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BISBEE — A $1.3 million shortfall in state funding has caused the staff of the Cochise County Highway and Flood Department to scale back on some projects that were planned during last year’s budget talks.
Bennie Young, the department’s director, is anticipating taking a $600,000 loss in Highway User Revenue Funds and $200,000 in vehicle license tags. Add in the $500,000 in reduced cash balance from the end of the 2007-08 fiscal year and the need to drop some projects becomes clear.
He told the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that 80 lane miles of chip-sealing would have to be dropped from the list, but not just because of loss of funding. Costs for asphalt have skyrocketed, he told the supervisors.
“In order to do 80 lane miles, it will cost $904,000,” he said.
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Another reason for dropping some projects is the work load.
“Field operations normally does a lot of the preparatory work months before the actual chip-sealing takes place and existing staff cannot get that done for the 80 lane miles and keep the rest of the work plan intact,” he added.
He plans to drop all major reconstructive projects and try to get by with patching and crack-sealing some county roads. That should save the county around $600,000.
Projects totaling $700,000 were dropped including one Dragoon Road Culvert, the impact fee study, work at the intersection of Moson and Thuma roads, and some right-of-way acquisitions on Moson Road.
A project in Pearce Townsite was salvaged thanks to auction proceeds from the sale of county land.
The supervisors have the option of using their discretionary funds for special projects in their districts. Supervisor Richard Searle will use it for work needed on Pomerene Cemetery Road while Supervisor Pat Call has earmarked his for a multi-use path extension on Cherokee Avenue.
Supervisor Paul Newman, who represents District 2, has requested his funds be used to deal with flooding issues in Pirtleville.
During the call to the public, Mike Rohrbach, a member of the appointed recycling advisory committee, said he feels the county made a mistake in granting a special-use permit for a recycling center at the Waste Management Inc. site in Whetstone. He sees Waste Management as a competitor for recycled materials and is concerned that the county won’t be able to achieve its recycling objectives with two waste streams.
The county is in negotiations with Huachuca City to lease the old materials recycling facility. The plans are to bring the recyclables to the facility, bale it and sell it to industries who separate out the various materials.
He also asked why the committee was being disbanded when there was plenty of work to do in the recycling effort.
After the meeting, Call said the committee was charged with a narrow focus dealing with the feasibility study. The survey was completed some time ago. Committee members also were asked to act as liaisons with their communities to provide recommendations to the county.
“It may be time to put them on a shelf for a while and have one or two meetings over the next year to bring them up to date on what’s going on. They have performed their task and we appreciate their help and their time,” Call said.
The county supervisor doesn’t see a problem with Waste Management entering the recycling arena and emphasized the county could not have stopped the special-use permit process whether the Planning Department knew about the county’s plans for a program or not. The company’s request complies with county codes.
“I look at this two ways. First, we’re not in the business of stifling private enterprise. I’m not sure just what the downside is if Waste Management starts a recycling program. Just because a county provides a service doesn’t mean it can stop other business from providing that same service,” Call said.
Waste Management hauls trash from Fort Huachuca and some rural customers.
“And this is good news,” Call said. “I applaud all recycling efforts. All of a sudden there are two recycling efforts where there was only one. And recycling centers across the country are closing because the market has dropped considerably. This may not be the right time for us to launch a recycling program.”
Either way, space is saved in the landfill, saving taxpayer money by extending the life of the cell now in use.
In other business Tuesday, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors:
• Approved the two-year appointments to the local Workforce Investment Board of Dr. Richard Rundhaug and Harley Smith and the four-year appointments of Robert Shepard and Eva Escalante.
• Approved new speed limits for Fort Grant Road. Within the Willcox city limits from mile post 0.60 to 0.70 the speed limit will be 45 mph. From milepost 0.7 to 14.89, the speed limit will be set at 55 mph.
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
Taxed Out wrote on Dec 10, 2008 9:43 PM: