The costs of the benefits
By Daniel Arens
Several streets in Hazen received road improvements in 2016. While the streets may be nicer to drive on, there is another side to the issue: cost. For residents living along the affected streets, or even in the same block, the day of reckoning has come.
It is true that the final decision on city assessments for the 2016 project won’t be made until the city commission meets Oct. 30 to finalize the preliminary assessment made by the special assessment committee. However, on Oct. 2, that committee held its own public hearing to discuss why it made the decisions it had.
Greg McCarthy, chairman of the special assessment committee, spoke to Hazen residents who gathered at Hazen City Hall Monday, explaining the basic premise of how their decision was reached and answering questions the residents brought up. He was later joined by Doug Rothe, another member of the committee.
