Photo by Wanda Hanson
At the September 10 regular city council meeting, the Peterson City Council set the proposed levy for next year at $118, 122, a 6% increase over last year’s levy. City Clerk Chris Grindland pointed out that the levy can be later decreased, but it cannot be increased. “Our goal is to keep it at 6%. We are using 85% of tax capacity,” Grindland commented.
With a median home value in Peterson of $235,000, taxes will increase by $96 for the average homeowner for next year. Mayor Chris Stenzel noted that he had seen in the news that some cities were increasing their levies by 10%.
City rates of pay were also set at the meeting. The mayor will receive $250 per month; council members will be paid $150 per month. Justin Simon said he supported the raise in pay, reasoning that if someone were to leave the council perhaps someone else would be more willing to serve on the council at the higher rate.
Grindland shared a list of past due utility bills with the council, noting that it is concerning when resident’s bills are $500 to $600 past due. Letters were sent out to residents with such overdue bills; the homeowners have until the October 8 meeting to resolve the issue.
The old business of potentially purchasing a skid loader for the city was deleted after PWD Jeff Rein told the council they could “scratch it off the agenda.”
Rein informed the council that the public works department intended to mill and overlay cross streets and chip seal streets that had been paved a few years ago in order to help them last longer.
Rein shared that the city crew will be grinding stumps around town that were the result of the high wind event earlier in the summer. He noted that the city was still waiting on quotes from Aasum Electric for a generator for the well house.
PWD has been locating shutoffs for water and plans to complete the entire city this fall. Mapping of the locations is being done to make locating water hookups easier. Rein informed the council that this has been a very useful tool already.
Citizen Comment
Loren Rue appeared before the council during the citizen comment period of the meeting to ask for any follow-up on zoning violations in the city. Grindland shared that he had sent out 9 or 10 letters to property owners on August 26; the homeowners had until 6 p.m. on September 10 to take action. Grindland planned to go around the following morning and send out citations to non-compliant homeowners. The citations will come with fines of $100 to $300 each day until the issues are resolved.
Rue asked if any of the information will be made public. Grindland answered that interested citizens could inquire via email to the city for public information about which properties received letters.
When Rue asked if the city has ever done a study to determine if such violations affect property values of neighboring homes, Grindland said there was no need to conduct such a study, “You know we talked about this when you were on the council, Loren. We know it affects neighboring property values.”
Mayor Chris Stenzel urged people to give positive feedback to the property owners that already have taken action. He noted that he has seen several owners cleaning up their yards recently.
Autumn Trail Event
Gail Boyum shared a poster going up around town for the Peterson Autumn Trail event which will take place Sunday, October 5. The event will take place at the Veterans Memorial Garden at the Peterson Museum. A picnic lunch will be available from noon to 1 p.m. accompanied by patriotic music by Maynard Thompson, Willa Holger, Jerry Barrett and Beth Vitse.
At 1 p.m., a special presentation on “The Secret Missions of the Viking Battalion” will be given by the editors of the book. Local men who heroically served in the Viking Battalion included Peterson’s Earl S. Highum and Rushford’s James Humble. Ice cream and cupcakes will be served after the presentation.
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