City pitches street repair to Pachyderms

Voters will have another chance, this one Nov. 7, to vote on a streets and sidewalk improvement initiative — this one totaling $15 million — aimed at repairing some of Havre’s worst areas, city officials said Friday in the Duck Inn Vineyard Room during a meeting of the local Pachyderm Club.

Havre Director of Public Works Dave Peterson and Ward 1 councilwoman Terry Lilletvedt presented the proposed plan for improving Havre’s 10 most deteriorated streets and sidewalks during the meeting.

The city is asking the public to invest $750,000 each year for the next 20 years to improve a list of 10 of the worst streets and sidewalk combinations in the city, half the price of the proposal voters rejected in the November 2015 city election. The 66 mills would cost a homeowner with a $100,000 home about $89.51 a year, or $179.02 for a $200,000 home.

Havre’s street system comprises 62 miles of street and alleys, most of which are between 50 and 70 years old, the presenters said. The patchwork done by city workers over the years has prolonged the life of the streets and sidewalks.

One major culprit for breaking up walkways and streets is moisture underneath, Peterson said. To make the needed repairs, he added, the infrastructure — water and sewer lines — under the walkways and streets need to be replaced.

“That’s what makes everything so expensive,” Peterson said. “Replacing everything under the streets.

The amount the city can budget for streets and sidewalks does allow for those kinds of repairs, he said..

The new proposal is a scaled-back version of the $30 million rejected by voters in 2015 that would have cost a total of $1.5 million a year in property tax increases.

If passed, taxpayers will see an increase in their November 18 taxes and can expect construction to begin spring of 2019.

Ballots will be mailed 15 to 20 days before elections and must be returned by mail or in person to the Hill County clerk and recorder at the courthouse by Nov. 7. Another meeting regarding the proposal will be held tonight after the City Council meeting.

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List of the 10 priority projects:

Fourth Street to 14th Avenue

16th Street to 12th Avenue

Eighth Avenue First Street to Third Street

Seventh Street to Ninth Street to 15th Street

Eighth Avenue to 12th Street to 18th Street

Ninth Avenue to First Street to Fourth Street

Ninth Avenue to Fourth Street to Fifth Street

10th Avenue to First Street to Second Street

10th Avenue to Fourth Street to Fifth Street

13th Avenue to Third Street to Fifth Street