11-19-2013 City Council Study Session Packet
City of Grand Island
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Study Session Packet
City Council:
Linna Dee Donaldson
John Gericke
Peg Gilbert
Chuck Haase
Julie Hehnke
Vaughn Minton
Mitchell Nickerson
Bob Niemann
Mike Paulick
Mayor:
Jay Vavricek
City Administrator:
Mary Lou Brown
City Clerk:
RaNae Edwards
7:00 PM
Council Chambers - City Hall
100 East 1st Street
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City of Grand Island Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Call to Order
This is an open meeting of the Grand Island City Council. The City of Grand Island abides by the Open
Meetings Act in conducting business. A copy of the Open Meetings Act is displayed in the back of this room
as required by state law.
The City Council may vote to go into Closed Session on any agenda item as allowed by state law.
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
A - SUBMITTAL OF REQUESTS FOR FUTURE ITEMS
Individuals who have appropriate items for City Council consideration should complete the Request for
Future Agenda Items form located at the Information Booth. If the issue can be handled administratively
without Council action, notification will be provided. If the item is scheduled for a meeting or study
session, notification of the date will be given.
B - RESERVE TIME TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS
This is an opportunity for individuals wishing to provide input on any of tonight's agenda items to reserve
time to speak. Please come forward, state your name and address, and the Agenda topic on which you will
be speaking.
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City of Grand Island
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Study Session
Item -1
Discussion on Street Assessment Methodology
Staff Contact: John Collins, P.E. - Public Works Director
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Council Agenda Memo
From:John Collins PE, Public Works Director
Meeting:November 19, 2013
Subject:Discussion on Street Assessment Methodology
Item #’s:1
Presenter(s):John Collins PE, Public Works Director
Background
The City’s policy and practice has been to assess adjacent property owners for the cost of
street & drainage improvements.
Council has expressed interest in reviewing the method of assessment.
Discussion
The method of assessing has been in place for several decades, changing very little
during this time. Some steps are defined by law and cannot change, but others are
somewhat flexible. Areas where changes may be considered are highlighted in the
presentation.
Attached are copies of the Special Assessment Manual and the Street Assessment
Methodology.
Conclusion
This item is presented to the City Council in a Study Session to allow for any questions to
be answered and to create a greater understanding of the issue at hand.
It is the intent of City Administration to use Council suggestions to alter the method of
assessment and to publish the revised policy & procedure on the City’s website.
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DISTRICT CREATION PROCESS
Step 1 – Public Works Administration receives petition from property owner(s)
requesting district creation.
Step 2 – Public Works Administration determines a suitable boundary for requested
district and prepares a plat showing the district boundary. A request is then presented
to City Council for district creation.
Step 3 – After the Ordinance creating the district is passed by City Council it is
published in the Grand Island Independent the following Monday and the Notice of the
creation of the district is published the next day (Tuesday). Letters are then mailed to
the affected property owners, after the Notice of the Creation is published, notifying
citizens of the protest period, providing a copy of the newspaper clipping of the Notice
published in the newspaper, and a copy of the Ordinance with plat of district attached.
Step 4 – Property owners have 30 calendar days, from publication of the notice, to
protest formation of the district. A protest must be submitted to Public Works
Administration in written form.
Step 5 – When protest period is over, the percentage of property owners that
protested is calculated. If more than 50 percent of property owners in the district
protest, the district is dissolved. If 50 percent or less protest, the district is presented to
City Council for continuation.
Step 6 – Once district continuation is approved by City Council plans and specifications
are prepared a bid opening date is set. Notice to Bidders is advertised and plans and
specifications are mailed to prospective bidders.
Step 7 – The lowest, responsible bid is presented to City Council for award of a
contract to complete the necessary work for the district. Upon City Council approval the
City and contractor enter into a formal, written contract.
Step 8 – Upon completion of the work the Certificate of Final Completion, which shows
assessable amount per lot, is presented to the City Council for acceptance.
Step 9 - Approximately one month from City acceptance the City Council will sit as a
Board of Equalization and verify assessments to each lot for said district. Affected
property owners are mailed a copy of the Notice of Board of Equalization, Mailing
Affidavit, City Council Resolution and Ordinance.
Step 10 – The City’s Finance Department is notified of the amount assessed per lot
and handles the billing and collection of assessments.
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GENERAL
These assessment methods and procedures are presented as guidelines for determining special
assessments on street improvement districts in the City of Grand Island in accordance with all
appropriate State Statutes. No attempt will be made herein to define all procedures for the
establishment of improvement district through the issuance of bonds, but instead we are concerned
here chiefly with the mathematical procedure involved in the computation of individual assessments.
STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS FOR MAKING ASSESSMENTS
Section 16-622 Improvements; assessments; how levied; when delinquent; interest;
collection; procedure.
The cost of making such improvements of the streets and alleys within any street improvement
district shall be assessed upon the lots and lands in such districts specially benefited thereby in
proportion to such benefits. The amounts thereof shall, except as provided in sections 19-2428 to 19-
2431, be determined by the mayor and council under the provisions of section 16-615. The
assessment of the special tax for the cost of such improvements, except as provided in this section,
shall be levied at one time and shall become delinquent in equal annual installments over such period
of years, not to exceed twenty, as the mayor and city council may determine at the time of making
the levy, the first such installment to become delinquent in fifty days after the date of such levy. Each
of said installments, including those for graveling and the construction and replacement of pedestrian
walks, plazas, malls, landscaping, lighting systems, and permanent facilities used in connection
therewith as hereinafter provided, except the first, shall draw interest at a rate established by the
mayor and council not exceeding the rate of interest specified in section 45-104.01, as such rate may
from time to time be adjusted by the Legislature, from the time of levy until the same shall become
delinquent. After the same shall become delinquent, interest at the rate specified in section 45-
104.01, as such rate may from time to time be adjusted by the Legislature, shall be paid thereon.
Should there be three or more of said installments delinquent and unpaid on the same property the
mayor and city council may by resolution declare all future installments on such delinquent property
to be due on a future fixed date. The resolution shall set forth the description of the property and the
names of its record title owners and shall provide that all future installments shall become delinquent
upon the date fixed. A copy of such resolution shall be published one time each week for not less
than twenty days in a legal newspaper of general circulation published in the city and after the fixed
date such future installments shall be deemed to be delinquent and the city may proceed to enforce
and collect the total amount due and all future installments. As to assessments for graveling alone
and without guttering or curbing, one-third of the total amount assessed against each lot or parcel of
land shall become delinquent in fifty days after the date of the levy of the same, one-third in one
year, and one-third in two years.
Section 16-635 Improvements; terms, defined; depth to which assessable.
The word lot as used herein shall be taken to mean lot as described and designated upon
the record plat of any such city, or within a county industrial area as defined in section 13-
1111 contiguous to such city; and in case there is no recorded plat of any such city or county
industrial area, it shall mean a lot as described and designated upon any generally
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recognized map of any such city or county industrial area. The word land shall mean any
subdivided or unplatted real estate in such city or county industrial area; Provided, if the lots
and real estate abutting upon that part of the street ordered improved, as shown upon any
recorded plat or map, are not of uniform depth, or, if for any reason, it shall appear just and
proper to the mayor and council, they are authorized and empowered to determine and
establish the depth to which such real estate shall be charged and assessed with the costs of
the improvement, which shall be determined and established according to the benefits
accruing to the property by reason of such improvements. Real estate may be so charged
and assessed to a greater depth than lots as shown on any such plat or map.
According to the above provisions it is the duty of the City Council to determine the extent of the area
to be assessed and the benefits, or special assessments, which the various tracts receive. Normal
procedure, however, is for the City Engineer to define the assessable area and to calculate the special
assessments (benefits) with these then being reviewed and approved by the City Council.
CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING BENEFITS TO PROPERTY
Although each district must be reviewed individually, the same basic principles are generally used in
each case. The assessable area, or district boundary, is usually established by including all property
which extends back from the improved street half way to the next parallel street. Recognizing that it
is difficult to show benefit to property a great distance back form the street it is our policy to use 300
feet as the maximum limit for the distance.
The theory of assessing each individual lot or tract is that the cost will be spread according to the
frontage on the improved street and that the benefits or assessments will decrease as the distance of
the land from the street increases. Such a variance in proportion to the distance back should decrease
for every increment of distance and the benefits from property nearer the street should be
proportionately greater than those for property further away. To make this workable it is necessary to
develop a curve which will indicate the relative benefits for all property involved.
In order to develop such a curve various methods used by other engineers were studied, including
that previous method used in Grand Island. This previous method utilized a “zone” system whereby,
for example, the 11 feet of a property nearest the street would be assessed the same amount as the
11 feet, provided the frontage was identical. Since the assessment is equal to benefit it is difficult to
prove that property further away from the street receives the same benefit as the close property.
Therefore, for comparison purposes, the previous method was converted to curve form. All of these
various methods were then plotted against the relative benefits. From this it was obvious that the
previous method used in Grand Island varied considerable from all other methods, the main
difference being that a greater proportion of the benefits were allotted to property further away from
the street. To develop a new curve for reasonable benefits it was decided that it should be based on
the assessment being cut in half for each 60- feet increment back from the improved street. This
translated into an equation becomes:
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F = 2 – 2**a;
Where a = (60-Y)/60
Where Y = the perpendicular distance from the improved street to the property boundary line;
And where F = the assessment factor for Y depth.
The percentage value is then determined by assuming that the assessment factor for y = 300 is 100
percent.
This equation (using percentage instead of actual assessment factor) in graph form is presented on
Plate I and in tabular form on Plate II. The values in the tabular form were actually calculated and
were not merely extracted from the graph. The actual assessment calculations are made as follows:
1.To determine the assessment factor (percentage) for a rectangular lot abutting on the street,
select the percentage value corresponding to the lot depth (distance), interpolating, when
necessary.
2.To determine the assessment factor (percentage) for a rectangular lot not abutting on the
street, subtract the percentage value for the intervening depth, from the improved street.
3.Multiply the assessment factor obtained by the frontage of the property, which will result in a
certain number of “points” for the selected property.
4.When the “points” for each tract of land in the assessment district have been determined, add
them all together to determine the total number of points in the district.
5.The cost of the improvements is then divided by the total number of “points” to obtain the
value per point, which is then spread back over each individual property.
In the case of irregular lots it is necessary to divide the area into rectangles or triangles requiring
several computations to determine the full assessment. There are four possible positions for
triangular figures:
1.With the base along the street.
2.With the base toward the street but at some distance from the street.
3.With the vertex on the street.
4.With the vertex toward but at some distance from the street.
In the first two cases, the parcels are considered as rectangles with the same depth as for the
triangular figure, but with a frontage equal to two-thirds the length of the original base. In cases 3
and 4, the parcels are considered as rectangles with the same depths as the triangular parcels but
with the base to be assessed as frontage equal to one-third the length of the original base. These
methods are illustrated on Plate III.
Plates IV and V are included to illustrate an assessment problem.
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DEVIATIONS FROM STANDARD METHOD
While the standard method described above can be used in most instances, there are certain cases
where deviation may be appropriate. The assessments arrived at by the standard method must still
be reviewed by the engineer to satisfy himself that similar properties have similar assessments and
that properties that are dissimilar nevertheless have assessments that are reasonably in proportion.
When this test is not satisfied, the method must be adjusted until fair assessments and proper
benefits are derived.
In cases where a tier of lots of equal depth abut upon the improved street and make up the entire
district, assessments may be computed using frontage only since there is no purpose in computing
“points”. This can also be done where the variance in depth on each side of the street is not great
and it can be assumed that half the cost is attributable to each side of the street.
When the calculated benefits do not appear to be reasonable it is also possible to spread a portion of
the costs to front footage and the remainder to area. Usually the assessments are calculated with 50
percent based on area and 50 percent on frontage, but this may be varied to arrive at a reasonable
schedule.
CONCLUSIONS
Each street improvement district is usually different in some way from previous districts. For this
reason it is difficult to set one rule for all assessments and never allow deviation. Properties must be
assessed according to benefits derived and this fact must not be ignored just to satisfy a
mathematical procedure. We can only use our best judgment and experience to spread assessments
and we must always satisfy ourselves that the benefits exist. Even when this is done it will still be
necessary for us to justify the assessments and to explain these methods.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Street Assessment Methodology
Study Session
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PUBLIC WORKS
Statute
Section 16-622 Authorizes Mayor and Council to
determine where and when to assess.
Section 16-635 defines terms and depths of
assessment (i.e. how)
Sections 19-2428, 19-2431, 16-615, 45-104.01 and
13-1111 provide instructions for interest rates, and
handling special cases for agriculture and industrial
tracts.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Process – Creating an Assessment District
1.Petition from adjacent property owners requesting
improvement(s) submitted to Public Works
Administration
2.Ordinance from Council creating district
3.Ordinance published & notification mailed directly to
affected property owners
4.If owners representing more than 50% of the property
protest, during the 30 day protest period, the district is
not continued
5.Otherwise the Council may continue the district
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PUBLIC WORKS
Process – to Completion of the District
6.Design of the improvement(s) begins
7.Final Payment made after construction is completed
8.Assessment distribution is calculated
9.Notice of the assessment is published 3 consecutive
weeks days in advance of the Council meeting
10.Total cost and recommended assessments are
presented to the Board of Equalization (i.e. Council)
for approval
11.Assessments are collected
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PUBLIC WORKS
Assessment Factors
Frontage – linear feet of property adjacent to the road.
Depth – used in areas where the depth of property is
inconsistent and some is less than 300 feet deep.
Frontage equivalency- used for properties on corners
with very large or very small frontage relative to their
total area.
Note at times the City has assessed only 37’ and paid
for any additional width; and has done the same for
drainage over 30”
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PUBLIC WORKS
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PUBLIC WORKS
Frontage for Property A
The portions in the
curve are considered an
intersection, and not
assessed, reducing the
assessed frontage to an
amount similar to other
properties.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Frontage for Property B
The assessed amount is
the average (i.e. mean) of
the front and back lengths
of the property.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Calculating the Assessment - Depth
The City has used a depth of 300’ to create the
uniform depth mentioned in Section 16-635
beginning some time prior to 1967.
This is authority to differentiate by depth, not a
requirement.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Depth
Property nearer the road
is considered to benefit
more than that further
away.
Only the 1 st 300 feet is
assessed.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Limits of Choice
It is the Council’s option to create Assessment
Districts, but once created, there is an obligation to
follow through with the assessment.
The project details may change as the design
progresses.
Total cost will not be known until completion of the
project.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Potential Changes
Calculating the percentage of cost allocation when
the district is created rather than after the project is
complete.
Changing or eliminating the depth portion of the
calculation.
Differentiating assessment methodology with
property type.
Reducing or eliminating assessments for collectors
and above.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Allocating Costs ASAP
The percentage of cost allocated to each property
would be known when the district is created.
Substantial work would be performed that will not be
necessary if the district does not move forward.
The size of the district may change, nullifying the
calculations.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Depth
The Depth factor was added at a time when city
blocks of around 600’ were the norm.
Malls and large stores (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) are
not usually in the first 300’
Commercial value is derived from access to the road
and visibility from the road.
Residential property has greater value from access to
the road, but more access does not increase value.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Property Type
Industrial and Commercial property gains value from
road access, often increasing in value with more
access.
Commercial property gains value with visibility.
Residential property has greater value from access to
the road, but more access does not increase value.
Note that land use changes, value is added only to the
raw property.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Higher Function Streets
Some roads are primarily used for through traffic,
serving adjacent property as a secondary function.
Some roads are wider to allow for more traffic, even
though they serve adjacent property as a primary
function.
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PUBLIC WORKS
Improving from County to City
Existing 24’ pavement with open ditches (county
section) - Improving to 37’ pavement with storm drains
(city section).
Should there be an assessment?
If so, should credit be given for existing pavement?
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