County engineer provides testimony
Auglaize County Engineer Doug Reinhart submitted written testimony to the Ohio legislature to increase local government force accounts in the transportation budget. County commissioners on Tuesday made phone calls to local state legislators to support the effort as well.
Reinhart said when the motor vehicle tax was increased in 2003 force account limits were also increased. He feels with the motor vehicle tax increase last year, it is time to increase that amount again.
“The last time the Ohio General Assembly increased the force account limits was 2003 and for one reason or another, construction inflation began in 2004 at double digit rates. Over the past 18 years, this increase has drastically reduced the size of the road or bridge improvement local governments can complete with their own forces,” Reinhart said.
He showed that the cost of asphalt had tripled since the last time force account limits were increased and other construction costs have doubled.
“My predecessor began precasting concrete bridge beams in 1967 with county forces to address the need for replacing short span bridges in this county. Since I became county engineer in 1984, we further streamlined the casting operations and in 1997 began casting three-sided concrete boxes with up to a 16-foot wide opening to address the multitude of WPA-era bridges in excess of 60 years of age,” Reinhart said. “With the money saved from each structure, we were able to construct another bridge that year or move those dollars towards the cost of matching either Ohio Public Works or federal grants of the much larger structures that were contracted out.
“As a result of this aggressive force account work, out of the 348 bridges under this department’s jurisdiction, Auglaize County is one of the few counties in Ohio that has no bridges closed or posted for legal load restrictions,” he continued. “School buses, farm to market and fire/rescue equipment can traveling freely throughout Auglaize County with no restrictions. Organizations against increasing force account limits have accused this department of purchasing the bridge equipment at Auglaize County taxpayer’s expense so I can have “toys.” With that said, I have attached an analysis of all the equipment purchased by this department from 1986 through 2020 for use in our force account bridge improvements.” He explained that from 1986 to 2020 the $1,390,618 in equipment purchases cost county taxpayers $3,257 per structure to own the equipment necessary to support the program.
Similarly, Reinhart said, the department has aggressively completed road improvements using county forces. As a result, all 349 miles of county maintained roadways have been resurfaced with hot mix several times and 99% of the system have pavement widths of 20’-feet or wider.
The vast majority of the increased revenue generated by the fuel tax increase approved by the 133rd General Assembly and the governor, is being dedicated for roadway resurfacing being contracted out to better increase pavement conditions.
Even with the aggressive force account program in the county, each year well over a million dollars’ worth of projects are bid out to contractors.
In 2021, Reinhart said, more than $2 million in road and bridge projects (31% of the estimated 2021 budget) will be bid and awarded by the Auglaize County commissioners and paid for from the department’s funds.
In 2022, along with an estimated $1.5 million dollar paving bid, one bridge with a $1 million price tag will also be let by the commissioners.
Counties will still be letting millions of dollars in contract projects for the much larger improvements, Reinhart said.
The $225 million in bonds annually purchased by the State and the $60 million in gas tax revenue distributed by the Ohio Public Works Commission all goes to the contracting community along with the hundreds of millions of dollars let annually by ODOT. Most importantly, the raising of the force account limits will not cost the taxpayers of Ohio a penny.