The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

February 13, 2012

Mankato council orders burial of Madison Avenue power lines

City to argue Xcel Energy ought to pay

By Dan Linehan The Free Press

MANKATO —  The power lines on Madison Avenue will get buried, the Mankato City Council decided Monday, though it’s still not clear who will pay — Xcel Energy or Mankato taxpayers.

The city plans to argue that Xcel Energy ought to pay for the burial, estimated to cost $656,000, City Manager Pat Hentges said. That argument would go before the state’s Public Utilities Commission, which would decide if the electricity utility has to pay.

Hentges said he didn’t want to go into the details of the city’s case, but repeated what he’s been saying for awhile: “There’s a reason why the (power) lines were buried on the other side (of Madison Avenue).”

In other words, if one burial was paid for by the utility, why would the other side not qualify?

But if the city has to pay for the burial, the funds will come from borrowed money. The budget for this year is long finished, but Hentges said he believes the money can be found in 2012 projects that will either go undone or won’t use their entire budget.

Once, the power line burial was seen as infeasible because property owners were said to be unwilling to pay the assessment. Then, the burial became possible but controversial due to the formula of an Xcel surcharge that would put most of the cost on home owners and relatively little on businesses.

Monday, it passed unanimously with little debate, though Mankato taxpayers will have to pay for it if the city can’t get Xcel to pay. Councilman Jack Considine was absent.

Councilman Charlie Hurd said the surcharge was “extremely unfair to low-income people” and that he’s glad it won’t be used.

The council also ordered the assessments Monday for the $5.3 million project to rehabilitate Madison Avenue. It’s slated to start by the end of April and be finished by the end of August. Another meeting with property owners will be held after a contractor is awarded the project.

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