MARSHALL -- The Calhoun County Board of Road Commissioners Wednesday night talked about three options that might be available to help improve county roads in a tough economic climate.

The options included waiting for the state legislature to do something, seeking local funding through a county-wide vote to increase taxes or tearing up some of the county's paved roads and turning them to gravel.
Board member Eric Johnson suggested waiting for state legislators in Lansing to create laws that solve the road funding crisis that is plaguing most counties in the state.

But commission Vice Chairperson Hugh Coward said something should be done locally, whether it's tearing up the roads and returning them to gravel or asking voters whether they are willing to pay a new property tax to supplement state funding.

"If you're waiting for the state to throw money out of the sky, it's not going to happen," Coward said.
Board Chairperson Scott Brown suggested calling together a road convention in the county and including county and state officials to get the conversation going about fixing local roads.

"Its becoming clear not much help is coming from the state," Brown said. "They're posturing as if local roads are on us. If that's the case, maybe we should think about having a road summit in January."

The board also listened to road commission Managing Director Kevin Henning's report on the road budget for 2012.

A consistent decline in state revenue funds has left the road commission unable to make vital repairs to some of the county and local roads in Calhoun County. But Henning is predicting that the county's income next year from a state-wide fuel tax and vehicle registration fees will remain at this year's rate of $7.6 million.

"I'm somewhat concerned about budgeting flat, but I think flat is conservative enough at this point," Henning said.

Officials elsewhere are predicting a 1 or 2 percent increase in their allocations from the state, but Henning said he wanted to keep the numbers conservative.

On the other hand, roads in the county remain in rough shape, and there's no room in next year's budget to make the estimated $87 million in repairs to get all roads in the county in acceptable shape.

The road commission spent $2.6 million this year fixing potholes -- a temporary solution that doesn't address structural problems that cause the potholes.

"Obviously, with the roads deteriorating, that number could go up," Coward said.

The board will pass its budget at its Dec. 21 meeting at 5:30 p.m, in the road commission's building in Marshall.

Also at the meeting, Asphalt Solutions Plus LLC owner Kevin Patrick said during public comment time that the county owes him $35,000 for street sweeping work his company conducted in 2010. Brown said he didn't want board members or staff to comment because the matter could involve litigation.

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20111215/NEWS01/112150313/Tax-increase-returning-roads-gravel-among-county-road-board-s-options