2004-02-11 CC Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 28th, 2004 Sean LaBonne 6918 Pheasant Lane Centerville, MN 55038 To the City Council of the City ofCenterville: I apologize that I cannot attend the public input meeting in person, but my schedule prevents me. I write this letter with a strong opposition to any changes to the street or water as proposed by the Council. Notice that I didn't use the word improvements as you did in your notice; this is because I cannot see what the council is proposing as an improvement, or a small improvement at best. Certainly not so great of an improvement as to warrant the ridiculous amount of the proposed assessment. I can only speak for my piece of property and the street I've lived on for the last five years; my road, to my understanding, was built in the mid eighties and is less than twenty years old. There are no serious drainage problems and no serious damage to the road such as potholes or major cracks. As far as the water goes, well, I have no problem with my well water. I actually like it that way. There are many other reasons that I'm opposed to the Council's proposal. One is that our country is still in a time of fiscal recovery. I'm sure that I'm not the only person to be affected financially by the events of the past few years. And any assessment, even if it is paid out over several years, will greatly affect my budget. Not to mention that with interest the real money I spend on the assessment will be double or triple the assessed value. As with any purchase that an individual makes, that individual must take into consideration the value of the purchase opposed to the cost of the purchase. I'm sure I don't have to preach economics 101 to the Council. My point is that it might be nice to have new roads and gutters, but the cost far outweighs any benefit that I'm going to see. I'm sure the Councils' argument is that it will increase the value of my property. To that I say that this is true because the appraisers and surveyors say it is true, and even with that I can't see it improving the value of my property as much as the proposed assessment. It is not real money to me and I would not benefit unless I sold my property. I can go on and on, but I'm sure the Council has several other anger letters to read and upset residents to listen to. If there was a vote of all the residents affected and it was concluded that the majority of the affected residents think that this is a good idea, then so be it. But from what I've heard, there is a lot of resistance to this proposal. The only people I see benefiting from this is the contractors, construction companies, and the banks or whoever will be collecting my interest. Thank you for taking your time to read my letter. Sincerely, ~