The Starkville Board of Aldermen has agreed to issue $3 million out of a $6 million provision in road bonds to repair Starkville streets.
Ward 3 Alderman P.C. McLaurin said the need to repair streets has built up over the years due to limited funds and now must be addressed in a big way.
“The city has waited too long in tackling the street improvements and drainage improvement projects,” he said. “We simply have got to play catch up until we get to the point where we can get these improvements [to happen] on a regular cycle.”
McLaurin said the board had to change its pay-as-you-go strategy because the need for road improvements has become so great.
“A little dab [of road repair funding] each year just simply isn’t attacking the problem,” he said. “We needed to bite off a bigger chunk of the problem and deal with it.”
Ward 2 Alderman Rodney Lincoln said the frequency of street repairs depends on many factors, ranging from how severe a winter is to the daily traffic flow on a given road.
“If a street has a good quality base and has not been disturbed and the traffic on it is moderate, it could last for approximately eight plus years,” he said. “On the other hand, if the base has failed and high traffic occurs daily, you will see the road deteriorating in less than a year.”
Though provisions to issue $6 million over the next two years have been made, the total amount needed for repairs is $8.2 million, Lincoln said.
“Our city engineer has compiled a list of capital improvements, a new road extension and a three-part list of streets to be overlaid,” he said.
Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey said the board is only taking out $3 million this year because that is the amount that can be spent based on available labor.
Corey said the current board will not decide what happens with the rest of the bonds and if they are spent next year.
“Elections are occurring this year, and the next board will decide how much of the remaining $3 million to take out,” he said.
McLaurin said a number of citizens came to the road bond meetings, and bond support and opposition was almost equal.
“I had a lot of people contact me by phone, e-mail and personal contact to tell me they were in support of the project,” he said.
Corey said some members voiced the concern that the bond money might be used for the new municipal complex.
“That is not our intention, so we specifically put in the title that it wouldn’t be used for that purpose to ease any concerns,” he said.
Another concern citizens can lay to rest is the possibility of a tax raise in order to pay off the bonds, he said.
“We’re going to use existing funds in our budget to pay back the bonds,” Corey said. “There won’t be any increasing costs as a result of this bond.”
He said in the past, the street budget has averaged $300,000, but next year, that amount will more than quadruple.
“Once all the bonds are paid off, we’ll have roughly $1.6 million every year in the street budget,” he said.
McLaurin said action to repair the roads will be taken within the next few months.
“We should be in a position to actually construct bids in the latter part of April, so that we can start construction season the minute the April rain stops and continue them throughout the summer,” he said.
McLaurin said the city engineer has categorized city streets into priorities – P1, P2 and P3 – based on the condition they are in and the volume of traffic they carry.
He said street and drain improvements are not only a quality of life issue, but also relate directly to improved economic development in Starkville.
“When potential industry and businesses are looking at Starkville to decide whether to locate here,” he said, “they look at the schools, health care and certainly, among other things, at the city’s infrastructure: roads, drains and water.”