Jill Schramm/MDN Jennifer Rockwell addresses the Minot City Council Monday as other residents from the Dakota Homes neighborhood attend to support her comments against special assessments for a lighting district.

Residents of a southwest Minot neighborhood say a special assessment district created by the Minot City Council Monday to replace their street lighting is unworkable.

The council voted to increase city dollars going into the project by 5% beyond the original 30% approved before the project went out to gauge neighborhood protest. At 35%, the city’s share of the $716,805 cost to replace street lights in the neighborhood would be about $256,000, which would come from reserves in sales taxes allocated for infrastructure. However, residents still reeling from double and triple mortgages for repairs following the 2011 flood said the remainder is more than they can afford.

“I don’t have any more money,” resident James Opozda told the council at the public hearing Monday. “We just can’t do it no more. This has to be reconsidered.”

Residents garnered enough protest letters from 112 of 217 properties to show that 51.6% of owners are against the project. To stop a project, state law requires protests that reflect the majority of the property area, and in that regard, opponents were able to get only 38.88%, partly due to being unaware that area rather than ownership was their target.

“We heard many stories about how people were barely making ends meet with fixed incomes, disability, the double cost of grocery bills and other goods and all without their incomes going up in proportion,” said resident Jennifer Rockwell, who was among those who convassed the neighborhood for protest. “They were concerned that they would no longer be able to afford to live in their homes.”

Rockwell said residents do want their lights replaced but believe it should be a citywide cost.

“They expressed at the October 1 (neighborhood) meeting that they wanted their street lights turned back on, but not on the backs of our already increasing property taxes as well as the cost of what was looking to be a few thousand dollars per household,” she said. “The residents wanted to feel safe in their neighborhood but were more willing to put up their own sensory flood- or spot-light than to have to pay for the special assessment.”

City staff and a consultant determined the lighting system in place, which dates to the 1960s, had potential to cause electric shock due to old metal poles not being grounded. City staff decided to turn the system off for the safety of the public while looking into replacement.

Dakota Homes Addition is located generally south of Central Avenue, north of Second Avenue Southwest and between 24th Street Southwest and the U.S. Highway 83 Bypass. It includes Leach Park.

Council members and staff aired concerns about setting an unaffordable precedent by increasing the city’s share of the Dakota Homes project cost too much.

“These are probably going to become more common,” City Engineer Lance Meyer said of lighting replacements. “We have areas around town, as the city continues to age, this question is going to keep coming up. So this will set a precedent.

“I’m not comfortable with leaving a neighborhood without any lighting. I’m not comfortable paying for 100% of this,” said council member Carrie Evans, who proposed the 35%. “I know it’s not going to satisfy the residents of the community, but at some point we have to make our decisions up here. There are many, many people in the city that have storm sewer special assessments, and this is unfortunately part of living in a community and an infrastructure that is deteriorating.”

The last street lighting project was in downtown Minot, for which the city did not contribute any money but obtained a federal grant that paid 50% of the cost.

The council voted 4-1 to accept the 35% cost-share and the low bid from Main Electric. Council member Scott Burlingame voted against, stating he prefers a 50% city match, which generated applause from neighborhood residents in attendance.

Voting to accept the bid were Mayor Tom Ross, Carrie Evans, Mark Jantzer and Steven Podrygula. Lisa Olson and Paul Pitner were absent.