Joe Guillen

Detroit Free Press

A new fee will appear on summer tax bills for residents of Detroit's Palmer Woods and Sherwood Forest neighborhoods and those near the Detroit Golf Club as part of a city program that requires some residents to pay more for enhanced services.

A tweak in city law last year makes it easier for community groups in Detroit to establish "special assessment districts" requiring homeowners in approved districts to pay extra for enhanced security, snow removal or mosquito abatement.

In response to community petitions, the City Council on March 22 approved the first three such districts in Detroit. The annual fees amount to $495 for homeowners in Palmer Woods; $250 for those in Sherwood Forest and $400 for residents of the Detroit Golf Club subdivision.

• Related: New nonprofit aims to boost Detroit neighborhoods

All of the neighborhoods are along the 7 Mile area between Woodward and Livernois, with most homes ranging from the low $200,000s up to around $800,000.

Now, however, all residents — regardless of membership in a neighborhood association — must pay for better services in the special assessment districts. Those who don't pay the annual fee could be subject to foreclosure.For some residents in Palmer Woods and Sherwood Forest, the fees won't be altogether new. Some already have been paying dues to neighborhood organizations for extra security and snow removal.

Palmer Woods Association President Craig Vanderburg said services covered by the special assessment will be similar to those already in place.

“The biggest difference is that we’ll have a contribution toward those services from everybody within our neighborhood as opposed to a majority of people,” he said. "It certainly helps to have everybody contribute because everybody benefits from it.”

After the city collects assessments, it will hand the money over to the neighborhood association that collected petition signatures to establish the special assessment district. The services must be provided by city-licensed contractors and competitively bid.

While some dues-paying residents welcome the financial parity, others are opposed to the fees because, they say, they already pay taxes that should cover city services.

Palmer Woods resident Jeff Wardford, who spoke against the new assessment at the March 22 City Council meeting, said he already pays $11,000 a year in property taxes. Wardford said the new fees send the wrong message that Detroit residents need to pay extra for proper city services.

• Related: Home tour aims to help revive Detroit neighborhoods

"In that $11,000, I would assume that security and snow cleaning and all the basic city services are included in there. So to add another assessment for what I’m already paying for seems a little redundant,” said Wardford, a native Detroiter who has lived in Palmer Woods for about 15 years. “An additional cost for security is like double dipping.”

Vanderburg said he does not disagree that tax-paying residents should receive adequate services. "I guess we all wish that was the case, you know, that our property taxes covered all of these services," he said.

To establish a special assessment district, a neighborhood organization must submit boundaries of a proposed district to the city and then get signatures of at least 51% of homeowners within the boundaries. The petitions circulated to homeowners provide information about the community group spearheading the effort, the district's boundaries, the services to be provided and the cost. Once the city verifies the signatures, the City Council must approve creation of the district.

Special assessment districts had been available to Detroit residents in the past, but the city previously required 80% of residents in the district to be current on taxes — a threshold neighborhoods could not meet. About a year ago, the council reduced the threshold to 60%, making it easier to give neighborhoods the option of setting up district to impose a fee. Money cannot be collected for services beyond security, snow removal and mosquito abatement.

Each of the three districts approved last month will have a seven-year term.

Already, questions have been raised about how residents were notified about petition efforts.

The week after the council approved the districts, council President Brenda Jones said several Palmer Woods residents contacted her office to say they were not notified. In response to Jones' questions at Tuesday's council meeting, officials from the clerk's office and the assessor's office said mailings are sent to all homeowners within a proposed district's boundaries for two public meetings where the district will be discussed. However, the city does not check whether the petition has been presented to all homeowners; it just checks that at least 51% of homeowners have signed the petition.

A petition drive for a special assessment district has been under way since November in the Grandmont Rosedale area of northwest Detroit.

Tom Goddeeris, executive director of the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp., said advocates for a special assessment district there are using a range of tactics to gather signatures and inform residents.

"The outreach has been pretty intense," he said.

Supporters of the district have gone door-knocking and made presentations at block club meetings. Grandmont Rosedale residents also receive a quarterly newsletter with information about the proposed assessment of $250 a year for better security and snow removal.

Goddeeris said he has heard the counterargument that taxes should pay for services. But he pointed out that the city plows only after a snowfall of at least 6 inches. A snow-removal contractor, he said, could come in after 3 inches on the road and 2 inches on the sidewalks.

"People are entitled to their opinions, for sure. We have tried to be as transparent and as public about this process as we can," Goddeeris said. "We tried to keep the cost as low as possible but provide the level of service that people told us repeatedly that they wanted."

Contact Joe Guillen: 313-222-6678, jguillen@freepress.com or on Twitter @joeguillen