Residents from Oak and South streets are gathering signatures to reject the city’s special assessment district proposal before a Monday deadline.  

“I believe the real mission is just getting the word out there so that everyone understands what’s going to happen if we don’t stand together on this,” said Jill Hardway ’89, one of the petition organizers. 

A special assessment district designates roads deemed dilapidated by the city for repair and funds the work by taxing property owners in the specified district up to $5,000. If 51% of the parcel owners reject the proposal in a petition, the council would need a super-majority of seven votes to impose the taxes. 

“We have just a little over a week to gather signatures from 51% of the residents on both Oak and South streets to successfully reject the proposal from the city,” said Elyse Apel ’24, a South Street resident. “We are very hopeful we will be able to meet that goal — especially as we have yet to have someone refuse to sign our petition.”

Hardway said a cap of $5,000 is too high for many Hillsdale residents. 

“In just getting the general consensus of my neighbors, they can’t afford it,” Hardway said. “Things are very expensive right now.” 

Though the city offers payment plans to help offset the cost for residents, Hardway said the interest accrued ends up hurting residents, too. 

“The problem with that for me is that it’s still going to cost the homeowner about $1,200 to $1,500 more in interest alone, which goes directly to the city,” Hardway said. “So then you’re not talking about a $5,000 assessment. You’re talking about a $6,200 or $6,500 assessment.”

Apel said that, though the residents of Oak and South streets tried to compromise with the city, they were not met with support. 

“We tried to negotiate with the city council to cap the special assessment at $2,800, but they refused,” Apel told The Collegian. “They took a ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists’ position, except those ‘terrorists’ are their own neighbors.”

City staff did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2025, Barry Street residents successfully overrode their proposed SAD. Ward 4 Councilman Matthew Bentley said this set the precedent for more residents to do the same. 

“There is not any neighborhood in this town, in my opinion, that will now sit back passively and allow themselves to be billed $5,000 out of the blue,” Bentley said. “And now we’re seeing that on Oak and South streets.”

Bentley said he did not see a way forward other than lowering the cap. 

“In my opinion, if it’s something less than $3,000, homeowners are not going to organize themselves to stop it,” he said. “But for $5,000, I don’t think there’s a neighborhood in this town that will, because of Barry Street.” 

Apel said the residents in the districts were not adequately informed about the SAD proposal. 

“The only reason we even know we are in the petition period is because we have been paying attention to what the city council is doing,” Apel said. 

Hardway said this petition is how Hillsdale residents can make their voices heard. 

“People have jobs and lives. They don’t have time to be watching city council meetings on YouTube,” Hardway said. “Nor will they have time to go stand at the podium and say how they really feel like they have today when they’ve come to my door.”

Hardway said she hopes to see legislation against SADs in the near future. 

“I would love to see this on the ballot. So then, everyone in the city of Hillsdale could vote on this, because then nobody else would have to be going through this,” Hardway said. 

Apel agreed that SADs are unfair to Hillsdale residents, especially considering the added funding the city received from the Michigan Road Funding Package passed in early 2025. 

“Property owners in Hillsdale already pay property taxes,” she said. “The most obvious purpose of those taxes, and of city government, is to fix the roads. This year, the city also received an estimated $400,000-plus increase in local road funding from the state, yet they decided to continue levying special assessments. It is time for them to end special assessments and the undue financial hardship they are to the citizens of Hillsdale.”

Council will hold a public hearing on this and other proposed SADs for the 2026 construction year Feb. 16. Bentley said he’s “pessimistic” about the outcome. 

“It was a high-stakes game of chicken,” Bentley said. “It’s going to be a train wreck. And I don’t know how we pick up the pieces from this.”