Cole County and Jefferson City officials are getting ready for the next five-year installment of the half-cent capital improvements sales tax, which will be on the ballot for both entities next year.
The county is making preparations to have the renewal of the county sales tax on the April ballot, while the city plans to have its renewal on the August ballot.
At Tuesday's County Commission meeting, County Engineer Eric Landwehr presented the recommendations made for the tax by the county's Road and Bridge Advisory Committee.
The recommendation for road and bridge projects, which accounts for 85 percent of the proposed tax for 2017-21, would total $26.35 million, compared to $22.1 million for the tax from 2012-16. Adding in $4.65 million for county facility and equipment improvements in 2017-21 would bring the total expenditures for sales tax funds to $31 million, compared to $26 million for 2012-16.
Landwehr noted a decline in the safety improvement category is because most of the projects they do already have this component in them.
"For example, we used to pay for guardrail work out of this fund, but now we incorporate that cost in projects that we do," he said.
The upgrading of gravel roads will be used on the two roads that meet the traffic counts for upgrading: Mount Hope Road and Waterford Road.
The money for major thoroughfares went up because, as Landwehr said, "We found that when we did the Business 50 upgrades that cost us more than we thought. So in this we have the continuation of the project to St. Martins city limits and funding for potential projects like curb and gutter on Rainbow Drive as well as work on Militia Drive and Liberty Road area."
Money for cooperative projects was increased for the seven villages in the county.
"Typically we give each of these communities $100,000 each to do overlay work, but in this tax we've included $800,000 to be used for cooperative projects. An example would be in Wardsville, in cooperation with MoDOT, to do work on the intersection of Route B and Route W. Taos, Wardsville, St. Martins and Russellville typically need more than the $100,000, so this is an opportunity for them to get some more work done."
The resurfacing/concrete street replacement category saw an increase because, Landwehr said, they are seeing an increase in the need to do preventive maintenance on county roads.
"We don't have the money or manpower to do that in house," he said. "We're having a lot of problems with concrete streets deteriorating, so we'll have to contract some of these projects out."
The money for stormwater improvements was increased after seeing an increase in that work during this current sales tax cycle.
"There's a lot of needs in the older subdivisions, and we need to keep working to make upgrades," Landwehr said. "We need to do the stormwater work before or at the same time we do street work."
Landwehr said they will also need to remove a bridge at North Moniteau Creek Road.
The amount for the cooperative projects with Jefferson City stayed the same, Landwehr said.
"We've discussed with city staff what type of projects that would get these funds, and they would be projects that would reduce traffic congestion and travel time, improve road safety, maintaining and infrastructure improvements and support commercial development projects."
The uses for the facility and equipment improvements, which make up the last 15 percent of the sales tax funds, would be determined by the County Commission.
Landwehr said they were able to base their projections on what they currently get and a growth rate of 2 percent a year.
"We're like everyone else now: we have to take care of what we've got, and that's reflected in this plan," said County Public Works Director Larry Benz.
The commission will look over the recommendations before giving approval to what will go out as the plan to be voted on.
Proposed capital improvement sales tax breakout
Road and bridge projects (85% of sales tax funds): 2012-16 / 2017-21
Safety and capacity improvements: $850,000 / $425,000
Upgrade roads to paved: $3 million / $2.5 million
Cooperative projects with Jefferson City: $5.5 million / $5.5 million
Major thoroughfares: $2.7 million / $4.325 million
Cooperative projects with county villages: $700,000 / $1.5 million
Resurfacing and concrete street replacement: $5 million / $6.25 million
Equipment replacement: $1.45 million / $1.45 million
Bridge/culvert/low-water crossings/stormwater projects: $2 million / $3.4 million
Contingency: $900,000 / $1 million
Capital improvement total: $22.1 million / $26.35 million
County facility, equipment improvements (15% of sales tax funds): $3.9 million / $4.65 million
Total expenditures for sales tax funds: $26 million / $31 million