It means sealing cracks, filling pot holes and repaving streets. In some cases, it involves the use of chip seal or other alternatives to conventional asphalt.
Road maintenance also includes snow and ice removal, street sign maintenance, road culvert maintenance, and right-of-way mowing and maintenance.
As you probably know, for the first time in the history of Violet Township, residents of the unincorporated area of Violet Township are being asked to support a 1.5-mill road levy on the March election ballot. The decision to ask voters to make a decision related to additional funding for road maintenance was not an easy one. However, this important issue was identified as a proactive approach to protect Violet Township’s most significant investment: its infrastructure.
Approval of this issue will provide essential revenues to maintain our 105-center-line-mile roadway network. Center line miles refer to one direction; therefore, the actual miles are more than twice that when you take into consideration into multiple lane sections.
Here are some facts in regard to why this issue is important to you and our community:
- Today’s cost to resurface 1 mile of roadway is approximately $85,000. The cost to resurface that same 1 mile of roadway 10 years ago was approximately $38,000. That equates to nearly a 125 percent increase in only 10 years.
- Revenues have declined due to the state of Ohio eliminating the tangible personal property tax in 2010 and the estate tax in 2013, and the reduction of the local government fund in 2012.
- These cuts from the state have reduced our annual revenue by as much as $729,603 per year. Historically, these funds were used to supplement our roadway maintenance programs.
- Consistent feedback from our residents associates road conditions with property values.
- Safety of the traveling public on the township road system is paramount. Travel time reliability is also of upmost importance.
Without these funds, our annual budget for roadway maintenance has decreased to approximately $275,000 per year, funded primarily through our portion of gasoline taxes and license plate fees.
Our goal is to provide you, our customer, the opportunity to build on and improve the success of our community. Approval of this road levy will allow us to implement a proactive, progressive, strategically-focused pavement maintenance plan for our roadway network.
