At the Mabel City Council meeting on December 14, Jeff Engen asked the council members for some clarification on a recent policy change concerning utility bills. At their October meeting, the council decided to drop the $200 deposit for new utility customers and make landlords responsible for collecting utility payments from their renters. Unpaid utility bills will be assessed on property taxes. The new policy goes into effect on January 1, 2017 and does not affect current renters.
Engen stated his preference to stick with the old policy. “The new policy takes all of the responsibility off of the tenant and puts it on the landlord,” he pointed out. “We would have to raise rents to protect ourselves, and you just can’t do that in the city of Mabel.” In 18 years of being a landlord, he’s only had one tenant that didn’t pay their utility bill after they moved out.
“If the renter doesn’t pay their bill, either the city or the landlord has to pay for it,” said councilmember Terry Torkelson.
“We changed it because the electric portion of the utility bills couldn’t be assessed on taxes,” City Administrator Karen Larson added.
After some discussion, it was decided to take the matter to the city attorney to see if it would possible to go back to the old policy, but require both the tenant and landlord to sign the utility agreement instead of just the tenant. That would make the landlord responsible for any unpaid bills. The matter will be revisited at the January meeting.
“Why am I paying property tax when I’m floating in water?” asked Mabel resident Norval Ladsten. The water table on his property and others in his area is so high that the homeowners’ sump pumps have to run almost constantly. Because of that, they are experiencing higher than average utility bills.
“Just about everyone in town has problems with water,” Mayor Jim Westby pointed out. “I just don’t know what the solution would be.”
City Works Director Bob Miereau noted that several studies have been done to try to address the water issues in Ladsten’s neighborhood. He has asked the state to put a culvert, but was told that due to the direction of the water flow, it wouldn’t work.
“The only option we have is to have the state evaluate the situation again,” Mayor Westby determined.
“We all have to work together,” Torkelson noted, adding that it would be helpful if all of the affected residents made it a point to talk to the state when the area is being assessed.
Miereau is expecting a call soon from a state hydrologist and will hopefully be able to get a concrete idea of where to go with the water issues. “We’ll start with the state and if we don’t get a resolution, that would be the time to start a petition,” he said.
Mayor Westby thanked Ladsten for bringing his concerns to the council.
It was pointed out that when the homeowners of Cherrywood Drive signed easement papers three years ago, they were told that the street would be blacktopped, but it still hasn’t been done. Miereau was able to meet with Jim Maloney, a hydrologist/engineer to put together a list of four options for Cherrywood, ranging from a basic paving job all the way to putting in curb and gutter and redoing the entire street.
“We have to be careful to assess the drainage issues before deciding what to do with the street, otherwise we could end up with a new road being washed out,” he pointed out.
Several of the homeowners were present at the meeting, and Torkelson asked them what they would like done with their street. “I would like to see blacktop for sure,” answered Carl Westby. He mentioned that since the city fixed the road three years ago, water drainage hasn’t been much of a problem for him anymore. He was of the opinion that blacktopping the road would be good enough.
The council concurred and passed a motion to blacktop Cherrywood Drive.
Mabel business owner LeAnn Jevne addressed the council during their Truth in Taxation hearing. She had received her property tax statement and was wondering why her building was worth so much more this year than it was last year. Another business owner asked the same question about his property. Larson offered to call the county assessor to have the properties re-evaluated inside and out to ensure fairness.
A 4.21% levy increase was adopted, which was a decrease of almost 2% from the original proposed amount.
Larson informed the council that the Mabel City Ambulance had applied for and received an Arlin Falck grant in the amount of $10,374 to cover the costs of a new AED machine, scoop stretcher, and blood pressure machine. The city will send a thank you to the foundation for their generosity.
The council approved Miereau’s requests to trade in the city skidloader for a new one at the cost of $1,500 and the lawn mower for the same model, but newer, at the cost of $2,950.
Miereau was happy to announce that the alternate side winter parking ordinance has gone well so far. Only one or two vehicles were in violation during the snowstorm on Friday, and the streets were cleaned well and quickly. He was also able to try out the new snowblower.
“It took us one and a half hours to get rid of the snow versus the three hours it took with the old one,” he said. Mayor Westby pointed out that purchasing the new snowblower will save taxpayer money on overtime, gas costs, etc.
“It was a good investment,” remarked Miereau.
The next Mabel City Council meeting will be held on January 11 at 7 p.m.
Jo says
Pretty stupid idea! Maybe no one should rent out places