BOARD FIELDS TAX BILL COMPLAINTS

JACKSON -- After three lackluster public hearings on rezoning and annexation requests Tuesday, the Jackson Board of Aldermen heard impassioned arguments about Oak Hill Road special assessments.

R. Howard Dillard and John Oliver, Cape Girardeau attorneys representing almost all the Oak Hill Road property owners, encouraged the aldermen to reassess improvements on the road and issue lower tax bills.

Arguments over road improvements have spanned about a year. Residents requested the road be paved, but then objected to the proposed width, said the city should pay 50 percent and finally said they were given a false impression about how much they would have to pay.

At the heart of the argument is a statement made at a meeting last year. Jackson engineering consultant Rich Bowen made mention of $15-$18 per foot of frontage as a cost. City officials contend he was speaking of the pavement only. Property owners say he meant the total special assessment.

Tax bills ended up being $36.75 per foot of frontage. Under state statute, the Jackson Board of Aldermen had to conduct a public hearing for people objecting to the bills.

Mayor Paul Sander set strict guidelines for the hearing, and Oliver did most of the talking for residents. He said the width and high grade of Oak Hill Road was to benefit not only property owners along the stretch but also drivers throughout the city.

Oliver said it was a wise choice, but his clients shouldn't have to bear the burden for it. He objected to the inclusion of a 10-inch water line and improvements on Bainbridge Road in the tax bills, saying that it made them mathematically incorrect.

But the biggest problem, according to Oliver, was a Missouri state law requiring cities to include a cost estimate in public notices about street improvement projects. He said Jackson officials didn't do that, nor did they stick with the engineer's original specifications in building the road.

"It is our position that these tax bills are absolutely void," Oliver said. "If we prove to be correct, you will pass the cost of this road to the entire city of Jackson."

His clients don't want that, he said, and would prefer to simply pay the minimum of $15 per foot that they feel they were promised.

In a prepared statement issued to the press, Sander and the board said the citizens of Oak Hill Road haven't been treated any differently than other citizens whose roads were improved.

"It is through citizen participation in construction of new streets that Jackson has been able to continue to construct more concrete paved streets than any other community of its size in Southeast Missourian," the statement read.

Now it is up to aldermen to decide whether to adjust the special assessments. Oliver made it clear that if they don't, the matter will go to court.

Sander said a decision would be made "in a timely fashion."