‘Extreme’ price tag exceeds $30,000
Property taxes to recoup $25KThe city of Moorhead’s costs connected to dealing with and helping out ABC TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” project in October will top $30,000.
By: Dave Olson, INFORUM
- Host Ty Pennington
- Bill, Adair, Peighton and Garrett Grommesh
- Map: Location of home
The city of Moorhead’s costs connected to dealing with and helping out ABC TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” project in October will top $30,000.
Police officers, firefighters and street department workers put in 551 overtime hours associated with the production and were paid $17,464 in overtime wages by the city.
Moorhead also provided the project with about 550 yards of sand worth $1,650 and about 150 yards of black dirt valued at $1,500.
Overtime wages paid by the city do not reflect hours that salaried workers devoted to the effort, said City Manager Michael Redlinger, whose own time spent helping with the project did not result in additional pay.
Other city employees exempt from overtime who helped with the project included city inspectors and engineering staff.
In addition, Moorhead Public Service donated $9,625 worth of in-kind labor and materials for the project.
The focus of the makeover was a completely new home for the Bill and Adair Grommesh family at 803 22nd Ave. S.
As part of the project, the Grommeshes’ old home was moved to a city-owned lot at 1928 8th Ave. N. in Moorhead and given to the Izja and Valdete Hajdari family.
The city hopes to recoup the approximately $25,000 value of the lot through future property taxes.
“I think the planning really paid off. We were very satisfied with it (the new home),” Redlinger said. “I think the neighborhood has been returned to an excellent condition. It was a great process to be a part of.”
Redlinger said a number of city employees volunteered to work on the project, including one who took vacation hours to help.
“Building code staff were there all hours of the day and night,” Redlinger added. “I think we had one of our inspectors there for about 20 hours one day, but there was no overtime impact because he’s exempt.”
In moving the black dirt and sand around, Moorhead received assistance from the other side of the Red River, according to Chad Martin, Moorhead’s operations director.
“Fargo came and helped haul,” Martin said.
The reaction of Moorhead residents to the project has been largely upbeat, according to Redlinger.
“All in all, the citizen feedback seemed to be pretty positive,” he said.
Moorhead City Council Member Luther Stueland, who is known to say no to spending tax dollars on things other than core services, said he initially balked at some aspects of city support given to the effort.
“It gave me pause,” Stueland said, adding that in the end he concluded many costs associated with the project would be incurred with or without city cooperation.
“I looked at the whole package and said: I’m willing to live with that, although it’s not my preference.
“It’s not perfect, but I’m still going to support the project as a whole,’’ Stueland said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Dave Olson at (701) 241-5555
Tags: extreme makeover, news, moorhead, grommeshes, fccnetwork, family
More from around the web
RSS Feeds