Residents fight assessments
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
Washburn residents filled City Hall on Monday to argue against assessments that they felt were unjust.
“I am the only commercial property not capped in the city of Washburn,” Brent Barnick said at the meeting of his pavement assessment.
Barnick’s property is the only commercial property in town that was assessed as a primary property for the 2016 improvement projects, a designation that made a big difference when it came to what he would be charged.
Secondary commercial properties were capped at $15,968.06, but since the land Barnick operates a rural lawn care business out of is directly on the project, his assessment had no limit.
Sue Winter, who is on the Special Assessments Committee, said the committee had decided not to cap primary commercial lots because they typically have more traffic and use the roads more.
Barnick looked to pay around $72,000 total in assessments for his two lots, a number he said isn’t feasible for him.
