Park City council fails to adopt special-assessment ordinance after resident objections

The Park City Council on June 24 declined to adopt an ordinance to levy special assessments for street, water and sewer improvements in multiple Park City subdivisions after residents raised objections and the measure failed to meet the five-vote threshold required for adoption.

The ordinance under consideration (No. 12-13-2025) would have levied assessments across developments including Bar Estates, Ironstone, Cambridge Valley Second, Echo Hills Commercial, Prairie Hills Phase 7 and Saddlebrook Third. Council member Brandy Bailey moved to adopt the ordinance; Council member Troy Hill seconded. A roll-call vote showed Charlie Davidson and George Glover voting "no" and Linda Westhoffer, Troy Hill and Brandy Bailey voting "aye." City staff and legal counsel said an ordinance of this type requires five affirmative votes to pass, so the motion failed.

The vote ended a public hearing in which several property owners and a homeowners association representative said they were surprised by the assessments and unclear how lots purchased for common-area use were being treated. Brandy Ritchie of the Saddlebrook Homeowners Association told the council the HOA had purchased three lots intending to create shared amenities and that the assessments were being calculated as if the parcels were single-family residential lots. "These assessments appear to be based off these being single family homes, which adds a $100,000 tax burden to the HOA," Ritchie said.

Larry Klayman, the city's financial adviser with Ranton Financial, told the council the city mailed notices to benefiting property owners as required by state law and that property owners have a 30-day prepayment window after the notices. Klayman said the special assessments would be levied to pay the city's bond over a 20-year term unless homeowners prepay. "This hearing allows any of them to make a comment on the matter," Klayman told the council.

City attorney Doug (last name not provided) explained that special assessments are spread based on the petition and the benefit to the raw land, not on how a buyer later classifies a parcel for ad valorem tax purposes. "These assessments are based upon the raw land," he said. "If someone chooses to leave the land undeveloped and pay the specials with nothing on it or putting a parking lot on it, that's their decision. But the specials still benefit that property."

Several buyers said they had not been informed of pending assessments at the time of sale. James and Roxanne Hesterman of Cambridge Valley read a clause from their purchase contract that, they said, did not list current assessment amounts and left them surprised at the levy. "We were under the impression it wasn't part of the sale," Roxanne Hesterman said.

A resident, Chelsey Humig, noted the public notice referenced 15-year installments but cited Kansas law in asking that the city use the statute's 20-year maximum. "Pursuant to KSA 12-6a10, it's no more than 20," Humig said; staff confirmed the paperwork was prepared for a 20-year term.

Council and staff discussed timing. Staff said the city uses temporary financing for recent infrastructure projects and plans to roll projects into long-term general obligation bonds; to have the levy appear on property tax bills this year the levies must be finalized to the county clerk by mid-August. Staff said they would contact the Saddlebrook HOA, the developer's engineer (identified as Baughman/Bachman in meeting remarks) and bond counsel to see whether the council could revisit the matter at a future meeting, but that delaying could affect the city's bond issuance schedule and might push some financings back a year.

Because the ordinance failed, the city will continue to carry the projects on temporary notes for the near term while staff pursues follow-up with property owners, the developer and bond counsel.

The public hearing was the first substantive discussion on the special assessments at the June 24 meeting; the council did not take an alternative formal action on the assessments that night.