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South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br />Regular Meeting November 10, 2014 <br />6. NEW BUSINESS (CONT.) <br />A. Public Hearings <br />(5) continued... <br />Ms. Bridges: OK, so when you say it's not going to increase the residents' taxes, when you <br />make all of those improvements, the county assessor is going to go back out and assess us <br />again. We're already paying far more than we can get for our property now. So when you <br />do all those improvements, the assessor is going to come around and assess again. <br />Mr. Ford: I don't know if there's a direct relationship between assessments and the <br />improvements. Certainly that could happen, but I don't think there's a direct relationship to <br />the quality of your roads and streets. They look at a formula that's based off of recent sales <br />in your area as well as a cost of construction book. That's my understanding of how the <br />assessor does it. It wouldn't necessarily have anything to do with the improvements on the <br />street. <br />Ms. Bridges: OK. In this area right across from where I live, I'm already taking care of the <br />city's property. Are you going to have a grant where I can come and get some money to <br />help take care of that? <br />Mr. Ford: Well, there's a vacant lot proposal that's going out this winter as well as a <br />rehabilitation grant, so if someone were to buy a home that's on the vacant and abandoned <br />list, there's a matching fund up to $10,000 to help someone bring it up to code. <br />Ms. Bridges: Are you going to mail this out, or do I need to come down to the County -City <br />Building? <br />Mr. Ford: It will be publicized when it's finally open. It's going to be administered, I <br />believe, through the Urban Enterprise Association, but we will be sure to publicize it, put it <br />in the paper, and make sure everyone knows about it. <br />Ms. Lynn Collier: I'm glad to see a lot of people at this thing, and having a vision for our <br />city, since we've lived here all our lives. I'm advocating for Western Avenue in particular. <br />There's a lot of questions that are still vague and floating around in the air, but to narrow <br />everything down, I think what I heard this morning has to do with the infrastructure and city <br />services. That's been neglected for a long time, and yes it took sixty to seventy years for <br />this end of town to get like it is, and now we're seeing all of these grandeur plans to <br />revitalize, and that's wonderful. We need to just take a little time like we are today to <br />explain exactly what we're going to do and how we're going to do it because one thing that I <br />noticed, the property owners, the naturally aging communities that are around, yes, the <br />gateways to the city, because they have properties that are scared and uninformed, and not <br />online, and perhaps how the information and communication got to them is a little far <br />fetched, or maybe not at all. So let's narrow it down even further than that. What are you <br />22 <br />