Road paving is something the city has been striving to
accomplish for all the gravel roads in town but given the extent of needs it
gets difficult to accomplish. In the
past the city had developed several five year road improvement plans. The goal was to pave all the roads in the
community. The plans were very
aggressive in that many street improvements were being built at the same
time. To finance them the city was
required to bond, incurring debt service to accomplish the projects.
Not only was this disruptive, it carried with it a cost that
the city would need to absorb. Bonding
requires fees and charges in issuing a bond.
With a bond you have interest expense. Administration incurs expense in putting
together the projects as well as the project administration through
construction. There are the oversight
costs incurred by public works staff with inspections and coordination. There are also the costs associated with tax
forfeitures. This last item can be
significant. For every road improvement
that abuts a tax forfeited property the city has to finance that improvement
until the property is sold. Until that
sale, the city not only incurs the expense of the project cost, it also incurs
the expense of interest payments on the debt incurred to finance the
project.
To address some of these challenges the city has been
looking to accomplish a small number of projects on an annual basis using funds
on hand. This slower approach doesn’t make a huge dent in the needs but much
like the tortoise and the hare we eventually get there. Without bonding, costs are reduced and debt
service isn’t an issue with repayment of the bonds. The projects are assessed and the payments
received support future road improvements.
With an annual appropriation of funds we’ll be able to support some
paving while also addressing some drainage issues along the way. There are still costs associated with the
project but on a much reduced scale.
For 2016 the council has approved a feasibility study to
determine project details and costs for the paving of a couple of street
sections. Winter Trail between Logging
Lane and Shady Trail and Scenic Overlook between Shady Trail and White Overlook
Drive are being considered. Both of these road sections have portions of
roadways that have been paved. These
sections are the gravel portions of the roadways. Starting this process earlier in the year
gives us a better handle on the needs of the project and allows for early
bidding in the spring.
