ELKINS — Residents and drivers passing through town could see upgrades and repairs next year to heavily used streets and other minor “dead end” streets, the mayor said.
The city plans to use a combination of a state grant and local sales tax for the projects, Mayor Bruce Ledford said.
“I’ve got some streets that are in bad need,” he said.
The City Council last week approved redirecting two-thirds of the revenue from the city’s 1 percent sales tax to street projects.
The state Highway and Transportation Department notified the city last month it will receive
At A Glance (w/logo)
State Aid Street Program
• Act 1032 of 2011 updated the policies of the State Aid Street Program to include cities. Voters approved a constitutional amendment on Nov. 6 allowing the State Aid Street Program to shift 1 percent of the fuel tax to pay for the program.
• A committee of nine mayors from cities of different sizes was formed to administer the grant program.
• Cities with a population of 25,000 or less can receive 100 percent funding for transportation projects.
• Cities with populations greater than 25,000 can receive 90 percent funding for projects.
• The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department provides design engineering and oversees construction of each project.
Source: Staff Report
$250,000 to resurface Stokenbury Road and Harris Drive. Both connect to Center Street, also known as Arkansas 16, which runs the length of the city.
Ledford said he plans to use the sales tax money — about $85,000 for the first six months of the year — for minor streets. Ledford said he and city staff haven't determined which streets will be upgraded from dirt and gravel to pavement.
Carl Parker has lived off the dusty, gravel, dead-end Parker Lane for 46 years, he said.
“It (the dust) covers everything around here,” he said. “It’s rough on your cars and your tires.”
About one-third of the sales tax money supports the Fire Department, Ledford said. Since the mid-2000s, the city has used the remaining tax revenue for general fund expenditures, including buying five police cars, a tractor and office furniture for the new City Hall, he said.
Ledford said he wants the sales tax revenue to grow through the end of the year before beginning any street projects.
Stokenbury Road and Harris Drive, two heavily used roads, will be resurfaced with the state grant approved by the State Aid Street Committee, he said. The committee is comprised of nine mayors.
Last month, the committee received requests totaling $28 million for 82 projects and had $14.5 million available, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The revenue is 1 percent of the state’s motor fuel tax, Randy Ort, Highway Department spokesman, said last week.
Arkansas voters last fall approved a 10-year, half-percent sales tax to finance a $1.8 billion highway construction program. Cities and counties also will share about $700 million in state turnback money over that period.
That measure also included the creation of the State Aid Street Program to be funded with 1 cent of the 21.7 cents-a-gallon the state already collects on gasoline sales. The committee, which includes Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, meets quarterly. It decided to award up to $250,000 each to projects that do not require design work. That covered 64 projects totaling $13.1 million.
Farmington will receive $159,000 for resurfacing 1.5 miles of Rheas Mill Road, said Melissa McCarville, city business manager. A $302,000 request to add curbs, gutters, drainage and sidewalks on Double Springs Road was not funded, she said.
Cave Springs will receive $213,000 to resurface 1 mile of Shores Avenue and one-third of a mile on Rainbow Road.