Burnsville shorts a few residents

So our city government fails to send a public hearing notice on a new assessment to some homeowners - a notice that is required by state law - and then decides that we're going to go ahead and assess those homeowners anyway without a new public hearing (this time accompanied by a notice).

How is that supposed to work?

Well, it's not. The city is now getting sued.

Claiming Burnsville city officials acted unfairly, and, in two instances unlawfully, in issuing a special assessment for road reconstruction, a group of residents has filed a lawsuit against the city.

Karen Marty, a Bloomington attorney specializing in land use, municipal law and real estate, filed the suit on Monday in Dakota County District Court on behalf of 10 landowners from rural southwest Burnsville who were charged special assessments to help pay for a $625,000 road reconstruction project along Judicial Road and 155th Street.

City staff members acknowledged at a City Council meeting in October that seven property owners did not receive notice of the public hearing regarding the assessment, which is in violation of the process required by state law. Attorney Soren Mattick, who sat in at the meeting for Burnsville's regular attorney Joel Jamnik, called the lack of notice "troubling."

And yes, the homeowners are willing to pay their fair share.

The suit asks that the special assessments be set aside and a new formula put into place to more fairly assess the land owners.

Yet while the city acknowledges the mistake, we're still moving forward with the assessments?!?

Let's see how many ways we can throw Burnsville residents' money down the drain...

Attorney's fees, check.