By Laura Horihan

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

STEWARTVILLE -- Two Stewartville couples who appealed their 2007 property tax assessment bills for a major street reconstruction project were semi-triumphant in Olmsted District Court last month.

The project involved three different improvements -- water, sewer and street -- and Judge Joseph Chase analyzed each separately.

The two couples, Kyle and Marcy Jacobson and Chad Clark and Sarah Pettey, argued that the assessments on Second Street Southwest exceeded the properties' increased value due to the improvements.

The city of Stewartville assessed the Jacobsons $4,538.72. Clark and Pettey were assessed $8,231.33.

Judge's ruling

In a ruling issued Oct. 16, Chase ruled that the couples did benefit from the construction of a new sewer line, but that the amounts assessed by the city exceeded that benefit.

Chase ruled that the city acted properly by assessing the residents 25 percent of the cost to replace the sanitary sewer, because the old sewer line was close to failing.

However, he also ruled that the city did not provide evidence that placing a larger water line would increase the market value of adjacent properties.

"From a residential standpoint, there was nothing wrong with the old water line, but it was smaller than the lines the city currently requires in new developments," Chase wrote.

The city had asserted that the large line would allow a better water supply for fire protection purposes.

"The notion that a buyer would pay more for a house based on the availability of enhanced water flow in the remote possibility of a fire simply seems far-fetched," Chase wrote.

Chase concluded that the reconstruction of Sixth Avenue Southwest did not provide a special benefit to the Clark property and ruled that they should not be assessed for those improvements.

He calculated that total assessment costs for the Clark property should be $2,589.62 and $3,311.44 for the Jacobson property.

Ten other property owners on Second Street Southwest have also appealed their assessments, including Mayor Jimmie-John King and council member Gary Stensrud.

City's response

Council member Roger Hanson said the city is offering to reduce the assessment bills for those who appealed.

Hanson also lives on Second Street Southwest, but didn't appeal his assessments.

He said the council is looking at whether or not it should adjust assessments for those who didn't appeal.

"We're trying to do the right thing for everyone else affected by the project," Hanson said.

The council also voted to adjust assessments to property owners on Fourth Avenue Northeast, where construction work was done this summer, Hanson said.

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