We have a low income deferral program for owner-occupied single family and also a high assessment deferral, which so they would assess up to $6,000.00 and the remaining principle, they would defer until the time of the sale of the home.
Alderperson Mike Nugent All right, thank you very much.
Mayor John Engen Further discussion? Mr. Carlino.
Alderperson Carlino I had a question for Monte as well. I was wondering when people want to pay it off over like a 20-year period for example what the interest rate is and how that and does that affect people's credit?
Monte Sipe I don't know about the credit question. Yeah, so we, we sell municipal bonds to finance these assessments and so we don't know the interest rate until the time of the bond sale but since my time with the city, which is a little bit under 20 years those rates have averaged between 4.5% and 5.5%, and those are a simple interest loan. So, when they do assess, they, they come on your tax statement, so they make biannual payments and so they're paying down principal each, twice each year and so the interest is only truly not a remaining principle, unlike a home loan where they pull a lot of that out of the front end.
Mayor John Engen Further discussion? Ms. Jordan.
Alderperson Jordan May I ask Monte a question?
Mayor John Engen Sure.
Alderperson Jordan Thank you. Monte, I'm wondering…. I think…. I had a hard time hearing you. Are you saying that these assessments are just added to their property taxes, and they're lumped into the, their payments or I'm sorry I misheard you?
Monte Sipe It shows up on your tax statement. It yeah…. So, there is a breakdown of a lot of different costs and taxes and so it's identified as an SID on their taxes…. so yeah. So, we would sell municipal bonds, we finance it, it typically would come on the tax rolls the following year in November and that would show up on their tax statement biannually.
Alderperson Jordan Okay. Thank you.
Mayor John Engen Any additional discussion? All right, seeing none, Ms. Rehbein will take the first item first please.
Marty Rehbein I was just going to add in a reference to Mr. Carlino's question about credit rating. Because this is a tax assessment and it is not a loan, it does not generally affect someone's credit rating and of course unless they don't pay taxes but in terms of being part of your Experian or credit report, these assessments are not that.