Regarding the road commission’s plan to borrow $10 million for facilities improvement.
Their proposed plan would more than double the size of the current facilities.
According to their projections it would cost $540,000 per year for the next 30 years, which by the way adds up to $16.2 million. There’s not a facility of this scope and size in any of the surrounding counties except perhaps Midland and they have Dow Chemical to thank for that.
My question is: have they completely lost their mind?
The job of the road commission is to provide safe, clear and smooth roads for the residents of Isabella County.
Do you realize what this amount of money would do for our roads? $10 million would pave well over 100 miles of hard surface roads with 250 pounds of asphalt per square yard at current prices.
This is a heavy coat and quite a few roads could be capped with 150 pounds.
I’m not advocating that this should be done. It’s just an example of what could be done. I have no idea of how many miles of dirt roads could be graveled with that much money. It might be all of them.
They say they can pay for this because of the recent increase in funding that was generated by the state passing road funding legislation in late 2015 because of our deteriorating roads and bridges and the lack of funds to adequately repair and maintain them. Please note that this funding increase says “road funding,” not new facilities or spend it anyway you want. Also please be aware that this extra money just didn’t magically fall out of the sky. It’s coming out of your pocket in the form of higher registration fees and increased gas taxes! And remember also that they don’t have enough money to fix the washed out bridges on Blanchard and Wise road.
What are they thinking?
Why in the world do they need a larger facility? They don’t have to park all their equipment inside. Look around the county at some of the larger construction companies such as McGuirk, Fisher Companies, Malley Construction and the school districts. None of them have facilities that even begin to be large enough to park all their equipment inside. Most of them just have modest economical pole barn-type structures large enough for service and maintenance.
If you check around I believe you will find that most private contractors and truckers operate in the same way.
The road commission already has a building that will hold a truck easily for repair and maintenance.
As for their office space, it most certainly is adequate.
They claim that it’s contaminated with lead and asbestos. Well here’s a news flash: everything built before 1978 is likely contaminated with lead.
That’s the year they quit putting lead in paint. I don’t think everyone in the county is tearing down all the structures built before that because they are contaminated. Lead and asbestos are no cause for concern unless your demolishing them and stirring up the dust. If it’s peeling and flaking paint, there are companies that specialize in removal and repainting and it would be an extremely modest cost compared to their proposal.
It’s always nice to have things that are bigger and better.
Most of us would love to have a bigger and better house but we don’t immediately tear down the old one and build new when we come across a little extra money.
The question for the residents and taxpayers of Isabella County is: How would you prefer your tax dollars to be spent?
- Gale Willoughby, Shepherd