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City of Arden Hills 2004 Assessment Policy General Information The City of Arden Hills has adopted a revised Assessment Policy for its existing streets that are part of the Pavement Management Program (PMP). The PMP is a long-term, multi-year plan that consists of proposed reconstruction and repair of the city's streets. The goal and intent of this policy revision was to simplify and make the process easy to understand and implement. The Policy was drafted by a group of local citizens who served on the City's 2004 Assessment Policy Task Force. This Policy document is divided into two parts. Part I deals with existing streets and Part II deals with new developments. Part I— Assessment Policy for Existing Streets The purpose of this assessment policy manual is to establish procedures to be utilized by the City of Arden Hills when preparing assessment rolls, so as to assure uniform and consistent treatment of the affected properties. • Minnesota State Law, Chapter 429 provides that a municipality shall have the power to make public improvements such as sanitary sewers, storm sewers, water source and distribution facilities, street improvements including grading, curb and gutter, surfacing, sidewalks, street lighting and recreational facilities, etc. The various procedures that the municipality must follow including reports, notices and public hearings are well defined within the law. The Statute further defines that the cost of any improvement may be assessed upon property benefited by the improvement based upon the benefits received whether or not the property abuts on the improvement and whether or not any part of the cost of the improvement is paid from other funding sources. The law is not specific on how these benefits are to be measured or how the costs are to be apportioned, but rather makes it incumbent upon the municipality to determine with assistance of the City Engineer, City Attorney, appraisers or other qualified personnel, a fair and equitable method of cost-sharing among the properties involved. Throughout this policy manual, the total cost of an improvement shall include the construction cost, plus all associated overhead costs. The total cost of the associated overhead for a public improvement project would typically include the following as a percentage of the construction costs: 2004 Assessment Policy—Page 1