Last Updated: October 17, 2011
Road Crew Faced With Less Money, More Repairs |
|---|
| Public Works road repair crew members apply asphalt patch to low areas along Baxter Road. The road is scheduled to be resurfaced in 2012. State shared revenue and other budget cuts are limiting more extensive resurfacing and repair projects to Town roads leaving maintenance crews to use their best judgment to decide which roads are in the most need of repair. Most of the Town's roads were surfaced in the 1970s, and with the life expectancy at about 30s many are past due for resurfacing work. In 2000 the Town's budget for its 66 miles of roads was $213,000. Today the annual budget is about $42,000 less at $171,000. Couple that with increased cost for the enhanced structural needs to withstand today's increased traffic and weight loads going over these roads and the rising price of asphalt because of skyrocketing oil prices (oil is an ingredient in asphalt), and you have a public works crew trying to accomplish more with a much smaller budget than a decade ago. |