Ohio communities struggle to find cash to maintain roads
To save, some opt to fix cracks, potholes rather than repave.
When the city of Powell held meetings last month to discuss crumbling roads and how to pay for repairs, several residents spoke quietly in the audience about their neighborhoods.
Comments such as, “You think that’s bad, you should see my street,” could be heard from those trying to one-up each other in a kind of reverse bragging. Even City Council members acknowledged the problem.
Roads, and how they’re used, are among the highest priorities in this affluent Delaware County community of more than 13,000 residents. In a community survey this year, maintaining and repairing roads and curbs ranked just behind downtown traffic congestion as the city’s highest capital funding priority.
After much discussion, Powell council agreed to let voters decide on Nov. 6 whether to raise the city’s income tax from 0.75 percent to 1.15 percent, with a promise to spend at least a quarter of all income tax revenue on repairs and maintenance.
Other communities also are looking for solutions amid tightening budgets.
“There is a high expectation here to have very good streets,” said Rob Wetmore, engineering and GIS manager for the city of Worthington. “People will complain when it’s looking bad, even though there aren’t potholes.”
When Dan Whited became city engineer two years ago, he and Wetmore began devoting more effort to extending the lifespan of pavement, even if that meant sacrificing the smooth “ribbons of highway” to which the city was accustomed.
Crack seal, a rubberized slurry injected into pavement cracks to prevent them from widening, leaves a street laden with snakelike markings. Asphalt rejuvenation “soaks into the asphalt and keeps it more pliable,” Wetmore said.
Both applications can extend the life of roads by several years. Crack sealing costs about 50 cents per square yard, rejuvenation about 89 cents per square yard, Wetmore said. Roads can last 20 years or longer with such treatment, he said.
City officials are the stewards of government property, much like homeowners who care for their property, said Chris Runyan, president of the Ohio Contractors Association, a 500-member group of skilled trade and construction firms.
“There’s always going to be ongoing maintenance. Eventually the roof wears out, the water heater wears out ... you don’t want them to wear out all at once,” Runyan said.
That’s what happened in Powell as waves of new subdivisions were built beginning in the mid-1980s until about 2005. Developers paid for the roads, but the city was left with the maintenance.
“Proper maintenance of Powell’s infrastructure isn’t just about aesthetics,” according to a Powell citizens’ task force report. “Regular maintenance saves money over the long-term because it delays complete reconstruction of the infrastructure, improves safety and positively impacts the market value of homes and business properties.”
Powell spends less per capita on public service than most of its peer communities — about half of Westerville’s service budget and a quarter of Hilliard’s, according to data in the report from the Ohio Auditor’s office.
Some communities, including Reynoldsburg and Whitehall, hire engineering firms to help them with street maintenance, eliminating the need for a city engineer.
In densely populated Whitehall, residents have a higher tolerance for potholes in the spring, “coming out of winter with the thaw and freeze,” said Zach Woodruff, Whitehall’s director of public service. “But in the summer and fall, “they have higher expectations.”
“Aesthetics do matter,” Woodruff said. “But from a city standpoint, we’re trying to strike a balance.”