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Highlands Today

County Changing Ways To Fix Roads

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: August 1, 2008

SEBRING - For many years, Highlands - County has typically been spending about $1.7 million to resurface between 20 to 25 miles and reconstruct from two to five miles of county roads every year.

The figures on county road work for the current 2007-08 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, are anything but normal. Zero miles of county roads were resurfaced or reconstructed. And no dollars were spent.

Annual road maintenance will not only be back in the new fiscal year, starting Oct. 1, but also will be "re-focused and revamped," said county Administrator Michael Wright.

The county's road and bridge department lists portions of 32 roads that will have a total of nearly 22 miles resurfaced in the new fiscal year. Also, the department has scheduled the complete reconstruction of 2.5 miles of roadway on portions of five county roads.

The roads on the "fix list" for 2008-09 were originally scheduled for work in the current 2007-08 fiscal year, but the work was put off for two reasons, said Brian Miller, road inspector for the road and bridge department.

First, Miller said, the county delayed resurfacing and reconstruction projects until the county's new asphalt plant, the first owned and operated by a local government in Florida, goes into production.

The plant, designed to produce asphalt at a lower cost than it can be bought, is now scheduled to go into production the first week in September.

The second reason, Miller said, is that county officials are making changes in the budget to compensate for lower revenues. County revenues are down, Wright said, due to state Amendment 1, which reduced property taxes for some homeowners, lower home values, and lower collections of gasoline and sales taxes.

Wright, who has been the county's chief executive officer for 60 days now, said he's reviewing past policies and getting ready to recommend changes in the way the county maintains its 983 miles of paved roads and 207 miles of dirt roads.

"We're trying to start with a clean slate, look at the available money, look at the priorities, and see where to allocate those resources," Wright said.

"I'm not trying to talk in bureaucratic language," he added. "The bottom line is, we're trying to stretch our dollars as far as we can. We've made commitments to finish certain projects such as the Sebring Parkway. And we also need to put money back into the neighborhood roads for resurfacing.

"We won't have money to do all that we would like to do, so we are going to have to set some priorities," he added. "And that's what the budget process, which will start in a couple weeks, is all about."

Wright said he will make recommendations, based upon research he asked county staff to compile, on "refocusing the mission of our road and bridge department." Tentatively, Wright said, he sees that mission "getting away from new road construction and more into the reconstruction and maintenance and resurfacing of neighborhood roads.

"That's where I think we need to wind up philosophically," he added. "That's also where I think we're going to end up financially, because our ability to build new roads is going to be limited by the money available.

"Revenues are down, so the new road business may be something we're getting out of."

In hearings on the county's next budget, Wright said, "that's going to be a top priority with us, defining the best way to use the road and bridge department's resources." He also said he may recommend some type of consolidation of the engineer's office and the road and bridge department.

In large part because Highlands County has built up a "reserve" or rainy day fund, county officials have said there shouldn't be any layoffs in the coming fiscal year.

Wright, though, said dipping into the county's "reserve" funds to keep the budget steady this year is something the county won't be able to do in future years, because a reserve or emergency fund has to be maintained.

Wright said he doesn't anticipate a single lay off in the coming fiscal year. But, he said, positions that become vacant may or may not be filled.

"We are and will be evaluating every vacancy as it comes open," Wright said. "Some we may fill and some we may not."

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or by e-mail at jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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