City council considers affordable housing expansion
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
RONAN – Ronan City Council weighed the value of affordable housing expansion against possibly losing some of its tax base before tentatively approving a partnership with Lake County Community Development and City of Ronan Housing on Dec. 17.
Lake County Community Development has asked that the city government be a partner to holds grant funds the organization hopes to obtain in order to purchase and rehabilitate two fourplexes located at Second Avenue and Main Street.
Roland Godan, general projects manager for Lake County Community Development, said the $600,000 property is owned by Glacier Bank and has a number of issues, including mold, that will make selling the property difficult. The property has some renters living in the building currently, and some squatters who haven’t paid rent since 2013. Godan’s team hopes to get grant monies to rehabilitate the property and create low-income housing.
“The idea is to get the purchase price down low enough so that there is enough residual grant money for remediation,” Godan said. “The reality is that it pulls it out of the tax pool, but it makes housing available to families that match the income level of this area … Whatever you lose in a tax base because it is a nonprofit, you gain back in employing people who work in local businesses and shop and spend.”
Mayor Kim Aipperspach was wary of taking the property off the tax rolls.
“If we keep losing $600,000 off our tax base, you get down to where we can’t hire another policeman,” Aipperspach said. “So what’s the answer for our tax base?”
The town continues to grow, but the school district and county government have continued to purchase lands that leave the tax rolls, city employee Mark Clary said.
“We’re growing but our pockets are shrinking,” Aipperspach said.
The council unanimously authorized the Lake County Community Development Corporation to hold a public hearing about the matter.
In other business:
• The council approved a second reading of police hiring procedures.
• The council authorized listing some city properties for sale and gave Public Works Director Dan Miller permission to pursue purchasing a separate tract of land.
• The council upheld its policy of having people pay the full amount of uncharacteristically high utility bills in installments. A business owner had asked for some forgiveness on part of a November water bill that was nine times his normal rate. City employees told the man a leaky faucet could have caused the problem, though none could be found in an inspection of the property.
