There was another article in the Journal on a possible street light assessment in the future. The comments after the article made it clear to me that people don’t understand how this process works.
Duke is approaching us to convert the lights to LED. One of the ways they keep costs down is to conserve energy so they don’t have to build additional plants, etc., to supply the area. The cost saving of using LED street lights, at least with the initial calculations, are more than the costs of conversion.
What that means is that we will borrow the money to convert the lights to LED. We will take out a fairly short term loan. During the loan period, the cost savings in electricity by using LED lighting will pay not only for the loan payment but also add additional savings on our electric costs for street lights. Once the loan is paid off, we will get the entire benefit of the LED conversion cost savings for the life of the poles. It is a win for Duke in conserving energy, a win for the city in reduced costs for street lights, and a win for the residents as the freed up funding can be redirected to other priorities.
There were a couple of other comments about the city not doing any paving. The Central Avenue paving project was over $3 million. Verity Parkway was over $1 million. The widening of Oxford State and the extension of Yankee Road cost over $ 7 million.
Here are the Capital Projects in the 2017 budget:
General Capital Fund:
Local Street Paving $ 1,200,000 (See below for streets)
Gateway Enhancements (I-75) $ 75,000
Yankee Road – Phase 3 $3,980,000
Traffic/Parks/Buildings $ 205,000
Total: $5,460,000
Water Fund:
Water Facility Upgrades $ 100,000
Yankee Road – Phase 3 $2,000,000
Kensington Pump Station Upgrade $ 500,000
Meter Replacement Contract $ 80,021
GIS Improvements $ 10,000
Total: $2,690,021
Sewer Fund:
WWTP Upgrades $ 500,000
System Replacement $ 690,000
Long Term Control Plan $ 990,000
Meter Replacement Contract $ 80,021
GIS Improvements $ 10,000
Total: $2,270,021
Storm Water Fund:
Yankee Road Imp. – Phase 3 $700,000
Local Street Paving $250,000
Gateway Drainage $ 75,000
System Replacement Program $ 50,000
NPDES Compliance $ 50,000
Total: $1,125,000
Below are the local streets we intend to pave in 2017:
OPWC Funded Paving Project Estimated Cost = $1.45M plus assessments for sidewalk, curb and gutter
Central Avenue between Breiel Boulevard and Marshall Road
Main St. between 11th Avenue and 18th Avenue
Kensington Street between Central Avenue and Grand Avenue
Wicklow Drive between Limerick Lane and Cambridge Drive
Limerick Lane (all)
Poppy Drive (all)
Heinkel Road between Poppy Drive and Central Avenue
City Crew Paving Estimated Cost (gas tax fund) = $300K plus assessments for sidewalk, curb and gutter
Philadelphia Ave. (all)
Carolina St. between Roosevelt and Burbank
Shelley St. (all)
El Camino Dr. (all)
Ocala Dr. (all)
Catalina Dr. (all)
We are also budgeting to replace the roof at the city building, the roof at the Community Center and to rebuild one of the two chillers that service the City building.
There was a nice article in the Wall Street Journal a couple months ago discussing paving shortages nationwide: Local Highway Drivers Bear Brunt of Road Funding Gap (WSJ Aug 24, 2016). In that article, it was noted that nationwide, roughly 35% of non-interstate urban roads are in poor condition. We are closer to 46% in Middletown, but the problem of failing to pave is a nationwide problem, not just Middletown.
I can’t do it all at once, but city staff and your City Council are working very hard to return us to sustainably paving every year. It’s a big hole to dig out of and it will take a lot of time and money and effort to get all of our roads back in decent shape again.
