As a District 46 senator, Tom Fischer gets a lot of phone calls from his southwest Fargo constituents asking about special assessments.
"There are times my phone rings off the hook," said Fischer, who also is a member of Southeast Cass Water Resource District. "People want to know what they're paying for and where their money is going."
District 41 representative Al Carlson hears nearly the same thing.
"They want to know if they're overpaying on their specials," Carlson said.
City officials met with local legislators Thursday morning to address the issue and discuss what legislators can do to get out the word and help keep assessment costs down.
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Specifically, legislators said homeowners want to know why a 25 to 35 percent fee is included with their special assessment bills and how that money is being used. The city charges a 35 percent fee for all new construction costs and a 25 percent fee for all rehabilitation projects.
City officials said the fee covers the actual cost of the project, and the city is not making a profit off Fargo residents.
"We feel the fees we have in place are justified," City Finance Director Kent Costin said. "We set them in an attempt to have some cost recovery."
Without the fee, the city would need to take the money from the tax base, Costin said.
The city estimates that in 2002 it will generate $2 million from special assessments. The actual amount incurred, including costs for administration, planning and engineering, will be $2,047,178.
A breakdown of the costs last year shows 78 percent of that money going toward the actual cost of construction.
Twelve percent of the overall amount generated goes toward the cost of the city's administrative and engineering services, while almost eight percent is earmarked for paying off interest costs incurred while the city finances the project.
As the owner of Carlson Construction Inc., of Fargo, Carlson said he if especially concerned about the issue of special assessments.
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"The higher the special assessments get, my concern is that there's not going to be anyone for me to build the houses for," he said. "That's the concern of the (homebuilding) industry."
But Fischer said he expects people will have an easier time paying for special assessments if they know where their money is going.
"We need to inform the public of the costs and what they're for. People have to be involved with the process," he said. "If they could actually know what they're paying for, they might not have such a problem."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Mary Jo Almquist at (701) 241-5531
