Street work and how to fund it fuels Council discussion

Street resurfacing, sidewalk replacement and major projects to both Indianapolis Road and U.S. 231 are in the City of Greencastle’s future.

And so possibly is a new means of funding roadwork. City residents could be looking at a new $25-per-vehicle excise and wheel tax in the not-too-distant future.

In a nearly two-hour meeting Thursday night, the Greencastle City Council heard plans for 15 resurfacing projects, scheduled sidewalk upgrades, 2018 plans for upgrading the section of Indianapolis Road from Kroger to McDonald’s and an Indiana Department of Transportation promise to redo U.S. 231 through Greencastle next year.

Some of that work will be funded by the city’s Motor Vehicle Highway Fund, some through EDIT (Economic Development Income Tax) money, another via Community Crossings dollars from the state and the last by INDOT itself.

But what all that discussion really did was make Council members painfully aware of how expensive roadwork can be.

“Money doesn’t go very far when you’re talking about roads,” Mayor Bill Dory assured.

The city has been spending $385,000 annually in recent years on street resurfacing, Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar advised, adding that it also allocates $100,000 annually to sidewalk additions and restoration.

That pales in comparison to the real costs of street and roadwork as city officials take care of 48 miles of pavement within the friendly confines of Greencastle.

For real cost figures the Council turned to engineer Jessica Hartman of Civil Engineering Consultants in Greencastle -- on hand to give a report on planned street and sidewalk projects -- who said it typically costs a half-million dollars per mile for street work that includes curb and gutter repairs.

Meanwhile, crack and seal --- just a “band-aid” approach for asphalt as Councilman Dave Murray called it -- is approximately an $80,000-per-mile stopgap.

“We need to do about five miles (of street repairs) a year,” Councilman Gary Lemon offered, “so that’s what, $2.5 million? That’s frightening.”

As were the looks on fellow Council members’ faces as the seriousness of the matter set in.

The difficulty is less and less money is coming from the state, yet infrastructure repairs and upgrades remain a necessity for the city to operate, let alone grow and attract new industry or commercial ventures.

“We basically should be spending somewhere between $1 million and $2.5 million a year on resurfacing,” Mayor Dory interjected.

The excise and wheel tax discussion was initiated near the end of the meeting, as it was noted that any community of more than 10,000 population can adopt its own wheel tax, which is something the Council is seriously considering. However, no action was taken Thursday night.

According to a Purdue University study of such a tax, Greencastle could raise $300,952 in additional annual revenue by piggybacking on the county wheel tax to add an additional $25 per vehicle tax (city resident families with one car or pickup would see a $25 hike, those with two vehicles a $50 bump and those with three, a $75 increase over what they are currently paying for the county tax). Those proposed city rates would double what the county already has in place.

“Another $50 (per year) to be able to do something to fix the roads is a no-brainer for me,” Councilman Murray commented.

The additional revenue would have to be used exclusively on roads and streets.

“Those are considered estimates,” Mayor Dory said, noting that the Purdue figures were based on 2015 numbers.

Regardless, that $300,000 increase would basically fund a mile of asphalt repairs for the city, the Council noted.

Council President Adam Cohen wanted to drive home the point that the added tax would only benefit city streets.

“We’re not using it on I-70,” he assured, “but on our local streets.”

The excise and wheel tax possibility is one opportunity the state is allowing local governments to raise greatly needed funds.

“It’s our one option to do something,” Cohen said. “At this point we have to give something to do something.”

Murray agreed.

“We’re literally losing thousands and thousands of dollars due to property tax caps,” Murray said. “It’s only going to get worse.”

Second Ward Councilor Stacie Langdon had a different opinion.

“I don’t like it,” she said, citing how it might affect persons on fixed incomes and low incomes while pointing out that the state has just approved a 10-cent gasoline tax increase to take effect July 1.

“The timing is terrible,” Langdon added.

“I don’t think there’s ever a good time,” Councilman Mark Hammer responded.

Meanwhile, the mayor said the state has not yet divulged how much revenue individual cities and counties can expect to see from the 10-cent gas tax increase. He said he hopes to know in the next month. Likewise that money can only be used for the betterment of local streets.

Council member Steve Fields considered the combined effect of the gas tax and a potential city wheel tax.

“So between the two of them,” he reasoned, “we might be able to pave another mile of road.”

While that discussion could yield future funding, current funds will be used to resurface 15 locations in the city.

Hartman said legal ads will appear next week with bid approval possible for the June Board of Works meeting.

Resurfacing work is scheduled as such locations as:

-- Anderson Street, from Bloomington to Wood Street.

-- Washington Street, from Gillespie to Jackson Street.

-- Martinsville Street, from Bloomington Street to Zinc Mill Road.

-- Market Street, from Walnut to Liberty Street.

-- Jackson Street, from Veterans Highway to Poplar Street.

-- Indianapolis Road, from First Street to 10th Street.

That’s along with sections of Tacoma Drive, Evensview Drive, Brentwood Drive, two parking lots and two sections of roadway within Robe-Ann Park.

Councilman Hammer wondered why Hanna Street was not on the list.

That’s because DePauw University will be responsible for resurfacing that, Mayor Dory said, once construction is done at the Union Building site next to the new Hoover Dining Hall.

Meanwhile, among crack-and-seal work on the city’s 2017 agenda are Washington Street between Bloomington and Wood streets and Indianapolis Road between First and 10th streets.

Mayor Dory also reported on the proposed Indianapolis Road project from Franklin Street to Percy Julian Drive (essentially from Kroger to McDonald’s).

It is the city’s key 2018 project for Community Crossing Project dollars through INDOT. The project is designed to include sidewalks along both sides of Indianapolis Road and to improve the site lines east of Kroger.

Dory said it is likely the project will be bid with a sidewalk on one side with an alternate bid for sidewalks on both sides of Indianapolis Road.

Councilman Murray suggested that the city may have difficulty acquiring enough right-of-way to make that possible.

“Will property owners give up enough right-of-way along the south side of the street to allow that to happen?” he asked the mayor. “From conversations I’ve had, that’s not likely to happen.”

The other 2018 project discussed Thursday was INDOT’s proposal to redo U.S. 231 through Greencastle next year.

Originally planned as a resurfacing job, Dory said he has talked to INDOT officials about ongoing storm drain issues north of the downtown.

If those aren’t addressed, he said, the resurfacing wouldn’t last two years.

“They don’t want to come in here and resurface and come back in two years and do it all again,” Dory said. “So it wouldn’t surprise me if the scope of the project is considerably larger than they had planned.”