HUMBOLDT — Cole Herder pulled no punches Saturday morning.
In a session for public discussion of a half-cent sales tax voters will decide Nov. 5, City Administrator Herder was starkly honest about the need: “I’d tell you every day we have terrible streets.”
He was just as forthright about the solution: “It’s chip and seal, all we can afford.” If voters approve the sales tax increase.
B&G Consultants, Emporia, did an extensive survey of the town’s streets. Conclusion was the best approach would be new concrete streets, at a whopping cost of $20.65 million. Asphalt replacement was pegged at $12 million, and a combination of asphalt pavement and improvements was put at $8.6 million.
The estimate for chip-seal surfacing was $2.24 million.
All told, Humboldt has 48.8 lane miles of streets. Of those, three-fourths are in need of immediate attention. Ninth Street, old U.S. 169, that runs the north-south length of town and Bridge Street, from Ninth to the west city limit, are the wards of Allen County.
If the half-cent sales tax is approved it will bring an additional $120,00 annually for the next 10 years.
The plan is to chip-seal streets throughout Humboldt over a four-year period, and spend the fifth year on maintenance concerns. Then, a second four-year stint will resume.
Drainage improvements will be part of the deal.
HUMBOLDT STREETS have deteriorated for years.
Until 2007, Allen County road crews upgraded a number of streets with the chip-seal process, which entails laying a thick coat of hot, thick oil followed by small-diameter rock that is compressed by a roller to make the two one.
Herder took the administrator reins five years ago, not long after voters rejected 2-to-1 a quarter-center sales tax for road improvements. He found the city’s budget on the cusp of bankruptcy. “We had $36,000 in cash at the end of 2013. The auditor said we had to make changes or we weren’t going to make it.?
Humboldt increased utility rates and increased property taxes to fatten those funds.
“Today we have $500,000 in reserves.” That’s enough to run the city about 45 days; the standard is 90 days for safe financial footing.
In addition to the sales tax, Humboldt would have about $50,000 a year in gasoline tax distribution money from the state and a smidgen in general fund money.
