Boucher touts street repair plan

Havre City Council member Matt Boucher Friday touted the 20-year, $30 million street renovation project, though he admitted it would only put a dent in the city’s infrastructure problems.

The proposal would cost taxpayers about $233 per year on a $100,000 home, though that figure may be lower if the city is successful in its effort to annex property to the west of the city, he said.

Boucher admitted that was a hefty increase for taxpayers, but the problem will get only worse and the solutions more expensive as years go by.

The increase will amount to about 75 cents a day per household, he said.

Boucher addressed the Pachyderm Club whose president, Hill County GOP Chair Andrew Brekke, was the only council member to vote against putting the $30 million plan on the ballot. Voters will decide on the project in the September primary or the November general election.

Boucher said city streets are bad and getting worse.

As he campaigned door to door in 2013, he said, he heard more comments on street disrepair than any other topic.

After being elected, he asked Mayor Tim Solomon to put him on the Streets and Sidewalks Committee. Not being one of the more sought-after committees, Boucher ended up chairing the committee.

He said he realizes the difficulty some taxpayers will have paying for the project.

Brekke noted that residents are facing a 40 percent increase in sewer rates because of the federally mandated upgrades to the city’s sewage treatment plant.

The city is likely to receive a $500,000 state grant to help repair the Bullhook Creek drainage infrastructure problems, but the city is going to have to find $1 million to finish the project or taxpayers will have to pick up the tab, Brekke said.

Boucher received many questions from the audience, mostly sympathetic to the need but wary of how the city will pay for it.

Republican activist Brad Lotton asked whether all the money would be spent on street repairs or if some of it would end up being used on equipment purchases or other city needs.

Boucher assured him that the money could be spent only on street projects.

Lotton also pushed the city to move on annexation of areas to the west.

“Everyone should pay their fair share,” he said.

Solomon, who favors annexation, and the attorney for the representing property owners west of the city, have been tight-lipped on the progress of annexation talks.

It has been a contentious issue for years.

In the end, Lotton told Boucher, he will face the age-old dilemma.

“Everybody wants the work done, but nobody wants to pay for it,” he said.