Springfield street repair program $$ options
By Tom AdamsSPRINGFIELD, Or. - Lane County road funds have dropped off, and local gas tax money can't keep up. Springfield leaders say this could spell trouble for local streets. KVAL's Tom Adams says decision time is drawing near.
Virtually no one wants to volunteer to pay higher taxes--but results of a Springfield city website-poll are in, and some officials are doing double takes. "I was actually surprised," says a surprised Leonard Goodwin, Assistant Public Works Director. Here's the issue. Springfield needs more money to keep up with street repairs. The city says it needs $1-million each year to fix streets. Goodwin says for the last two years, reduced revenue has cut spending to $300,000 to $400,000 annually...not enough. However, the path to new revenue can be a bumpy road. A recent city web poll asked folks to chime in. Goodwin tells KVAL out of 176 respondents, "First choice of the citizens that responded in the survey was increase the gas tax. The last choice was reduce services."
Falling in the middle is a proposed monthly fee of a buck-75 ($1.75) that would be tacked onto your utility bill. The city's backlog of needed street repairs is slowly growing to $4.5-million dollars. Crews feel they're still making progress, but officials say without more money and soon, this smooth ride may begin to stall.
This is Exhibit-A (visual of street), the birth of future pot holes on Harlow Road. "This is to the point where something has to be done. The asphalt needs to be removed," explains Maintenance Supervisor, Stacey Kintigh.
With temporary sealing and pavement overlay projects, Springfield road crews are able to stay ahead of the pothole curve. Jobs they say, will be delayed, if funds fall through cracks. Public Works Maintenance Manager, Brian Conlon, puts it this way. "We could lose ground quickly, so what is today can change quickly tomorrow," says Conlon.
Decision time could be next Monday, when survey results hit the city council. The Springfield gas tax right now is 3-cents per gallon. A 2-cents increase is what's on the table. Public Works crews have to maintain about 200 miles of paved streets. That includes the Glenwood area.
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