Monday night, the Troy City Council Streets and Sidewalks Committee voted unanimously to recommend no assessments on downtown property owners as part of the city’s 2026–2027 Downtown Safety and Streetscapes Replacement Project. Roughly 60 property owners — some facing bills exceeding $10,000 — will not be charged. The city will absorb the cost itself.
The decision took about fifteen minutes. The work behind it took seven months. And anyone who watches City Hall closely could have seen it coming — not because the outcome was guaranteed, but because of how the process was structured to work against it.