News, sports, politics, blogs and forums for Jordan, Minnesota • (952) 492-2224
Jordan, Minnesota
Search
Advertising
Advertising
- Saturday, March 20, 2010 - 12:26am
No service should mean no fee
- Twinsfan14's blog
- Login or register to post comments
-
- Printer friendly version
- Sign up for our Email Editions
» Read similar stories filed under:
Imagine for a minute that you are a prospective business owner in Jordan. You've settle on purchasing one of the empty storefronts that litter the downtown area. In addition to the purchase you are going to invest in repairs and upgrades to the building. You go to City Hall to pick up the building permit for your $5,000 project only to find the cost of the permit is $3,000! What would you do?
This exact situation has come up for 2 local business owners in the last month. What should be $200-400 permit cost have risen to $2000-4000 because of two added fees. A "Sewer Area Charge" and a "Water Area Charge". You might be thinking these are old buildings and the sewer and water connections need to be upgraded or maybe because of expanded usage of sewer and water in these buildings that new connections need to be added. These are logical reasons for such charges, but you would be wrong. No changes or upgrades are being made to the sewer and water connections.
So what are these fees being assessed for? I asked that question at the City Council meeting last night and was amazed at the answer I received. When the city upgraded the downtown business' sewer and water connections years and years ago they didn't bother to collect the upgrade fees and connection charges from the downtown building owners. These fee's were designed to recoup that money.
Let me repeat that. The city is charging potential new business owners, who want to make improvements on vacant buildings and put them to use, thousands of dollars because of mistakes the city made years ago. How do you like that welcome for a potential new downtown business?
The council seems to be split on how to handle this situation. I applaud Council Members Goebel, Shaw, and Velishek for recognizing the absurdity of these charges. My suggestion to the city as they look to possibly rewrite this ordinance is a simple one. Do NOT charge fees when the city does NOT preform a service. Simple.
Joshua Hein
- Twinsfan14's blog
- Login or register to post comments
-
- Printer friendly version
- Sign up for our Email Editions
Advertising
Advertising
Recent comments
- I personally read the...
4 hours 19 min ago - I don't get why an anticle...
4 hours 56 min ago - I took my kids to see the...
20 hours 51 min ago - BEA's bigs were too...
1 day 9 hours ago - If you are driving from...
2 days 3 hours ago - Aw, darn, for a while there,...
2 days 3 hours ago - If you're thinking, like I...
2 days 4 hours ago - No wonder you read all of...
2 days 5 hours ago - If you're referring to the...
2 days 5 hours ago - I think we can always use...
2 days 5 hours ago
Advertising
Recent blog posts
- Needle and Thread Photos
- Project GATE helps emerging entrepreneurs, dislocated workers
- Quilt and Needle Arts Show at Jordan Library
- FEMA visits Minnesota this weekend
- NCAA tournament scores
- State of the Jordan
- Will history be made on Friday?
- High Water
- Governor calls state of emergency in Scott, other counties affected by potential flooding
- Threat of invasive species trumps public's right to access state-owned waters
New forum topics
Active forum topics
Who's new
- steveandtery
- Fred
- harryhen
- pawinsor
- jack chain
Who's online
Online users
- Kyle Thill
If I walked into Broadway...
Back to page topIf I walked into Broadway Market to buy a pop and the guy at the counter said "I forgot to charge the last guy for his gas so to make up the missing money in the register I'm going to charge you for it." I would be buying my pop elsewhere. Same thing if I were a potential business owner, I'd be taking my business elsewhere.
Assessments are only...
Back to page topAssessments are only collected when not paid. Most of the time if you look at a purchase agreement it will state that it is paid by the seller or the purchaser. If the purchaser does not pay and is defined in the sale, I am certain that it will be at some point and not just absorbed. If it were absorbed, then the general population would end up paying for the upgrade. If you look back at your homes purchase agreement, you will probably notice that (if) there was an assessment, this is addressed in it and is usually paid at closing, I believe. This is the way that it has worked in my previous property dealings.
I've been told, repeatedly,...
Back to page topI've been told, repeatedly, that when new developments are opened, the developer pays all the costs for utility infrastructure. Now I'm hearing that in fairness to those who have paid for infrastructure, those who have not (everyone outside of the various housing developments) will being charged "water area fees", and "sewer area fees" as part of building permits.
Fees. Not assessments. Essentially, what this means is that anyone doing any significant remodeling or restoration to an older building can expect to be hit with those two fees.
How many potential buyers of "fixer-uppers" will be scared off by the thought of two BIG fees added to building permits. How many will tell their friends, "we found a house we could afford in Jordan, but it needed a lot of work in the kitchen and bathroom, and the permit would have cost a couple of grand." How many realtors will cross Jordan off their short list, just as builders have.
As I mentioned to Dave Hanson in another thread, maybe it IS just a perception problem. If so, the City better start working hard to change the perception.
And Josh, since you were at the meeting Tuesday, maybe you can tell us what the outcome was for the business person who was seeking relief on his building permit? I couldn't hear all of what was said, but he didn't look happy.
Anyone who adds "units" to...
Back to page topAnyone who adds "units" to their building is "under the Weierke rule," Finance Director Tom Nikunen joked. There was no change in fee, which city officials emphasized does not include connection charge. The barber's options are to pay the fee or not create additional units. If the council again changes its policy on fees, three applicants will be credited for the amount of money they overpaid, Nikunen said.
(Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.)
So, what did he decide to...
Back to page topSo, what did he decide to do? I know he said something during a later comment, and I don't want to say the wrong thing while he is standing behind me with a scissors. :-)
I recall that he came back to comment a second time. How did that come about? Did the Council ask him to, or did he ask to be recognized again?
I don't remember if he was...
Back to page topI don't remember if he was called up or asked to be recognized, but he did say that the project -- the increase in units -- probably not go through.
(Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.)
Yeah he was asked to comment...
Back to page topYeah he was asked to comment again because they wanted to know whether he would proceed with the project if the permit fee wasn't adjusted. He stated that he probably wouldn't go forward as planned without a change, and I don't blame him.
Well, once again, not much...
Back to page topWell, once again, not much the city does makes sense to me! I have to agree with Twinsfan it is totally illogical! I seem to remember watching a city council meeting (almost cartoon time!) not to long ago where a building owners building permit fee was dropped significantly and that that supposedly set a new precedent! Or did I get so swept up in the excitement of being entertained that I misunderstood? I could have been popping popcorn and missed something!! I could not believe, at that time, that anything was approved on that whole project considering there was no off street parking and a shared bathroom. Another thing that also surprises me is how everyone is so stunned that the building permit fees are so expensive, which I think the fees totally are! Don't they find out what the fees are before they purchase any structure that they expect to do major work on? I know the building owner who got his building permit lowered owns several buildings in this town so the fees should have been no surprise to him. He said he was stunned and would have had to drop the project if the fees were not lowered. So I guess playing dumb helps sway the city council. Maybe the high fees are one of the reasons owners are not improving their structures. Thom is right, why would anyone buy here considering all of these added high fees!
In previous dealings, I have...
Back to page topIn previous dealings, I have heard many of the councils reasonings and descriptions, perhaps you could see if the mayor would like to give some public reasoning? Most people do not go to the council meetings and do not use cable, so it would be nice to see him address this matter in public forum. I was only wondering because prior to being elected he was publicly verbal and I have not heard anything from him lately.
Let me try and explain these...
Back to page topLet me try and explain these fees in more detail from what I've been told by the city attorney and heard at the meetings.
The fees have been collected from every other house and business in town, except some of the buildings downtown. The fees were collected when the sewer and water connections were upgraded, except for some of the buildings downtown.
The fees are an effort to recoup the money not collected by the city when the work was done. The only are addded to permits for work being done to buildings that never had the fees collected for them. They are only added to permits that "add units".
"Units" are how you are billed for your sewer and water. A home is 1.0 units, an apartment is 0.8 units. The business owner wanted to add a wall in the building he was purchasing to create a rentable office space. Doing so is considered adding a "unit". The building would go from being billed at 1.0 units to 2.0 units. That increase would be reflected in the monthly sewer and water bill for the building.
In addition to the higher monthly cost, the increase in units triggers the "Sewer and Water Area Charges" in question. Even though no changes are being made in the sewer and water connections for the building. Basically the city is charging a few to allow the business owner to be charged more monthly. A fee for a fee!