Revenue crunch could affect city’s paving list
An expected reduction in turnback revenue from the state’s
0.50% sales tax for highway construction prevents the city from committing to completing the 2020 paving list the Hot Springs Board of Directors approved last month.
City Manager Bill Burrough told the board funding may only allow half the projects on this year’s list to be completed. The board allocated $800,000 of the city’s projected turnback revenue from the 0.50% sales tax to 2020 paving projects. The balance of the $1.1 million approved for overlays was allocated from the general fund.
The 2020 budget the board approved projected $925,000 in revenue from the sales tax. The $320,530 the tax has raised year to date is more than 8% ahead of last year’s pace, according to information provided by the city finance department. But state and local efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 are expected to depress sales tax receipts.
The primary paving list the board approved covered about
6 miles of the more than 300 miles of city-maintained streets. “What the board approved as your paving list will stay intact, however, the funding may only get us halfway down the list,” Burrough said. “We’re going to stop it there, see what the funding looks like and start it back up once we have a better picture.”
The city said Cranford Construction Co. completed work
in Green Acres Subdivision, Rocky Reef Circle, Silverspur Trail and Pinto Lane last week. Work on Brighton Place and Grigsby Point began this week. The city said Chappel Hill Road is next on the list.
City Engineer Gary Carnahan said projects are prioritized based on need and minimizing the paving contractor’s mobilization fees. Projects on the 2020 list that are not completed this year will go to the top of next year’s list, he said.
District 2 in the center of the city got the most paving projects for a second straight year, getting nine of the roughly 30 overlays on this year’s primary list. Seven projects traverse District 4 in west Hot Springs, and six are in District 3 in the west-central part of the city.
The city has said the city director district where a street is located doesn’t influence how the city allocates paving projects, noting some of the city’s most-trafficked streets, including Central, Grand and Malvern avenues and Higdon Ferry Road, are not part of the city’s street inventory. They are state rights of way beyond the city’s control.