The City of Homer is negotiating with the Department of Transportation on which of the state owned properties must pay the special assessment district fees that finance the recent natural gas extension.
The city-wide special assessment district was implemented in order to connect all Homer streets and rights of way with natural gas which was originally funded by borrowing $12 million from the Borough.
Homer City Manager Katie Koester says the fee for each property is $3,300 and so far the DOT has agreed that two of the nine properties previously in question will pay the fee.
Koester: “Those two lots, [the DOT does] think they’re benefited, they do have structures on them but we still maintain that these aren’t, and so the council has a formal process established for people who kind of after the fact believe that their property still is not benefited by very strict standards that were put forward by council by a resolution. So not just ‘Hey I don’t plan on hooking up to gas, or it’s just a vacant piece of land or it’s just a parking lot but rather it’s too small to ever build anything on.”
Koester says she is sure the negotiations with the DOT will reach a reasonable solution but wants all property owners to know everyone is being held to the same standards.
