MONROE - Some residents of the 600 and 700 blocks of 16th Avenue, or their landlords, are outraged.

Twenty-three property owners received certified letters from the City of Monroe this week notifying them of an informational meeting April 22 to discuss and explain street improvements.

They also received an estimated assessment for their portion of costs for reconstruction of their street. They will receive an actual assessment in late November after the work is completed.

The 2008 Engineer's Report for Street Improvements, prepared by Engineer Supervisor Al Gerber, shows the total cost for reconstruction of the two blocks on 16th Avenue will be $140,000. More than $42,800 is being assessed to property owners.

Residents' bills will be between $1,050 and $3,000, depending on lot size.

No grant money to help

Damian Dunlavey, 33, discovered Wednesday that, for the house he leases on16th Avenue, he will owe $2,631.

"I don't have that," said Dunlavey, who works as an engine rebuild machinist, and has five children, ages 3 to 15. His wife works part-time at Green County Human Services and is taking classes in social work at UW-Whitewater.

Individual property owners' estimated assessments range from $1,060 to $2,971. Dunlavey assessment is the third highest on the list.

Dunlavey said he doesn't know how he is going to pay the bill. Passing the expense on to his tenants is not a viable option.

"They're having a hard enough time paying me regularly now," he said.

The rent he receives is just enough to pay the mortage and the taxes, he said.

Property owners will have an option to make annual payments, for up to seven years depending upon the amount they owe, with an interest rate of 7.5 percent annually. But Dunlavey is not pleased about the payment plan.

"Oh, that's a great rate," he said sarcastically. "I don't understand why I have to pay for the road in front of my house, when there are thousands who won't have to pay for theirs."

Eighteenth Avenue from First to Fourth streets also is being reconstructed this year, at a cost of $750,000. The project is paid for through a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Fund and is non-assessable.

According to Engineering Supervisor Al Gerber, property owners were not normally assessed in the past for grant projects (street work paid with grant money from federal or state funds). Property owners usually are assessed for projects that grant money doesn't cover, he said.

But, Gerber said, "Anything can be assessed. Anybody can be assessed."

The City Council's preliminary resolution for 2008 street construction, awaiting a public hearing May 6, states that "the total amount assessed shall not exceed 100 percent of the cost of the improvement ..."

Past street projects that had grant money and were not assessed to property owners include 20th Avenue from Ninth to 16th avenues and 13th Street, from 20th Avenue to County K.

The city must apply for grants. But federal and state budgets are falling short, and cannot meet their allocation as promised, Gerber said.

"Most of the allocation (city money for street work) has been taken up by the Eighth and Ninth Street project," Gerber said.

Work on that project has been delayed because of the lack of federal and state funding and so as not to disrupt Cheese Days, Gerber added.

The 16th Avenue project has no grant money, but street repairs "can't always wait until funding is available," Gerber said.

"Sixteenthth Avenue is in dire need of reconstruction," he said. "The street is failing. The sewer systems are failing. It's met its life expectancy."

Dunlavey said 16th Avenue has been in bad shape since he first bought his property and lived on the street 10 years ago. He said nothing has been done with the street except for sealcoating.

Work was last done on 16th Street in 1996, when it was sealcoated.

However, Dunlavey remembers having to pay the city $700 to replace the sidewalk not long after moving in.

He is being assessed $205 this year to replace approximately 41square feet of sidewalk, and $836 for 152 square feet for replacement of a concrete driveway.

The 2007 assessed value of Dunlavey's property is $62,000, and Dunlavey paid $1,611 in property taxes in December.

Dunlavey expects any increase in value to the property from the improvement project will increase his annual property taxes.

"That's more money for them," he said.

NO SENIOR DISCOUNTS

"There's no free lunch in today's world," Beverly Johnson said. "I believe the infrastructure in any city affects the entire city. Seeing crumbling curbs and gutters or sidewalks doesn't leave a good tast in anyone's mouth."

Johnson said she would have quietly paid up to $800 for her share of the street improvements.

"I truly do believe streets, curbs and gutters benefit everybody," she said.

But when she saw the assessment on her rental property was more than the property taxes for one year, she was upset.

Johnson received the highest assessment, $2,971, in the two blocks included in the 16th Avenue reconstruction project. Only $55 will go toward her asphalt driveway. The rest is based on 110 feet of property along 16th Avenue.

Johnson said Alderman Mark Coplien told her that assessments were high, because Monroe has many senior citizens and the city is trying to keep the general property taxes down for them.

"I'm one of those senior citizens," she told him.

Like Dunlavey, Johnson said her rental income is only enough to cover taxes and mortgage. Johnson also said she cannot recoup the expense through a rent increase. She described the neigborhood as "a very modest-income part of town.

"Rental property owners cannot get the rent they got a year ago," she said. "It's because of the economy. Jobs are unsure; people are just holding on."

Johnson said she could have rented a dozen single-family dwelling rental units last year. This year she gets very few calls.

Johnson believes the economy will have a negative effect on her final street assessment. With gasoline prices rising, Johnson said contractors will have an "escalating clause" in their contracts.

"They are basing this (cost) on what the budget might be," she said. "My guess is that it will probably be higher."

Johnson said she was told by another alderman that the city routinely handles street improvements with assessments.

That may be fine for truly residential areas; it may be 10 to 20 years before the owners ever see another assessment, Johnson said.

But 16th Avenue is designated as Wisconsin Highway Business 11.

"Those who live along a business route will see another improvement in 10-12 years because of heavy traffic," she said.

Street types by DOT definitions include arterial, collectors which feed off the arterials, and local which feed off the collectors. Sixteenth Avenue is an arterial street, Gerber said.

NO BLOOD FROM A TURNIP

Ken and Shirley Canon paid rent to live at the corner of 16th Avenue and Sixth Street. Last December they finally were able to buy the house they and their three children called home for 12 years.

Ken Canon, 57, found the certified letter from the city, which Shirley signed for, on Wednesday.

"I didn't know what to think," he said.

Canon said the city could have saved the $5.77 it spent to send the letter, "and spent a little of it on out here," he said, pointing to the street.

Canon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer March 18 and had to quit working a full-time job at Potter Family Farm. He said he will not be able to receive disability for at least five to six months and can't afford even the medicine he needs.

Canon said his oldest son is laid off, and his daughter and teenage son have disabilities.

The family is living off what Shirley makes working 40 hours, seven days a week, caring for older people.

"Payment plan or not, I haven't any money," Canon said.

Canon said they manage to pay the mortgage, but are behind on their utility bills.

They buy food "whenever we can afford to get groceries, which is every two weeks with Shirley's paycheck," he said. "Everything else is going to have to wait."

Does that include the city?

"Damn right. They're going to have to wait," he said. "You can't get blood out of a turnip."

Canon said he has no problems with his street and sidewalk condition.

"It's been that way as long as we lived here. I've seen worse streets in town," he said. "We can live with this out here. I bet I'm not the only one who could live with it like this."

Canon said most people living on his street may not even make $9 an hour.

"The highest would probably be $10-$12 an hour for most people," he said.

The Canons said the traffic on their street is about 20 percent residential, and they have seen semi trucks, even one with a tandem trailer, try to turn down 16th Avenue from Sixth Street.

Signs at 18th Avenue and Sixth Street are supposed to direct trucks down 20th Avenue on the Wisconsin 11 truck route.

For a sample of the traffic, The Monroe Times counted vehicles using 16th Avenue in the 600 block. For 30 minutes between 2 and 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, 65 vehicles were recorded.

Eight were commercially marked and three used a residential driveway or parked in front of a residence. Of the rest, 25 were vans or SUVs, 15 were pickups and 17 were cars.

"Big delivery trucks come through here all the time," Canon said. "A lot more vehicles come through here than should. People don't realize it's a residential area."

Shirley Canon cares for friends' children when they need a sitter, and said she worries about their safety when cars come too fast around the corner.

She said large trucks turning the corner come dangerously close to hitting cars parked on the street at times.

"I think if the city wants it, they can pay for it," Ken Canon said. "If I had the money, I wouldn't mind helping if they asked, but I don't like them just telling."

The Times contacted the two property owners with the lowest assessments and they did return the calls.