- 19 neighborhood property owners assessed tens of thousands to match federal funding for Lansing Avenue reconstruction plan
- Petition signed by affected property owners means the City Council supermajority is now required to pass a reconstruction plan
- City postpones the decision and will examine alternatives
- Video shows section of Lansing Avenue slated for reconstruction and affected neighborhood property owners
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
A tax assessment the City of Jackson says is needed to match federal funds for the reconstruction of Lansing Avenue is giving businesses along that route sticker shock.
JACK TAVIOLI, OWNER, CORK'N CAP: "Well, kind of shocked."
MARSHALL MASKE, CO-OWNER, INTERNATIONAL DOG HOUSE: "It was just quite a shocker."
BARB DECKER, OWNER, INTERNATIONAL DOG HOUSE: "I couldn't believe it was that much."
Business owners say they knew an assessment was coming. They just weren't prepared to be hit this hard.
Jack Tavioli owns Cork'n Cap. His tab?
TAVIOLI: "Almost $20,000."
International Dog House's was more than $30,000.
Businesspeople I talked to here on Lansing Avenue feel conflicted. They agree the street needs fixing. But they wonder: is there a way to spread the cost out more fairly for this heavily-used artery?
TAVIOLI: "I was expecting that, because this is a thoroughfare, that it wouldn't be treated like one of the side streets."
DECKER: "It's like they just, you know, they sent the letters out, it felt like, just assuming that: OK, you're going to take this hit."
TAVIOLI: "I don't mind paying my share of taxes, and I do use the road, obviously. But so do cement mixers and big industrial trucks that beat up the roads."
19 property owners got letters from the City telling them they will have to cover about $450,000 of local funding. This will be matched by federal money and other funds for what will ultimately be a $3.7 million reconstruction.
City Council members were pressed this week to find another way — including by a church that says it's been assessed more than $100,000 and will have to close its doors as a result. Assessments are based on frontage — and Calvary United Methodist has quite the stretch.
A decision has been postponed — and will now require 6 out of 7 to approve — because more than half of those affected signed a petition to object.
But delays entail a risk, says Aaron Dimick, Public Information Officer for the City of Jackson:
"If the project doesn't move forward, then that $2 million goes back to the federal government and another community would be able to use it on their roads."
City Council has agreed to look into local funding alternatives, and Dimick tells me city officials are preparing alternatives for the next Council meeting.
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