As City Council may recall, the 2010/2011 Street Improvements Project was completed on September 20, 2011. The cost of the project was funded with local option gas tax dollars (LOGT) and assessments to the direct benefiting property owners. Historically, this process for funding was performed for all street improvements projects. City Council would meet as a Board of Equalization (BOE) to determine what percent the property owners would be assessed. Typically the BOE approved a 50% reduction to property owners and approve the expenditure of LOGT dollars to pay for the remaining 50%. Subsequent to the BOE approval of the cost allocation, the BOE would approve the payment process. The payment process would allow each resident two options of payment. The first was payment in full once the property owner received an invoice from the City, the second option available was to payback the assessed amount to the City over 10 years with interest.
Street improvement projects were limited due to the funds collected thru the LOGT process and the majority of property owners paying their assessment thru the loan process. The loan process meant more funding for the street improvement projects were being expedited by the City than the reimbursement of funds from past projects. This process of assessing property owners for each street improvement project was time consuming for the residents being assessed, City Council, and staff; this extended time, used for public hearings and assessment role creations lead to increase construction cost as well. The whole process meant that the design for the projects would be performed during the Assessment phase and construction would performed in year two or three. Three years to complete a street improvement project meant that even though the City had a street improvement program in place it was deficient as the existing road system deteriorated at a faster pace than road improvements could be performed. Another compounding issue to the deficient street improvement program as City Council is aware; during the great recession street improvement projects were placed on hold in an effort to City property owners as much relief as possible from increase cost. LOGT dollars were also used to fund the Street Maintenance Division and the remaining funds were used to reconstruct roads that were damaged during the summer storm events in 2015 and the construction of Plathe Road and the River Walk Multi-Use Path.
Subsequent to staff review of the existing street improvement program and the 2015 Roadway Needs Assessment Report, it was determined an alternate approached for this type of infrastructure improvement was needed to meet the goals recommended in the report and continue to be sustainable.
The 2015 Roadway Needs Assessment Introduction states that "high quality transportation systems are essential to a thriving community. Roadways are integrated into the fabric of America and their maintenance has become a significant responsibility of local government. In response to this obligation, the engineering community has developed pavement management systems to assist decision makers in finding optimum strategies for providing, evaluating, and maintaining pavements in a serviceable condition over a period of time." To accomplish these goals, staff utilized the consulting services of the Genesis Group. Their task as directed by staff, was to supply the staff with technical assistance in support of the City Manager's effort to allocate the annual roadway maintenance cost, explore different alternatives to apportion the maintenance costs and provide the associated computations. Recommendations from the Genesis Group were supplied to the City and are as follows:
· 20-year maintenance cycle.
· 3.47 miles of roadway restoration annually.
· $1.7 million expenditure for capital and Street division operating maintenance.
· Assessment annual collection method $1,275,000.00 - non-ad valorem and $425,000 local option gas tax dollars.
· Equivalent Assessment Unit (EAU) based on parcel acreage and Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) based on the vehicular trips generated by the parcel process used for assessing property owners.
Should City Council approve the pavement management plan and assessment methodology, it is staff's opinion based on the 2015 Roadway Needs Assessment Report, the Street Paving Assessment Methodology Report, and the Genesis Street Assessment Methodology memo dated June 15, 2016 that the proposed program is sustainable, fair and equitable to the property owners who will benefit from an improved roadway system, increased property values, and a reduction in vehicle repair bills directly related to roadway conditions. In addition, the proposed collection method ensures funding will be available to perform the street improvements and everyone pays into the system versus a few.