Village of Colfax considering straight fee of $2,500 for street opening
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Instead of charging homeowners the actual cost of restoring a street after a sewer repair, the Colfax Village Board is considering charging a straight fee of $2,500.
The village previously charged a street opening fee of $1,000 if a sewer repair required digging up the street, said Rand Bates, director of public works, at the Colfax Village Board’s September 12 meeting.
In 2018, a sewer repair on High Street ended up with a massive hole in the street because of sandy soil that cost between $4,500 to $5,000 to repair, he said.
The village board then decided to charge the actual amount of the street repair to the homeowner, and that “has been a nightmare,” Bates said.
If the sewer and water repair is around $10,000, and then there is another $6,000 to $7,000 to repair the street, that’s a nightmare for the homeowners and the contractors, he said.
The street must settle after being dug up before asphalt can be laid down again, and the contractor will have to bid the cost of the street repair later. Meanwhile, the homeowner could take out a loan for the sewer repair but would not know the cost of the street repair until later and then must go back to the bank again for another loan or find some other way to pay for it.
If a straight street opening fee is charged, the homeowner knows as soon as the sewer repair is completed what the entire cost will be, Bates said.
Bates told the village board that he and Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, had been discussing the issue for a year and a half.
Recommendation
The streets committee is recommending $2,500, said Jody Albricht, village president.
The street repair is often less than $2,500, but if there is situation where the cost is more, then the leftover money from another street repair can be used to cover the cost of the repair that is more expensive, he said.
If all of the street repairs are taken into consideration, it would be “a wash” at a rate of $2,500, Bates said.
Gary Stene, village trustee, said he would vote against a set fee, whether it is $1,000 or $2,500.
Stene also has gone on record objecting to the homeowners paying the entire cost of the street repair.
The cost of the street repair should be spread among all of the taxpayers in the village. A repaired street benefits all of the village residents, he said.
The truth is that some residents will never have to pay for a street repair and other residents will have to pay, Stene said.
The village has done a good job on the upkeep of sewer and water lines, so if a street must be repaired, the cost should be spread among all of the taxpayers, he said.
If a tree is on the property and roots infiltrates the sewer line, the property owner either planted the tree or bought the property with the tree already there, Albricht said.
If the need for a sewer repair was no fault of the property owner — such as a sewer line that rusts out or disintegrates with age — then spread the payment around. But if tree roots are the problem, the property owner should pay, he said.
People living in rural areas who have septic systems must pay the entire cost of repair or replacement, Albricht noted.
Older residents on a fixed income would have a more difficult time paying $2,500, Stene said.
Bidding
It is difficult for the contractor to bid if the homeowner is paying the actual cost of the street repair, Bates said.
Why does the contractor need to know what somebody will pay before bidding the job? If the homeowner is paying a set fee as opposed to paying the actual cost, does that affect what the contractor will bid? asked Anne Jenson, village trustee.
If the contractor does not know how to bid, maybe the contractor should not be bidding, Stene said.
No matter what the cost, it is putting a strain on a household when the repair benefits the whole village, he said.
Whether the cost is $5,000 or $10,000 or $2,500, the impact is less if the cost is spread out among all of the taxpayers, Stene said.
When there’s a leak in a water line, the homeowner’s responsibility is from the house to the curb stop where the main is, but when the sewer line must be repaired, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to the sewer main out in the street, Bates said.
After trying to figure out why the amount a homeowner would pay would affect the amount the contractor bids, the issue came more into focus when it was explained that a set fee for the street opening would be like a homeowner paying an insurance deductible. The cost would be known upfront, allowing the homeowner to decide how to arrange for payment at that point, rather than having to figure out two different payment schedules. The contractor could bid the street repair, knowing that the homeowner had already paid his or her share, and the contractor would then only have to deal with the village.
What about putting the cost as a special assessment on the property taxes? Jenson asked.
Allowing special assessments may already be in the village’s ordinances, Stene said.
The Colfax Village Board approved a motion to table the issue until Lynn Niggemann returned from vacation so it could be discussed from her perspective as village administrator.
Sheila Riemer, deputy clerk, took the minutes in Niggemann’s absence.
