The Lyon County Road and Bridge Department made up 23 percent of 2007’s county budget and that figure is likely to keep rising as costs to the department get higher and higher.
Chip Woods, Lyon County engineer, said the road and bridge budget consists of three funds: road and bridge, special bridge and special road and bridge. The latter two funds are limited by statute and do not fluctuate, Woods said.
The road and bridge budget is another story. In 2008, one of the largest increases in the submitted budget is salary and benefits, Woods said.
According to information provided by Woods, the total road and bridge budget in 2007 was $4,741,211 and in 2008’s proposed budget it is $5,119,631. This is an increase of $378,420 or 8 percent.
Salaries rose by $123,926 because of a 2 percent raise across the board. Benefits rose by $28, 894 from 2007’s budget.
The line item for gas prices rose by $5,000 from 2007’s figure, bringing the total to $250,000. Diesel stayed flat at $600,000. In 2000, the county budgeted $1.162 per gallon for gasoline. In 2007, that figure was up to $3.04. Diesel in 2000 was at $1.124. By 2007, diesel was up to $2.369. The figures are government prices for gasoline, the county gets its gas for less than the public pays, but the sharp rise still effects the budget.
But the rise in gas prices doesn’t just effect what goes into the tanks.
“Anything we do with oil increases,” Woods said.
The largest increase in 2008’s budget is rock. In 2000, the county was paying $4.90 a ton for crushed rock. In 2007, that figure jumped up to $6.10 a ton.
“The price of rock continues to go up,” Woods said. “It’s increased significantly in the last five years. Of lot of the increase is in fuel costs in production. It’s the same thing with asphalt and everything else.”
Because of 2007’s weather patterns, rock has cost the county a lot of money.
“We’ve had a terrible weather year,” Woods said. “We’ve put 50 percent (more) rock on roads.”
Woods said the road and bridge department has received many complaints about the roads this year. He said the county has more than 1,342 miles of roads to maintain. More than 1,000 miles of those roads are not paved.
“Virgil (Morris) and I prioritize as much as we can,” Woods said. “We obviously don’t have a lot of time to spend re-rocking miles and miles of roads.”
The prices of road grader blades went from $12,000 to $17,000.
“The grader blades increased $5,000 because of bids we took this year,” Woods said.
Everything seems to be going up this year, Woods said, including steel, concrete and asphalt. Copper pipe is going up because of steel prices.
“It’s a vicious circle,” he said.
Other significant increases is winter patch asphalt, which was $35.50 a ton in 2000 and was up to $79 a ton in 2007.
Other increases in 2008’s budget:
F Culvert pipe went from $35,000 to $50,000.
F Geotextile fabric went from $100 to $10,000.
F Lubes/solvents went from $20,000 to $25,000.
dayjob55 (anonymous) says...
Welcome to the real world. The only difference is that you will raise taxes in order to keep going. My pay hasn't increased but my taxes sure will. Any wonder I want out of this town?
July 16, 2007 at 4:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daveedailey (anonymous) says...
I do not think they are thinking the whole county because they still have not put gravel on my road or fix our bridge. Of course, maybe we do not want them to fix our road because they will probably tax us ten times more than what it is worth. Last time, several years ago, we got boulders. Still do not know why we couldn't have the good stuff like other places in the county, if you get my drift!!
July 16, 2007 at 4:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
siamesefred (anonymous) says...
I was in Osage County a few weeks ago and AMAZED at how much better maintained the roads were. I was on a narrow road (narrower than ours... one person would have to be in the ditch for another to pass), but in 6 miles, I only passed 2 potholes. My road in Lyon County has 30 in 1 mile. Good thing it's wider than Osage Co's because you have to drive in the ditches to miss the cluster of potholes.
And, no, I don't live that far out. That mile stretch connects to a highway. Within 2 miles of the highway, there are 17 houses. So the road gets LOTS of use. And mechanics get rich on front end alignments.
July 16, 2007 at 7:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
47hclwym (anonymous) says...
I agree with dayjob and Dailey these roads need some work. I to live East of town and a great deal of my driving has to be on Road 170 (old old HWY 50) OUCH! I really can't say which would be worse the bolders that Ms. Dailey speaks of or the car size pot holes. I really thought my neighbor was going to lose her car the other day in one of the holes. You almost have to be a snake to be able to miss them they are so big and every where. Hell I bet one is atleast 2ft around and 8in deep. What happened to the forum about fix the roads.... The 45 mile an hour speed limit is way to much in some spots I find myself going 30.
July 20, 2007 at 2:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )