Now that Michigan’s Proposal 1 has failed, cities across the state are forced to find alternate funding to repair the poor conditions of their roads.
East Lansing mayor Nathan Triplett said he, along with other East Lansing city officials, did not expect for the proposal to pass when creating the city budget for this year, so they had a plan prepared.
“I think toward the end it became apparent that the voters frustration with the state Legislature was going to lead Proposal 1 to defeat,” Triplett said.
East Lansing Director of Public Works Scott House said approximately 62 percent of local streets and 57 percent of major streets in East Lansing are rated in poor condition, according to the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) study, and the worst area is the Chesterfield Hills neighborhood.
Triplett said Chesterfield Hills is where the city has their one large-scale street repair project planned to take place this year.
The planning for this project began last year, when the city set aside $600,000 from the general fund as a down payment for that project. It was supposed to include infrastructure repairs to the neighborhood, such as reconstruction of the streets, new sewer and water lines and renovations to curbs, gutters and sidewalks, according to Triplett.
The project would have cost the city approximately $12.5 million, coming from the $600,000 set aside from the general fund, a small portion of the $2.8 million the city receives from tax on gasoline, and the rest coming from the city water and sewer funds, House said.
House said Proposal 1 would have added $3.6 million in gas tax revenue over a three-year period that then could have been used to fund large road repair projects. House said the proposal would have given East Lansing “an additional $600,000 increase over the next three years, culminating in $1.2 million in addition to the current $2.8 million.”
Triplett said, unfortunately, the city does not have the revenue required to make all of those improvements, but the $600,000 will be enough to significantly improve the quality of the streets in Chesterfield Hills.
“So, what I proposed to the council after Proposal 1 failed is that we take that $600,000, or a portion there of, and dedicate it to providing immediate relief to the neighborhood in the form of street improvements, while we are working on longer-term solutions toward the road funding challenge in the community,” Triplett said.
House said the city is currently exploring the idea of doing a “mill and fill” which consists of removing the existing surface layer with a milling machine and filling it with new material, on about two miles of street in Chesterfield Hills, which would extend the service life of those streets 5-7 years. The pavement would cost approximately $370,000 to do a thin mill and fill.
House said the city is also exploring infrastructure upgrades to sidewalk crossings and ramps for Chesterfield Hills, which would be a multi-year project costing upwards of $200,000.
Triplett and House both mentioned that one of the big problems communities such as East Lansing face is that the gas tax — the 19 cents per gallonput toward maintaining East Lansing’s streets — has not been changed since 1997, and funding has not increased since 2005.
“We are receiving the same level of funding in current dollars today from the state that we received in 2005 — so a decade ago,” Triplett said. “In the meantime, the cost of materials to build streets, and of the labor associated with that and salt to keep the roads clear in the winter; everything our street funds pay for, all of those costs have gone up.”
Triplett also noted when adjusted for inflation, the city receives about $912,000 less per year today for roads compared to 2005.
Triplett said he hopes the state Legislature can find a solution soon, because he believes this is a statewide issue and not something communities will be able to solve by themselves.
“My hope is that if we ultimately do see a proposal from the state, that it is a genuine investment in our infrastructure and not robbing Peter to pay Paul by taking money from things like schools or communities to put then toward roads,” Triplett said. “In my mind, that’s not a solution, it’s an accounting gimmick, and it’s not going to be good for the future of the state of Michigan.”
