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Highlands Today

Downturn Leads To Scaled Back Parkway Construction

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: November 21, 2008

SEBRING - Construction of the sheriff's Law Enforcement building could be delayed for several months, and the county's construction of Phase Two of Sebring Parkway will be scaled back due to the nationwide economic downturn.
Highlands County Administrator Michael Wright said the county is putting off issuing bonds to finance the estimated $11.2 million Law Enforcement building because of high interest rates.

"The debt markets are just terrible right now," he said.

Planning and design of the building are going ahead, he said, but contracts can't be awarded until the financing is in place.

"We had hoped to kick it (construction) off right after the first of the year, but a few things have happened with the economy," Wright said.

However, Wright said he doesn't expect the Law Enforcement building to be put off indefinitely by high interest rates.

"It could delay it for a few months until the markets stabilize, and they are beginning to," he said. "So, I don't see it being delayed for the long term."

Meanwhile, declining sales tax collections have led to downsizing construction work on the Sebring Parkway for this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

Earlier this year, county Road and Bridge crews extended the divided, four-lane, limited access parkway from North Ridgeview Drive to West Center Street at Sebring Middle School, and finished another section running along the edge of Sebring High School, from West Commerce Avenue to Kenilworth Boulevard.

Plans call for the parkway to be extended from Kenilworth all the way to U.S. 27, replacing South Highlands Avenue.

Over the next year, the county plans to extend the four-lane parkway only about a half mile past Kenilworth, to Youth Care Lane at Fred Wild Elementary School.

"The piece from just past Fred Wild Elementary to U.S. 27, we don't have the money to do that right now," Wright said.

That section will be funded as impact fee collections from new developments pick up, he said.

Asked when the long section of the parkway from Fred Wild Elementary to U.S. 27 can be funded, Wright answered, "You tell me when the recession is going to be over."

Funding for the parkway comes primarily from the county's 1-cent sales tax dedicated to capital improvements, Wright said.

The sales tax brought in just under $8.3 million for the 2007-08 fiscal year which ended Sept. 30. That was about $1.2 million lower than collected in the previous fiscal year, said county Budget Manager Tim Mechling.

The county budget for the current 2008-09 fiscal year projects sales tax revenue declining further, to an estimated $7.8 million.

Over the next year, county Road and Bridge plans to finish two segments of the parkway's Phase Two: from West Center Street at the middle school and the Amtrak train station to West Commerce Avenue, and from Kenilworth to Youth Care Lane.

Once those sections are completed, Wright said, the county may shift from road construction to extensive repairs of neighborhood streets.

"We're working on some plans to come to the county commission after the first of the year with thoughts on how we can go into our neighborhoods, with the dirt roads and the paved roads that are falling apart," he said. "That is where our focus could be, and we have hundreds of miles of those streets."

The opening of the county's asphalt plant in early October will stretch the declining tax dollars on both building the parkway and resurfacing streets, Wright said.

"It will help keep our costs down, plus we have availability," he said. "We have the ability today to literally crank it out and get asphalt when we need it on an hour's notice. That's something we can't always get from the private sector."

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

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