Brewer brings back review commission proposals

Two years after his commission’s proposal to reform Havre’s city government was rejected by voters, former chair of the Havre Study Commission said at Monday’s council meeting that the council should give his proposal another look as a means of generating additional city revenue.

Dave Brewer, who chaired the Study Commission tasked with looking at changes to Havre’s city government, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“We need to look at more avenues for getting revenues up,” said Brewer, husband of council member Denise Brewer.

The proposal crafted by Brewer and two other commission members was rejected by Havre voters 61 to 39 percent in the November 2016 elections.

He did not specify what changes would increase revenues. The commission’s proposal included the city adopting a charter to give the city more self-governing powers that have been yielded to the state.

Brewer, manager of the Great Northern Fairgrounds, said such changes are needed to redo the city’s crumbling streets and sidewalks, especially after voters rejected a mill levy last November that would have done so.

If it had passed the levy increase would have generated an estimated $15 million over 20 years, or $750,000 annually to redo the city streets, sidewalks and underlying infrastructure.

The levy increase would have meant owners of a property with a taxable value of $100,000 would pay an additional $89.50 in property taxes a year while owners of a property valued at $200,000 would pay an additional $179. City voters rejected the proposed mill levy increase by a vote of 1,199 to 1,090 in last November’s city elections.

Brewer said Congress and the federal government don’t seem willing to pay for upgrading infrastructure, a responsibility he said that then falls to states and then in turn to individual communities.

“I don’t want to sound the alarm, but I definitely want to ring the bell,” Brewer said. “We definitely need to look at things.”

Brewer added that he thinks there are other ways of getting the money needed to pay for redoing city streets and sidewalks, other then mill levies that he said are repeatedly opposed by voters.

Upgrades to the city’s streets and its underlying infrastructure have traditionally been paid for through special improvement districts, SIDs.

SIDs are created when a majority of property owners within a neighborhood vote to form a district. Properties within the district are assessed fees or taxes to pay for bonds taken out to pay for the project.

Brewer said SIDs are too expensive and therefore will not be created. However, he said, a ward might be willing to do so.

The city cannot legally create a citywide SID.

Brewer said that people likely didn’t vote for the mill levy because they didn’t think their streets would get redone as part of the project, but that something needs to be done.

Council member Terry Lilletvedt, who backed the passage of the proposed levy, said that the city is limited in how it can raise revenue. She said the best thing Brewer can do is contact state lawmakers and try to convince them to change laws that limit how cities can collect revenues.

“They tie our hands in every conceivable way,” she said. “Until the state really makes some changes, so that we can make some changes beside SIDs, I am not sure we have a lot of options.”

In other business, Havre Parks and Recreations Director Chris Inman gave an update about projects her department has completed or plans to finish.

She said new playground structure has been installed at Optimist Park and that she has received positive feedback about it.

Upgrades to the bathrooms at Pepin Park have also been finished, she said.

Upcoming projects, she said, include the installation of new playground equipment at Kennedy Deaconess Park.

Some of the city’s parks continued to be closed because of the danger presented by trees damaged in an Oct. 2-3 snowstorm.

Inman said that, so far, 45 trees have been taken down, and 10 more need to be cut at Pepin.

The stumps of the damaged trees, she said, also need to be ground up and new trees planted.

Parks and Recreation also is in charge of the Havre Community Pool. Inman said LED lights have been installed in the pool area, along with additional lighting in the pool’s restroom and locker room.

Plumbing in the downstairs area that houses the pool has also been redone, new showers installed and the pool has been cleaned and painted.

Inman said upcoming projects for the pool include a new roof on the pool’s bathhouse, new doors on the pool’s maintenance room and replacing cracked windows in the pool area.

She added that it will be 42 years ago next week that the pool was installed.

“It’s been around for a while, and we keep it going,” she said.

The council’s next meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at Havre City Hall.