Edmunds County Tribune -

To the Editor:

Our ability and responsibility to vote

A petition to bring to a vote Resolution #2023-02, Uniform Assessment Rate, has been circulated and filed. This is a resolution passed by the Ipswich City Council that will assess $80 per linear foot of street frontage to construct curb, gutter and sidewalk. The assessment will essentially amount to a tax lien on the property and is to be paid back over a period of 15 years. For corner lots that are affected on two sides, 40 linear feet would be forgiven. That is to say, if your lot is 75ft. by 75ft. Then you would be assessed 150ft. minus 40ft. equals 110ft. X $80 and will cost you $8,800.

This assessment came into existence because of two projects; the sanitary sewer project and the storm sewer project. But wait, you might think, didn’t we just completely replace our sanitary sewer a few years ago? Yep! And there is a $32/month surcharge on your City utility bill to show for it. The reality is that that project was inadequately designed, poorly engineered and recklessly executed. Now we have to go back and do what should have been done then. If it had been done right in the first place, there would be no need for a special assessment. Now the City is asking affected property owners to pay $80 per foot to help pay for a colossal mistake they made.

I’m not saying that affected property owners should pay nothing for improvements to their property, if you think needing to keep your sidewalk clear of snow is an improvement, but I feel that the City Council should go back to the drawing board and consider two things. First, what is fair, given that no one else that got their street tore up for the first sanitary sewer replacement project had to pay for curb, gutter and sidewalk. Second, have some consideration for those people that are on fixed incomes and have property tax freezes in place. There is no reason why there couldn’t be an assessment repayment freeze for those people.

For some people of advanced age, this amounts to a “death tax”. If you want to cash in on the equity of your home, or leave it as an inheritance, your property value will go down by the amount that is owed on the assessment.

With regard to the storm sewer project, it is not hard to tell that I am against it; for a number of reasons. But if it is something the majority of property owners in Ipswich want, then so be it. Then at that point, the City Council can determine a fair curb, gutter and sidewalk assessment for that nearly $14 million project.

The problem is that the powers to be don’t think you should have a right to vote. They don’t care what or if you think. They want to push it through “in your best interest” as if you can’t be trusted to decide for yourself what is in your best interest. They want you to pick up the tab for what amounts to a boondoggle that will leave some people with new streets, curb, gutter and sidewalk and the rest without. But we will all get the bill for an “improvement” that may or may not positively affect your property. A cost that will show up on you City utility bill as a surcharge for 40 or more years.

- Ed Bierman