AURORA, Colo. -- How much would you pay for a new fence surrounding your neighborhood?

Neighbors in Aurora are at odds over it.

They're being asked to pay for a brick wall costing more than $2 million.

It’s happening in Aurora’s Dam East neighborhood near the Cherry Creek Reservoir.

Some neighbors want the wall, but others say now's not the time when many families are having trouble paying their mortgages.

“And if the economy doesn’t improve, these people are just going to be in a bigger hole,” said Dam East resident Dan Chapin. "It just doesn’t make sense at this time. A lot of people are having a hard time just paying their monthly homeowners dues.”

For other residents, like Marilyn Harmacek, it was only a few years ago when a wayward SUV careened through her backyard fence.

"We've lived on the corner for 22 years and we've actually had a car come through our fence and land on our patio," said Harmacek.

For safety and aesthetics, the Harmaceks are all for a brick wall to replace the decades old cedar fence around Dam East.

"We want our property values to stay up," said Harmacek.

The wall would be identical the one built across the street around the slightly higher end Dam West neighborhood.

To pay for the fence, each homeowner would be assessed anywhere from about $4,000 to $7,000 depending on where they live. Dan Chapin says for that kind of money the neighborhood should consider other projects.

“We could enclose our pool. We could rebuild our tennis courts, we could light them. We could put in a basketball court," said Chapin.

Chapin's research indicates they could build a new cedar fence for five percent of the brick wall's cost.

"'Will you get any benefit out of that fence?' asked 7NEWS. Um, not that I can see," said Chapin who lives two blocks from the fence.

Harmacek concedes the timing's not great, but she says the project is nine years in the making.

"So, it's just kind of our turn to keep up with the neighborhoods around us," said Harmacek.

“It just doesn’t make sense at this time,” said Chapin. “You know – we’ve gone back to the ‘Me! What’s good for me attitude.’”

According to at least one appraisal firm, the Dam West masonry wall increased property values by four to eight percent.

If Aurora's city council approves the fence Monday night, the city of Aurora would essentially loan the neighborhood the money up front and the special tax would be assessed to residents once the brick wall was complete.