Bart Mercer
Elmore County Commissioner
District 4
Because of limited funds available to resurface county maintained roads, the Elmore County commission prioritizes resurfacing projects based on the classification of a road, current roadbed condition, traffic count, availability of funds, and restrictions placed on those funds.
Many times, in order for a newly proposed revenue measure that would result in an increase of available funds for road maintenance to be supported by citizens and elected officials, it has to be dedicated to a specific purpose. This approach is one I don’t disagree with applying.
Dedicating funds for a specific purpose is very evident in regulations governing the use of funds to resurface county roads. These funds are so regulated that it is like navigating through a maze in order to be compliant with guidelines. A county receives funds to resurface roads from multiple sources such as Local and State gas tax collections along with grants and direct allocations from State and Federal sources.
Restrictions on the Expenditure of Federal Resurfacing Funds:
While we appreciate Federal infrastructure dollars that come to Elmore County, much of this money comes with many restrictions on what Classification of roads the funds can be expended on. An example of this would be a road classified as a Connector Road within federal guidelines which is based on a minimum daily traffic count and usage. What the Commission encounters at times with these federally funded projects is logically the further a rural road gets from the center of a population center; vehicles will turn off the road causing the traffic count to lower. Some funds are limited to being spent only in our Metropolitan Planning Organization Boundary. It is at this point along the road federal guidelines mandate the resurfacing project ends, but it appears the Commission has abruptly stopped the resurfacing project for no reason when that is not the case. Guidelines also restrict the Commission from combining projects in these situations.
Pave My Dirt Road:
One call the Commission commonly gets is citizens wanting their dirt road paved, and we have a process to get that done. It starts with a citizen driven effort to have the needed right of way dedicated to the county adjacent to the road citizens desire to have paved. This additional right of way is necessary to accommodate storm water drainage and utilities that might be present and needing to be relocated from under the roadbed. The relocation of utilities is necessary because a utility contractor digging up a dirt road does not diminish the value of the taxpayer’s biggest investment being our countywide transportation system but when a utility contractor has to dig up a paved road even when replacement asphalt is installed, it creates a higher potential for base failures and road maintenance. The next step in this paving process is acquiring project funding and most of these dollars come from the general fund or gas tax which historically has the lowest rolling available balance for these type projects.
Revenue use restrictions are not always a bad thing, but they do at times prohibit funds from being expended on the most immediate infrastructure needs in the county.
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