College Hill property owners pay a Municipal Service District fee along with their property taxes. The fee pays for such neighborhood improvements as a continuing streetscape and landscaping project in the city right of way. Projects have included:
- The neighborhood’s old-fashioned street lights and street signs,
- Additional historically appropriate street lighting to eliminate night-time dark spots throughout the neighborhood,
- The pergola on South Mendenhall Street at Walker Avenue,
- Signs identifying the neighborhood on Market, Spring Garden and Spring streets,
- Sidewalk trash receptacles,
- A security fence on Oakland Avenue along the railroad tracks,
- Part of the cost of the Spring Garden Street median, and
- The granite cornerstones and plantings at many corners throughout College Hill.
MSD funds also were used for the 2013 College Hill Tree Inventory.
The current fee is 1 cent per $1,000 of tax valuation. Thus, the owner of a house with a tax value of $300,000 pays $3 per year.
