BonnerSprings.com

In a quest for more development, the city of Edwardsville has been discussing, for many years, ways to build sewer infrastructure on the north end of the city.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, council members learned about one possible way to finance such a project.

Dotty Riley, with Kutak Rock LLP, the city’s bond counselor, gave a presentation regarding benefit districts, which would allow for a city to create special development districts while levying special assessments, issuing temporary notes and issuing general obligation debt.

Riley said there were three ways a city could go about establishing a benefit district. The first being by resolution, in which a body of government passes a resolution on its own authority to establish the district. This type could only be used for sanitary, storm water and sewer improvements.

The second is by a public hearing, in which the city asks for resident input before passing a resolution.

The third way is through a petition signed by a certain percentage of property owners in the affected area.

Through discussions following the presentation, the council appeared uncertain whether a benefit district was the best route for such a project. Some concerns presented included the fact that property owners in the district would be responsible for paying for part of the project.

To read more about the discussion regarding establishing a sewer benefit district, see Thursday’s edition of the Chieftain.