Supes finalize roads for short-term borrowing

Details on $5.7 million in short-term borrowing for roads approved in October was outlined by the Board of Supervisors last week.

The list includes:

• In Madison: Bozeman Road ($175,000), Old Mannsdale ($200,000), St. Augustine ($400,000), Pebble Creek ($50,000), Old Canton (South of St. Augustine) ($50,000).
• In Ridgeland: Steed Road ($230,000), School Street and Perkins ($300,000), Ridgeland Avenue ($250,000), Dinsmore Subdivision ($100,000).

• In Flora: Center Street, Jones Street, Clayton Street, Hawkins Boulevard, Second Street ($650,000 total).

• In Canton: Martin Luther King Drive ($190,000).

Supervisors set the projected completion date for all of the above road projects of Aug. 30, 2020.

The county also in October approved $8.4 million in long-term borrowing.

To calculate that total, supervisors have appointed dollar amounts to six different projects:

• $300 for Reunion Parkway (Phase II)

• $1.2 million for Reunion Parkway (Phase III)

• $3.2 million for Bozeman Road

• $185,000 for King Ranch Road

• $500,000 for Catlett Road

• $3 million for various buildings



The $3 million for buildings, District 5 Supervisor Paul Griffin said, could be used if the county decided to construct a building to house a driver's license testing station or a new courthouse, for example.

"What we ultimately do with that $3 million will be determined by the majority of the board," Griffin said. "But it will go into buildings."

Griffin said the board plans to spend more than $7 million on roads before the the current board's end of term on Jan. 1. That money, he said, will go towards infrastructure projects to be determined by supervisors.

State law restricts spending on road projects to less than 25 percent of the total annual budget in the final three months of every board term in order to limit financial commitments for future boards.

By issuing these bonds in October, the current county board raised the amount of that 25 percent figure in order to get more work started before January.

"Everyone has their wish list," Griffin said. "But we definitely need to include drainage in that, because Madison is becoming an urban county with more concrete, more asphalt and definitely more water problems."

The next board term will include a new supervisor for District 4, where Democrat Karl Banks will replace Republican David Bishop after defeating Jim Harreld in the general election earlier this month. That election, however, is being challenged.

During the past four years, county supervisors have issued multiple short-term and long-term bonds to finance dozens of road projects throughout the county, from simple neighborhood overlay projects to battling the flooding issues on Weisenberger Road.

The $14.1 million in borrowing supervisors approved increased the budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 to $121 million, nearly $24 million more than the 2018-2019 budget.