GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Imagine getting a bill for $10,000, $20,000 or even close to $60,000.
Those are the bills some Green Bay residents faced as the city looks to repair the street in front of their homes.
The proposed roadwork on Hillcrest Drive and Haven Place was on Tuesday’s Green Bay City Council agenda. Both roads are on the city’s far west side.
The council unanimously voted to wait one year before making a decision on the road work.
The possibility of paying those bills came as city council members are poised to consider new wheel tax proposals within the next few weeks, according to city staff.
The idea of a $15 or $20 wheel tax has been talked about for a year and a half. It would be tacked onto vehicle registration fees.
The money collected would partially or completely replace those special assessments that individual residents pay for work done on their street.
Public Works Director Steve Grenier tells FOX 11 the city is proposing road work as it always has.
“The streets are in need. I can’t look at whether or not a wheel tax may or may not be coming. We don’t have a wheel tax. I have to go with the program as it exists today when we prepare these.”
However, residents who are facing the special assessment bills right now want to wait for a wheel tax decision to be made.
Dick Diederich says his bill is for $32,240, which he says the city provided the option to either pay all at once or over five years with interest.
“I’m retired. I don’t know where you come up with this kind of money. They said they’d put it on the tax roll for five years. That’s $700 a month, besides the $4,000 I have to pay for taxes on my place.”
If the roadwork isn’t done on Hillcrest Drive and Haven Place, the city has said it could be 15 years before the roads are considered again for the work.
