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City plans for major street projects |
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Wednesday, 14 November 2007 |
Engineering, property and savings account for most '08 proposed expenses
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
Work on two major street projects accounts for most of the spending in a section of the city’s proposed 2008 budget dealing with roads and streets, two city councilors say.
Councilor-at-large Rodney Metz, a member of the city’s Finance Committee and chair of the city’s Streets, Alleys and Sidewalks Committee, explained Tuesday that most of the $410,500 estimated for streets is preliminary work or setting aside funds for the Bellefontaine Street project and the Harrison Street Bridge project.
“We are trying to set aside money for city’s match of state and federal dollars for two major street improvement projects — Harrison Street and the Harrison Street Bridge, and Bellefontaine Street,” Metz said after Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting. “We will be responsible for 20 percent of the grant on the Bellefontaine Street project.
“For Bellefontaine Street, we have to have the engineering work and the property purchased before we are eligible to receive the grant money,” he said. “With the Harrison Street project, I am unsure of what we have to pay for early, but we do have to pay for the water line relocation and tie-in.”
The Harrison Street Bridge project is a county project under the direction of Bridge Engineer Dan Bennett. City administrators and councilors elected to reconstruct a portion of Harrison Street as part of the project..
Ohio Department of Transportation officials told city administrators in July the city would receive $1.848 million for the $2.7 million reconstruction of Bellefontaine Street from South Wagner Street to Water Street.
The proposed reconstruction project includes reconstruction of sanitary sewer and stormwater sewer lines along Bellefontaine Street, Metz said.
Traffic lights are also slated for improvements since turning lanes are proposed for the intersection of Bellefontaine, East Pearl and Wood streets.
The project also calls for upgrading an existing 6-inch water line with a 12-inch water line, as well as replacing all the fire hydrants and catch basins along the street.
Other improvements include widening the street to 40 feet from 35 feet, as well as increasing the radii of the intersections and installing turn lanes for motorists turning left onto Pearl and Mechanic streets.
Metz also said natural gas lines may be upgraded as part of the project.
The project is set for the state’s fiscal year 2010-2011. The state’s fiscal year starts July 1 of each year.
The $1.2 million Harrison Street Bridge project is set for 2008-2009.
Designs call for the bridge to be widened and raised, requiring additional land near the bridge.
The city is in the process of relocating a treated water line from the bridge to north of the bridge.
The relocation of the line is estimated to cost $150,000.
With the replacement of the bridge, city administrators decided to reconstruct Harrison Street from the bridge to South Blackhoof Street.
Metz said other roads in the city may also be grinded and repaved during the summer of 2008.
“There will be some roads repaved, but how much and which roads I don’t know yet,” Metz said. “We will be discussing those projects during upcoming Streets and Alleys (Committees) meetings.”
The next scheduled Streets, Alleys and Sidewalks meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26. The committee typically meets the fourth Monday of each month.
Councilor-at-large and Finance Committee Chair Wilbur Wells said Safety-Service Director Rex Katterheinrich did a nice job preparing the funds for review Tuesday including the street improvement funds.
“For the past several years, we have tried to put as much money as we could back for these projects,” Wells said. “I am very satisfied with the fact we have set aside some money for these projects so when they came up that we had some money available to meet a part of our obligation.
“I am also very proud of our Finance Committee that if you look at our debt ratio it is going down because this committee has chosen not to put the General Fund under any more debt obligation,” he said, noting the debt ratio decreased to 14.39 percent in 2006 from 37.41 percent in 1999.
The Finance Committee chair said the funds reviewed Tuesday, such as police auxiliary and unclaimed funds, are “pretty straightforward in regard to revenue and expenses.”
“The funds most important to people right now are the Electric Fund and the Water Fund,” Wells said, “and we will be going through the Electric Fund and the Water Fund with members of the Utilities Committee at a later date.” |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 November 2007 )
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