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Council creates SIDs for MorningStar and Green Acres to finance water and sewer upgrades
Summary
The council approved three resolutions forming Special Improvement Districts that will allow the city to pair grants and state revolving loan funds with local assessments to replace failing water and sewer infrastructure in two resident-owned communities.
The Kalispell City Council on June 16 adopted three resolutions to create Special Improvement Districts intended to fund critical water and sewer infrastructure work in two resident-owned communities.
City staff and development consultants explained the resolutions as a required municipal step to accept and administer grant dollars and to pair them with state revolving fund loans where needed. Jared Nygren of Development Services said the city has secured about $3 million in grant funding for the projects and that the state revolving loan fund (SRF) mechanism could provide additional financing; for these affordable communities the SRF loans could be partially forgivable—staff estimated forgivable portions could be up to 75% in qualifying circumstances.
The resolutions approved were: Resolution 62-58 (create SID 346, MorningStar Sewer), Resolution 62-59 (create SID 347, MorningStar Water) and Resolution 62-60 (create SID 348, Green Acres Sewer). Staff and a project representative from WGM Group told the council they had met with the communities and reported strong local support, noting many park systems are in “dire need of repair.”
Nygren told council the special assessments would be levied against the properties within each district, not the general city taxpayer, because the communities are resident-owned and structured similarly to homeowners associations. He said the city has not used SIDs frequently and that the resolutions simply initiate the process; once bids are received and loan-forgiveness calculations are finalized, staff will return with bond resolutions that set the exact dollar amounts and assessment terms.
Councilors voted unanimously to create the three SIDs; the council emphasized that exact assessments will be determined in later steps.
Next steps identified at the meeting include receiving construction bids, finalizing SRF loan documents and forgiveness calculations, and returning to council with a bond resolution that sets final SID assessment amounts and repayment terms.
