NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After a petition was signed by the right number of people, the Hutchinson City Council approved waterline improvements in the Spyglass Hills area at its meeting this week.
"It is Cherry Hills Drive through Winged Foot Drive and up through Foxfire Street in that Spyglass Hills area," said City Finance Director Angela Richard. "The cost estimate for these improvements is $480,000. The city special assessment policy says that we set aside $100,000 each year for waterline improvements for special assessments. We will contribute that to this project. We will also pay approximately $49,000 for valves and hydrants per our special assessments policy. The remainder of that cost will be allocated among the property owners. They have chosen a little bit different way to allocate this. Some of the property owners are taking two shares of it and others are taking one share. Because of this kind of allocation, 100% of the property owners have signed off on this, have authorized this method of sharing the cost."
After the project, the property owners will have a chance to reimburse their share of the improvements, or it can be assessed to their property over 20 years.
The city may use a temporary note to finance the project until completion. Then the city will bond the cost of the improvements and use the payments from the homeowners to pay the bond payments.
The council approved the project unanimously. It will likely take a couple of years to finish.