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INFORMATION SERVICE of League of Minnesota Cities 480 Cedar Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101 ✓ 100a Charter Provisions allowing property *515a4 owners to block special assessments *515a1 40/ *335e September 12, 1979 • Duane McCarty Charter Commission 8060 Long Lake Road Mounds View, MN. 55432 Dear Mr. McCarty: . This is a follow-up to our phone conversation of August 6,. concerning charter provisions for special assessments. As I understand, you are interested in providing a means by which the property owners in an area proposed to be assessed for an improvement could prevent the council from proceeding with the improvement. When we spoke on the phone, I was uncertain whether it was possible for a charter to provide for use of a charter special assessment procedure exclusively and to preclude the use of the M.S. Ch. 429 procedure. However, M.S. 429.111 makes it clear that this can be done; see also M.S. 429.021 , subd. 3. Copies of these statutes are enclosed. As we discussed, a petition procedure seems more appropriate than an election . procedure. By limiting the council 's power to act when a petition signed by a specified percentage of property owners opposing the improvement is received, the same result is achieved without the expense of an election. After-.examining a number of the charters -i n the-state,- it appears- that provisions such as this are not common, although I have found a few examples. Copies of the relevant portions of the Brooklyn Park, Duluth, Fridley, and St. Cloud Charters are enclosed. There are a number of points to be considered in drafting a provision of this type. Some of the points 10 consider are: 1 . Should the petition procedure apply to all special assespments, or only when a certain percentage of the total cost is to be assessed? The Brooklyn Park provision, for example, does not apply unless more than 60% of the improvement's cost is to be assessed.