09/03/2026
Benson City Council is proposing taxing individual households up to $31,000 to improve streets.
By Reed Anfinson
For the first time in recent memory, if not the city’s history, the Benson City Council is proposing to assess property owners who live along a street to pay part of the cost of its upgrade.
Upgrades can include replacing sanitary sewer, stormwater, and drinking water lines, paving the street, installing curb and gutter, and improving sidewalks.
As proposed, a total street project could cost homeowners between $10,000 and $31,000.
A majority of the cost would still remain with the general tax base of the city; however, in the past, the streets have been seen as a citywide obligation to maintain.
At its Aug. 18 meeting, the city council put into motion the process that could lead to assessing property owners for street improvements in 2027. The streets and properties along them that would be involved are:
- 12th Street South from Oakwood Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue;
- McKinney Avenue from 19th Street to 21st Street.
Both project areas are primarily made up of residential properties.
The proposed 2027 Street and Utility Improvements details are being prepared by Rodeberg & Berryman, Inc. and engineering firm based in Montevideo.
“The purpose of the preliminary engineering report is to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed improvements, identify the anticipated scope of the project, develop preliminary project costs and assessments, and provide the engineering information necessary for the city council to consider the proposed improvements,” the firm states in its proposal to the city.
After conducting a preliminary field survey of the current infrastructure on the 12th Street and McKinney sections to be part of the project, the engineering firm says it will develop recommendations on the anticipated scope of the project for each street as well as an estimated cost. A detailed project engineering is not included at this point.
When the initial study is in hand, Rodeberg & Berryman says it will assist the city “in developing preliminary assessments for the proposed project based on the city's applicable assessment policies and the anticipated assessable project costs.”
When the city has the preliminary engineering report and the project’s assessment costs, it will be required to conduct a public hearing on the proposed project. Rodeberg & Berryman says it will help the council through this process.
If, following completion of the preliminary engineering report, Benson’s council approves moving forward with the project, Rodeberg & Berryman offers to provide “a separate proposal for the final survey, design, bidding, and construction engineering services.”
There will be a final public hearing required for approving the assessment in May of 2027, with construction to start in the summer.
Project timeline
Preliminary engineering report to city October
Preliminary public improvement hearing November
Project design Nov to March
Bidding March - April
Final assessment hearing May
Construction Summer 2027
Appraising value of assessments to properties
To assist it with establishing the appraisal value of each property along the proposed construction routes, the city has retained Nagell Appraisals Incorporated of Plymouth.
The company says it will “drive by viewing the subject properties and view the neighborhood.” It will look at the physical and economic factors that may have an impact on a property’s value.
It says it will comment on the market value benefit “if any” of the proposed work.
It will then provide the city council with a range of benefits to each property “if any” in the proposed project areas.
“The general market comments are based on past appraisals, experience, and market information,” Ethan Waytas of Nagell states in a letter to the council. Its report is to be completed by Oct. 1.
The company is charging the city $2,100 for the study but will charge an additional $200 per hour for any preparation of additional documentation or testifying on the initial report it gives the city.
Appealing an assessment
To appeal a proposed assessment, a property owner must deliver to the City of Benson a signed written objection before the final assessment hearing or give it directly to the presiding officer of the council, usually the mayor, during the hearing.
If the council approves the assessment, a person who objects to it must, within 30 days of it voting to implement the assessment, serve a notice to the mayor or city clerk and file the appeal with the 8th Judicial District Court.
10-year plan for paying for city improvements
In December, Rodeberg & Berryman Engineer Mike Amborn of Montevideo and Todd Hagen, a senior municipal advisor with Ehlers, a public finance advising firm in the Twin Cities presented the council with a 10-year plan for infrastructure improvements in the city.
Hagen then outlined how the city would pay for the $16,385,100 in improvements that would be planned between 2027 and 2037. The projects would take place every other year starting in 2027. The in between year allows engineers to get ahead of the game and have a lot of the preliminary work done, Amborn told the council.
All of these projects involve complete reconstruction of all infrastructure – piping for sanitary sewer, water and storm water; new streets, curb and gutter, and sidewalks.
Amborn’s estimated construction prices are based on the higher priced bids the city received for work at the new Cottage Square housing development. In figuring the construction costs based on those projects, he told the council he was building some inflationary costs into the estimates, but otherwise inflation was not considered.
In having the plan outlined with projected costs, the council gets a better idea of what it is looking at if it implements an assessment policy for infrastructure improvements, Amborn said.
Benson is faced with hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure replacement costs in the coming decades. Many of the streets in the older parts of the community have infrastructure that is long past its expected life span. There are sewer and water lines that are 80 years old or more.
In the past, the city has used its bonding authority to pay for the projects, and a general city-wide levy along with utility revenues to pay off the bonds and improvements.
However, a change in strategy is now needed to address the scope and cost of the projects facing the city, the council was told. That strategy involves property owners paying directly for a share of the work.
Why start assessing properties now
Fairness is an issue when deciding to implement an assessment policy. Need is another factor when it comes to getting the work done that will be required in the coming years.
In the summer of 2025, the city completed reconstruction of 18th street north just east of the Northside Elementary School from Nevada Avenue to Utah Avenue. The cost was $920,000.
Property owners on 18th Street North where the street improvements were made were not assessed for the improvements. They were paid for by all the taxpayers of the city.
So, property owners now being assessed for improvements are asking: “Why now? Why us?”
“We are still going to have that point in time where it is going to be raw and fresh,” Council Member Dan Enderson said last December.
“There is always going to be that time,” Mayor Jack Evenson agreed.
Factors for how much you’ll pay
Based on his preliminary construction cost estimates presented in December, those who own property along the routes of the eight proposed infrastructure projects would be assessed the following based on their lot size:
Lot size Total Estimated Assessment
50 feet $10,123
75 feet $15,184
100 feet $20,246
125 feet $25,307
150 feet $30,369
The assessment application is capped at 150 feet.
Just how much each property is assessed depends on several factors, including:
- How many front feet the property has.
- How many property owners live along the street.
For those living on a corner lot, they will only be charged based on the front footage of the side where city connections to sanitary sewer and water are located. This also applies to the few lots where the lot stretches across a block, facing two streets.
