Special Road A Board Decides To Focus Mainly On Overlays In 2021

By MARK EVANS

mevans@stegenherald.com

Members of the Special Road District A board finalized 2021 budget figures and discussed how to approach 2021 at their Jan. 12 meeting.

It was agreed that overlaying of existing paved roads would be more of a priority this year.

“We probably want to do quite a bit of overlaying tis year,” chairman Paul Arnold said. He asked road foreman Paul Bauman to refresh his memory on what the board had previously discussed, regarding paving gravel roads in 2021.

“I think the only thing we talked about was the rest of Sugar Bottom,” Bauman said.

That would be about 8/10 of a mile.

“Do you think we should concentrate on overlays?” Arnold asked. “Of course, we could put that (8/10 of a mile) in when we do any overlays.”

Board member Joe Fallert asked if they had an updated list of gravel versus paved roads. Arnold said they did not.

“There shouldn’t be a whole lot left to pave,” Fallert said.

Looking at through roads, as opposed to dead end roads, they came up with Cottonwoods and Sugar Bottom roads as the  only remaining gravel roads.

“I’d rather do overlays than asphalt them,” Arnold said. “We’ve got quite a bit of money now. Maybe we can catch up on some of those overlays. We’ll have to see what kind of spring we have.”

“Within the next month or so, maybe we could ride around again,” Bauman said. “I could show you guys what I think needs to be done, like we did last year.”

It was agreed that they will try to do that before the February meeting.

A FEW CHANGES MADE IN 2021 BUDGET

The board and secretary Cindy Kertz went over the 2021 budget, looking at budgeted amounts for 2020 and how the revenues and expenditures actually came out. They then adjusted the 2021 figures accordingly.

One income line item that changed was “reimbursable service,” which in 2020 was money paid by Public Water District No. 1 for work on Quarrytown and Gisi roads. A total of $300 was paid, half of the $600 that had been budgeted. It was agreed to put it at $500 for 2021.

Road tax revenue came in at $97,199, above the $90,000 protected figure. They speculated that this was  due to people buying more items and doing more at-home projects during the pandemic shutdown. It was set at $100,000 for this year.

On the expense side, the district went $601 over its budget for employee salary and expenses. This was due to overtime hours. The line item was increased from $135,000 to $145,000.

One of the biggest deficits was in tires, where $10,585 was spent, more than double the $5,000 budgeted. They agreed to bump it up to $7,500. Bauman said four tractors will need to be purchased for the tractor and possibly four for the grader.

Uniforms also ran over budget by $339, prompting the board to raise it from $6,200 to $6,800. It was noted that another supplier is interested in bidding for the uniform contract, which could feasibly lead to lower costs.

Equipment purchase was boosted from $50,000 to $70,000. In 2020 the board spent $56,645 on equipment.

BAUMAN REPORTS ON ROAD WORK

Bauman, in giving his foreman’s report, said his crew had been crack-filling before Christmas. Since then they had been grading roads and hauling rocks.

“That’s all we did last week,” he said. “We’ve done some work in the shop the last couple of weeks.”

He said they will begin repairing the boom mower. It will also be pressure-washed, he said.