JACKSON, MI – Residents are upset about how much they’re required to pay for Franklin Street construction that’s scheduled to start Monday, June 8.
A special assessment for the project was approved 4-2 by the Jackson City Council at its Tuesday, May 26 virtual meeting. Councilmen Will Forgrave, 6th Ward, and Freddie Dancy, 2nd Ward, voted against the assessment.
“It is absolutely ridiculous that the city would slap owners in the face with $10,000 due,” Barbara Tomb said in a letter to council. “Seriously, how I am supposed to supply the city with $10,000 during these times of economic hardship. What a bunch of scoundrels. That amount is ridiculously high.”
The .5-mile stretch of the street is projected to cost nearly $1.9 million, city officials said. The city’s major street fund will pay $764,389 of that, with the remaining $502,927 coming from the special assessment.
There are 46 lots along W. Franklin Street from Brown Street to S. West Avenue that were assessed. Property owners will pay between $4,952 and $23,768, for an average of $10,933 per lot, per city documents.
Council passed a cap of $15,000 for special assessments of residential properties May 12. However, that cap does not apply to a property owned by Franklin Partners, LLC, 800 W. Franklin St., which owes $23,768, nor does it apply property owned by the Life Church International, 1101 W. Franklin St., which owes $21,525, documents show.
Twenty-two letters were submitted to council as public comment or written objections to these assessments. All protested the amount of the assessment, but some were not against the assessment in general.
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During the virtual meeting, the names and addresses of the people who submitted these letters were read, but the contents of the public comment letters were not read into the record. Only a single sentence summary of all comments was provided to council by City Clerk Andrea Murray.
A video the meeting is on the city’s Facebook page.
Not reading the letters submitted for public comment into the meeting’s official record could be a violation of the Open Meetings Act, according to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order about virtual meetings, attorneys with the Michigan Press Association said.
City Attorney Matt Hagerty did not address this, or the fact that the public comments were not read into the record, when asked about this potential violation.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot/MLive obtained all 22 letters through a Freedom of Information Act request.
And public comments for additional public hearings later in the meeting were read in full after multiple councilmembers asked that be done in the interest of transparency.
“For the publicness of this meeting, I think it’s good that they’re also read publicly,” Councilman Jeromy Alexander, Ward 3, said at the meeting.
Property owners with corner lots on Grinnell and Franklin streets are paying two assessments because their lots have street frontage on both streets. Grinnell was assessed in August 2018, for an average $1,500 per lot.
“We are formally protesting the amount and manner of which the special assessments were assessed and applied to our property,” Nicholas and Grace Greiner said in a letter to the city.
For the Franklin Street assessment, the property owners will pay $9,903, records show. The owners asked to be removed from the Franklin assessment since they already paid for the Grinnell assessment, according to city documents.
A double assessment like that is possible for owners of corner lots, City Assessor Jason Yoakam said in an email.
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“Just because you have the right to do what you want, doesn’t mean you should do what you want,” Franklin Street resident Scott Hirko said. “They may have the right to put a special assessment on ... but it doesn’t mean you should without trying to be neighborly.”
Some residents along Franklin Street were not opposed to the special assessment, but were opposed to the amount, documents obtained via FOIA show.
“Paying income tax, sales tax, gas tax, and ever increasing water and sewer rats I wonder – have I not paid enough,” Stephen Rajzer said in a letter sent to the city. “If you say the answer is ‘No, you have not paid enough,’ then by all means levy an assessment, but please consider the financial impact it will have on myself and my neighbors.”
Property owners must make the first assessment payment by Dec. 1, per the resolution passed by council. That payment is delayed from July 1 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents who do not pay the full amount by Dec. 1, will have 10 years to pay the assessment in installments with interest, per the resolution.
Franklin Street will be closed to through traffic starting mid-June until the construction is done mid-October, Assistant City Engineer Troy White said.
Water and sewer mains from 1919 and 1920 will be upgraded and a new road will be laid, officials said previously.
Brown Street will close to through traffic for about two weeks, starting Monday, White said. A water will be installed under the street.
The posted detour is Michigan Avenue to Wisner Street to Morrell Street. All businesses on Brown Street will still be accessible, White said.
Three streets the intersect with W. Franklin Street, S. Higby Street, S. Thompson Street and S. Durand Street were previously assessed for separate projects in August 2108. The projects were delayed because the Franklin construction needed to be completed first, City Engineer Jon Dowling said.
Franklin construction was originally planned to start in 2019, but was delayed because of a lack of funds, Dowling said. After Franklin is done, construction will start on those streets, he said.
“People don’t like special assessments, particularly with today’s circumstances with job loss and everything else and people tightening their pocketbooks," Hagerty said. "It’s always things on the back of people’s minds that you don’t want to pay additional things, but you get a big benefit from it as well. You have the opportunity to pay it off over a long period of time too.”
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