Payment options; Public hearing held on resolution to assess debt on sewer district at Lake Fort Scott

More than 20 people crowded the tiny Bourbon County commission meeting room on Monday morning for a public hearing about a resolution to assess the debt incurred by Lake Fort Scott residents in Bourbon County Sewer District No. 1 from the construction of the new sewer system.

Residents spent less than 20 minutes asking questions of commissioners Harold Coleman and Allen Warren about the payment options, amount of the monthly bills and other issues pertaining to the new sewer district. After the hearing, commissioners voted to adopt Resolution 18-12.

Of the $2,328,000 total project cost to construct the new public sewer system at the lake, $799,000 will be assessed to the 132 users or lake residents.

As stated at the hearing, residents will have a choice of paying the total assessed value of about $6,000 within 30 days of the resolution being published, or start paying monthly for the next 40 years. Assuming that no resident wished to pay the entire assessed value within the 30-day time frame, each resident would pay $21.10 a month, including the interest rates and principal for the loan if the interest rate is locked in at 2.75 percent.

If some residents don't want to pay the entire amount, the debt repayment fee each month would be lower than the $21.10.

The city of Fort Scott has also agreed to set maintenance and sewage usage fees for lake residents for the first year at $15.77, bringing the bill for residents to $36.87 for the first month, Bourbon County Clerk Joanne Long said.

Most of the questions raised during the hearing dealt with specifics of the assessed amounts and possible scenarios that could arise later on. For instance, if a resident decides to make monthly payments for the debt repayment amount and then decides to sell their property, the new property owner would be responsible for the remaining amount owed. But they will not have the option to pay the entire assessed value.

On two separate occasions during the hearing, residents applauded commissioners for their efforts to bring the sewer system to fruition.

"I would like to thank Valorie (Leblanc) and all of you (commissioners past and present) for this service," Curtis Shankel said following the hearing.

Shankel said he attended the hearing as a "wrap up" of five years' effort to get the system in place. He said the payment options were what he expected and there were no surprises in that regard.

"I think about 70 percent of residents were in favor (of the system)," he said.

One couple who attended the hearing and asked that their names not be used, said they were originally against the construction of the system.

"We didn't want the thing in the first place," she said. "But I'm accepting of it."

In the works for more than five years, a lack of funding prevented construction from starting on the sewer system until last summer. In January 2011, commissioners entered into an agreement with city commissioners for the operation, billing and maintenance of Sewer District 1.

Recent lawsuits challenging a resolution regulating the sewer district have all been dropped or dismissed, Assistant County Attorney Valorie Leblanc said.

The resolution will be published Aug. 2 and residents will have 30 days from that date to consider repayment options.