Voters may decide on a new road millage
Read more: Local, Economy, Community, Election, Road Commission, Millage, Grand Traverse County, Diana Fairbanks, Fact Finder, Fact Finder
Many of you write or email saying something needs to be done about our roads.
But would you be willing to pay more? The area's largest road commission is banking on it and says that may be the only way to see any improvements anytime soon.
Details are tonight's Fact Finder Report.
Like many businesses these days, the Grand Traverse County Road Commission says they've been doing more with less.
Manager Mary Gillis says, "Our funding keeps dropping every year."
She says they've had to cut staffing levels from 84 employees in 2001 to 56 today.
And while trying to keep up with the cost of clearing the roads in the winter, the list of repairing roads keeps growing.
Gillis says, "It doesn't last forever and we've reached the point where the majority of our local roads are in poor condition."
State funding to repair those roads from the gas tax is down with more people leaving the state and those who are here are driving less to save gas; so local road commissions are left looking elsewhere for funding.
Gillis says, the road commission board has asked the county board to look at putting this millage on the ballot. It's a one mill for 4 years that would raise about $4.4 million a year in Grand Traverse County.
Gillis says they've asked all of the townships to prioritize which roads to repair and says the plan is to spend 25% on primary roads and 75% on local roads.
So how much would that millage buy?
Gillis says on the upper end $1-2 million will reconstruct one mile of road, while $90,000 will pay for a preventative maintenance overlay on 1 mile of road.
They would also do other kinds of maintenance as needed like crack sealing and seal coating.
Gillis says, "Our road system really is in poor shape and it's going to continue to get worse and worse if we don't invest."
And many communities have. In fact there are 14 other counties with county wide millages and many more township level road millages.
This August it may be up to the voters of Grand Traverse County to decide if that's also the right decision for them.
Gillis says, "People pay for these services so it's up to them to decide whether or not they want this type of road system or do they want it to continue to fall apart?"
So for the owner of a $100,000 home that means you'd pay an additional $100 in taxes a year for this road millage.
Tomorrow the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners will decide whether or not to put the county wide road repair millage on the August Ballot.
That meeting takes place tomorrow at 7pm at the Governmental Center.
But you can have your say now. Would you support it? And if you live outside of Grand Traverse County, is this something you'd pay for where you live, should more county road commissions do this? Or should it be up to state lawmakers boost the gas tax, or change all together how road commissions get state funding.
Leave your comments below.
