The Road Less Graveled
By Gordon Hopkins
Jefferson County Commissioners are looking at reducing maintenance on some county roads as a way to save money. At a meeting Tuesday morning, March 10, Commissioner Mark Schoenrock said, “I’m starting to think ahead to our next budget, and I really think we’re probably going to have to start looking at going to some lesser or minimum maintenance roads to cut our costs.”
Commissioners had warned this move was likely during budget hearings last year. Schoenrock said, “We could save a considerable amount of taxpayer money by going to some, I will call lesser maintenance or minimum maintenance roads, where we don’t have to grade them as often or put as much gravel on them. And I know probably people raise hell about that.”
Increasing costs, couples with public opposition to increased property taxes, have put a major strain on county budgets are there are few places where cuts are particle or possible. Schoenrock said, “It’s going to impact somebody. Someone’s going to need to get down that road to farm, or somebody’s going to need to get down that road to get their cattle in and out. I understand that, but I also understand that we can’t keep going like we’re going right now, where it’s just more and more and more and more every year. It’s just not sustainable.”
The next step is to decide which roads and how many. Terry Blas of the county highway department said, “We can make a map and get it lined up and presented at our budget hearing and say this is what’s going to be now.”
Commissioners want to try and minimize the impact on citizens, and they also don’t want to focus on just one county district. Commissioner Michael Dux said, “Well, we’ve talked about that many times. If I give up one road in my area, you’re giving up one road in your area.”
Schoenrock agreed, “Oh yeah, it’s got to be equal across the county.”
Commissioners will be seeking input from county residents and will inform the public which roads will be considered for reduced maintenance, “I want it to be totally transparent for our citizens, you know, so they understand what we’re contemplating doing, and probably more importantly, the rationale for why; why we are considering doing this, because people are howling about their property taxes, and this is one of the efforts that we’re going to try to adjust that.”
Another way the county is considering reducing the budget is by reducing staff. Currently, the highway department is down four staff. The county is considering not replacing those employees. Before that decision is made, commissioners must determine the impact of fewer people to operate motor graders and keep roads maintained.
“One of the things that we have thought about, that we don’t go back up to our full complement. But then on the other side of the equation,” said Schoenrock. “What effect is that going to have over here, as far as our ability to keep the roads maintained? And maybe it’s just going to be to a lesser standard, because we don’t have the people over here.”
Staffing is the biggest expense in the county’s budget. Schoenrock said, “You look at salary plus their compensation packages, that’s a lot of money per person that we can save in the budget.”
