West Bend, WI – There’s a public hearing September 16, 2024, at West Bend City Hall, regarding a special assessment tied to reconstruction of S. 18th Avenue between Vogt Drive and Paradise Drive. The special assessments range anywhere from $735.11 per parcel to $84,492.84 and affect neighbors living on S. 18th Avenue and in area condominiums.
The total construction cost between Vogt Drive and Paradise Drive is $1,207,910.76 and the total special assessment is $433,237.57. Some of the specifics per condo or road are below.
- There are 25 properties at West Pointe Condominiums on Eden Drive with special assessments at $1,458.91 per property.
– There are 17 parcels at Garden Condominiums on Garden Lane with a special assessment at $2,122.23 per property.
– West View Villas on Vogt Drive has 19 parcels with a special assessment at $735.11 per property.
– Rolfs Dog Park has a special assessment at $17,348.53 which is charged to the City of West Bend. Calls have been placed to see what taxpayer money is used to cover that cost and how the communities’ taxes are impacted. Will those who are already paying on this special assessment be taxed twice under the city-owned Rolfs Dog Park.
– There are seven other properties impacted within the City of West Bend including:
For a better image on special assessments per address go to page 287 on the agenda below.
2024-09-16 special assessment- Full Agenda-WBCCAdvance the page by clicking the arrow in the lower lefthand corner
Neighbors on 18th Avenue have concerns about the special assessment as the city sewer and water rate increase totals nearly a 66% hike. We Energies is also coming out with gas and electric increases for 2025 and 2026.
The West Bend School District also has a referendum with a total cost of $165.45 million on the November 5, 2024, ballot.
The City of West Bend leveled a special assessment to property owners on 18th Avenue between Vogt Drive and Decorah Road in February 2020. After initially tabling the issue in February the council unanimously approved the special assessment in April 2020. The special assessment is tied to road improvements on 18th Avenue between Decorah Road and Vogt Drive along with curb and gutter, streetlights, sidewalk, etc.
Click HERE to read how 70 homeowners in the Westminster Place subdivision tried to fight back against the special assessment during a public hearing
In 2020 city engineer Max Marechal offered an explanation. Multiple calls were placed to Marechal on Friday, September 13, 2024, for an update to see if anything had changed. As of the publishing of this story, no calls had been returned.
Monday’s council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. the council chambers at City Hall. The meeting is free and open to the public.
Public hearing on special assessment for property owners on 18th Avenue – Feb 2020
There’s going to be a public hearing on March 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at West Bend City Hall. The special assessment is tied to the reconstruction of 18th Avenue between Vogt Drive and Decorah Road.
“The way the assessments are calculated are based on the frontage of the lot,” said City Engineer Max Maréchal. “We’ve established the cost of lineal foot of project and we multiply that by the frontage of each property. If your frontage is smaller than you will get a smaller assessment.”
According to preliminary numbers the total for the special assessment varies from $1,757.14 to $5,449.47 to over $16,000. That last increase is for an address that houses a non-profit organization on 18th Avenue.
“That will be up to the common council to address,” said Marechal. “This is what the public hearing is for so aspects can be addressed between the public and the council.”
The special assessment, overall, is based on an existing policy. “When there are new improvements the property that benefits directly the government entity has power to assess for the cost of installing those new improvements,” said Marechal.
Improvements on the 18th Avenue project include curb and gutter, streetlights, sidewalk, etc. About 85 properties are included in the special assessment.
Neighbors on 18th Avenue and Decorah Road question, if the entire community is using the streets and sidewalks, then why are only the property owners in that area charged with a special assessment to cover the cost of improvements?
Marechal went back to his statement of “property that benefits directly” from the work. “Direct benefit to the property,” he said. “Are there properties immediately adjacent that will benefit.”
Marechal said his office is receiving phone calls. “Most of the people understand what’s going on but we’re also open to answering any other inquiries,” he said.
The reconstruction project on 18th Avenue between Vogt Drive and Decorah Road was completed in October 2018.
The entire first portion of the project was less than a mile in length. There’s a second phase of the project waiting in the wings which will run from Vogt Drive south to Paradise Drive.
“Obviously we will follow the same process as the first phase,” said Marechal. “Which means we will go to the City common council and ask them whether they intend to assess for new improvements; will that directly benefit those properties or not and we’ll go from there.”
