Council Approves 2009 Street Project

At the previous meeting, Council Members unanimously approved a motion to proceed with the 2009 Street Maintenance Project. This vote occurred after we received feedback from residents at two separate Public Hearings on 4/20/09 and 4/21/09. At these Public Hearings, a detailed presentation was made by William Angerman from WHKS & Co and questions from those in attendance were answered.

Based on the Public Hearings, some confusion surrounded which roads will be improved this summer and why 20% of the cost is being assessed to affected homeowners. This post will aim to answer those questions.

Which roads will be improved?

After several months of detailed analysis of our infrastructure, a list was compiled of which roads should be repaired this summer. I'm not an expert on road longevity, so I believe the experts and their opinions as to what will give us the most "bang for our buck" in the long run.

First, they removed any roads that needed to be fully RECONSTRUCTED, because we do not have the money to fix those roads this year. Unfortunately, the frontage road is included on the list of roads which we can't afford to reconstruct in 2009. To my surprise, we also received opposition from businesses along the frontage road that this year, due to the bad economy, would not be a good time to tackle this project. We hope to do minor repairs on the frontage road in 2009 and complete the reconstruct with the next major road project.

Next, we turned to those roads which need an overlay to ensure that they do not further degrade into roads which would need to be fully reconstructed (which costs the taxpayers 5 times more).

The graphic below details which roads will receive a new overlay as part of this project:

As you can see, the list of roads (shown in red) encompasses a large part of the city.

Why am I paying for 20% of the project?

The most common question at the Public Hearings was why homeowners adjacent to roads which will be overlaid are paying an assessment. After all, we all use the roads, right? Each homeowner with an overlay will be assessed $262 for a typical lot. A corner lot would be assessed $443 if both sides were improved.

The short answer is that 80% of total project cost is being paid by all residents of the city. Only 20% of the cost is being assessed to homeowners. Furthermore, we are required by MN Statue 429 to assess a minimum of 20% of the project if we are to bond for the project. While I wish we had an extra $755,000 in our budget to tackle this in 2009, the reality is that we do not. We simply must bond for the project if we want to keep our roads from getting worse (and costing us even more to fix).

When will the work begin?

Construction will begin in June and should be completed in August. You'll know if/when your road will be worked on because "No Parking" signs will be placed along the curbs a few days before work will begin. Access to your home will only be affected for a matter of hours on the day the overlay is completed.

Who can I contact with questions?

Questions surrounding this project (or any road concerns) should be directed to Greg Rud, our Public Works Director. He can be reached at 507-775-2943 or grud@ci.byron.mn.us.




Disclaimer: Articles posted on ByronMNBlog.com are the opinions of Councilman Alan De Keyrel only and do not reflect the opinion of the Byron City Council or the City of Byron. The information provided is for educational purposes only and should not be deemed accurate until verified.

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City Saves Taxpayers $102,422

As you know, the City has been exploring various ways to reduce expenditures to meet the expected Local Government Aid cuts. As part of this process, our Finance Committee researched the idea of refunding ("refinancing") our existing debt obligations and taking advantage of the current low interest rates.

At the March 11th Council meeting, we unanimously approved the Refunding of Bonds 2001 & 2002 (Resolution 09-07) if we could achieve at least a minimum of 3% savings. As we would find out this week, this resulted in two very good things for Byron.

Our Bond Rating Improved

In order to be considered for refunding, the City was required to have its bond rating re-evaluated by Standard & Poor's rating company out of Chicago. To explain further, a "bond rating" is similar to that of your personal credit score (FICO). The higher your bond rating, the easier it is for you to get financing and you also get the best rates.

In 2005, Byron received an A3 rating that we were pleased with. This week, we were informed that our new rating is AA+, which was not expected due to the economy and state cuts. Needless to say, we are thrilled to get this new rating which places us one step below Rochester- which is rated AAA. It is my understanding that AAA rating is not attainable for a city of our size, so we have essentially received the best bond rating available to us.

Refunding Process Was Completed

Armed with our excellent bond rating, we were poised to secure our refunding at a very good rate. Since our last council meeting, the rates dropped and we were able to refund our 2001 & 2002 Bonds at a savings of $102,422 over the life of the bonds. The bond re-payment schedules were not extended as part of this process and will still be paid off by January 2013.

I would like to commend our City Staff and Finance Director for the excellent work on this project. In these difficult economic times, a substantial savings such as this is a big win.