The United States has an infrastructure problem.
The deteriorating condition of infrastructure, especially our highway system, trickles down to state and local governments as well. And Violet Township’s roadway network is no exception. While revenues (township funds to provide services) from gasoline taxes, motor vehicle license taxes and a portion of real estate taxes have remained stagnant, the cost of materials to repave our streets has increased nearly 300 percent within the past 10 years.
Unfortunately, local revenue sources have not kept up with these asphalt increases. Ultimately, that affects the number of road miles the township can resurface each year.
Resurfacing costs are upwards of $100,000 per mile. The 2015 annual paving budget is $275,000.
This fact, coupled with losses of revenue from elimination of the estate tax and reduction of the Local Government Fund by the Ohio Legislature, give us no other funds to use to help maintain roadways.
Currently, Violet Township maintains 105 lane miles of roadway in one direction – the distance from downtown Columbus to downtown Cincinnati. We are often asked, “When will my road get repaved?” or “Can you put my road on the repaving schedule for this year?” Ten years ago, the Township’s philosophy was to resurface roads approximately every 10 years. Today, the number of years between paving cycles is greater than 20 years.
We will continue to strive to evaluate alternate cost effective technologies to keep our roads safe and maintained. In the meantime, we felt it was important to share the harsh financial realities local governments are now facing related to road maintenance, particularly as it relates to resurfacing our streets.
