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Sides reach deal on high paving bills
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN In what county officials fear could become a precedent, residents who felt steamrolled by the county's road paving program might be getting a break on their original bills. County Attorney Bob Sumner has reached a tentative agreement with two property owners in the Suncoast Highland subdivision of Shady Hills. The owners sued this year about the assessments for the paving project -- charges they said were too high for the amount of benefit they would receive. Sumner said Friday that the pair -- Doris Harvey and Sherri Moore -- have agreed to settle if the county commissioners approve his proposal, which they are set to review at their weekly meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the West Pasco Government Center. The plan calls for reducing pavement assessments for Harvey, Moore and five other property owners by $93,485. "The five others appeared excessive," Sumner said. The money will come out of a contingency fund already set aside for the $800,000 project, which includes 107 lots, most of whose owners voted in favor of it. Harvey argued that the project is illegal because the assessment is calculated by the frontage foot, but owning the most land doesn't correspond to more votes. She has 2,658 feet of frontage along roads that feed into the subdivision where most of the streets in the project are located. The average lot included in the project has 280 feet of frontage. Sumner is proposing to reduce her assessment from $63,685 to $15,000. Moore's assessment would be reduced from $15,286 to $8,000, Sumner said, because her property fronts three roads, but the one she uses is already paved and is not included in the scope of the project. The other five homeowners' assessments were reduced to bring them in line with the $8,000 average. When the commission holds a workshop on paving projects this month, Sumner is going to suggest officials start weighing potential benefits when forming an assessment. He also is going to suggest the county start assessing property owners who live behind front lots but reach their homes by public easements. Though county commissioners have voiced concern about the case setting a precedent, County Commissioner Pat Mulieri said this case had too many individual quirks to apply to other complaints. Mulieri said the residents in the current project should not have to wait any longer for paved roads. "They are choking on dust," she said. "We just have to have it go through." - Information from Times files was used in this report.
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