County Plans Road Work

— Benton County officials are looking at creative financing to put road and bridge work on an accelerated schedule.

The Quorum Court’s Transportation Committee was presented with the Road Department 2013 road plan Thursday night along with a proposal the county dip into reserve to accelerate the work and recoup the

At A Glance

County Roads

Benton County’s proposed 2013 road plan calls for the county to do 12 miles of single chip and seal paving, 35 miles of double chip and seal paving and 13 miles of asphalt paving, for 60 miles of paving for $1.7 million. Officials are exploring ways to use the county’s share of a half-cent state sales tax to expand the road program and put more money into bridge repair.

Source: Staff Report

expenditure from the newly approved half-cent sales tax for state highways, county roads and city streets.

Voters approved the 10-year sales tax increase in November. Benton County’s annual share has been estimated at $1.2 million.

Cindy Jones, county road coordinator, told the justices of the peace the Road Department’s normal schedule would include about 60 miles of paving and cost roughly $1.7 million. In a year with optimum weather and with additional money, the Road Department could do as much as 90 miles, Jones said.

Jones and Scott Stober, Public Services administrator, developed a proposal showing how the county could use reserve to do additional work in the first six years of the sale tax or use the revenue as it comes in. Stober was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting so Jones made the presentation.

Jones said the county could add 15 miles of asphalt paving to its annual schedule by using the $1.2 million the county expects to receive each year. The county would have an additional $400,000 from the tax revenue for additional bridge work. If the county wanted to accelerate the road work over the first six years of the tax, Jones said, an extra 25 miles could be added and an extra $655,000 allocated for bridges.

County Judge Bob Clinard cautioned the justices of the peace he’s been unable to determine if the state will approve any plan other than using sales tax money as it’s received annually. He said the county needs to have that question answered before proceeding with any plan.

“I think we’ve got to get this approved ahead of time,” Clinard said. “It’s too much money to gamble with. We need to get a definitive answer from somebody and we don’t know who that somebody is.”

Justice of the Peace Joel Jones suggested the county could avoid the question by adjusting its annual subsidy to the Road Department from the county’s general fund. Jones said the county could add to the Road Department subsidy for five years or six years and then reduce the subsidy until the general fund has recovered the money spent.

“We can do it in six years and then we’ve got four years where we’ll take the general fund subsidy and reduce it,” Jones said. “We’ll still funnel the half-cent sales tax into roads.”

“That makes way too much sense,” said Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore.

Justice of the Peace Shirley Sandlin said Benton County has chosen to supplement the Road Department’s budget from its general fund and can increase or decrease that if it chooses.

“There’s no state requirement that says we have to do that,” Sandlin said. “It will work if we stipulate it in that manner.”

The committee voted to send the Road Department report on to the Finance Committee, with recommendation for the accelerated road program if the county can get approval from the state.

The committee also heard a report on a proposal to build a compressed natural gas station on land at the Road Department on Southwest 14th Street in Bentonville. The committee voted to have the presentation repeated at the next Committee of the Whole meeting so all of the justices of the peace can participate in the discussion.

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