Annual bond option for work on city property canceled         

Contractors to pay bond per job

[JAN. 17, 2007]  The city of Lincoln will no longer be offering an annual bond fee for street breaks, except to utilities. Besides the annual fee, there are has been the option to pay by the job. There are different fees for different jobs, such as $100 for sidewalks, $250 and $500 for more costly jobs.

"Street breaks" is a broad descriptor of work that involves digging on city property with changes to curbs, sidewalks, streets and property.

Contractors that regularly do this type of work have been allowed to take out an annual bond at $1,000. The annual fee allowed contractors not to have to go to the city for each job that they would do. "They just do it," said Tracy Jackson, streets superintendent.

The open practice has resulted in untimely or incomplete projects. This has been going on for years and years, Jackson said. When it isn't known who was responsible for a repair, then the city is stuck with the work and the cost, Jackson said.

With the new arrangement, "a contractor would pay $250 or $500 [according to the job], and they won't get their money back until that repair is completed," Jackson said. "It's our way of keeping track of who's doing what."

Aldermen all agreed with the superintendent's recommendation. Alderman Daron Whittaker was absent from the meeting.

[]