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Resurfacing Bills Surprise Mpls. Residents, Businesses

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- After a rough winter, Minnesotans do not have to look very far to see potholes. Now, some homeowners and businesses are finding out that they need to chip in for the pothole repairs.

Residents in the Hale neighborhood are being asked to pay a special assessment to help fund the project.

"I was irate when I first read it, because we pay a lot for property taxes here. And I'd think resurfacing the streets would probably be part of that?" Carolyn Arnold said, who lives in the neighborhood.

Paying for resurfacing is a road that Arnold, and many others, would rather not go down.

"There are some really bad potholes, but don't you just fill them in with the tar stuff?" said Carolyn Arnold.

The City of Minneapolis is going to do better than refill those holes. They are going to resurface rough roads, a project that goes from 54th to 50th and Chicago to Cedar, in South Minneapolis.

The letter from the City of Minneapolis says the roads need to be repaved because they haven't been fixed in almost 38 years.

Arnold's bill was for $1,052.

"That's a lot of money, in these times a lot of people don't have that kind of money," she said.

Homeowners who are being asked to shell out money.

"Thirteen hundred dollars" said Sam Beberg, who owns the Hot Plate restaurant. "It's not good to get an extra bill in the mail. You're not expecting it and you get something you have to pay, and ... it's ... you never like seeing that."

Minneapolis officials say whenever there is street construction the adjacent property owners pay a portion of the cost. The dollar amount depends on the square footage of the lot, but it usually ends up being a quarter of the overall cost.

Minneapolis has been billing homes and businesses like this since the 1980s. People can either pay up in full or have it added to their property taxes and have interested added to the total bill.

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