A plan between Independence Township and the county to fix local potholes could cost $250,000.
Independence Township Supervisor Pat Kittle said he spoke with the Road Commission for Oakland County about fixing roads in the township.
‘RCOC would provide labor and equipment and Independence Township would provide material,? Kittle explained. ‘I get phone calls and phone calls and phone calls when residents hit potholes.?
Trustee Andrea Schroeder cautioned the board, using advice she got when she was married ? she was advised to never learn anything new because then her husband would always ask her to do it.
‘This is my concern in relation to the road commission,? Schroeder said. ‘In the future, they will think we don’t have to do this for Independence Township because they will pay out of the general fund.?
Schroeder said she is also concerned the $250,000 in money spent on materials would be taken from township services or programs.
Trustee David Lohmeier agreed.
‘We may be potentially just giving them money for what they would do anyway,? Lohmeier said.
He added voter approval should be sought through a dedicated millage to fix roads, he said.
Kittle said the money would not be taken from any program or service, but instead out of the township’s $300,000-$400,000 surplus.
Trustee Ron Ritchie asked if the township would be able to pick spots that get repaired, and Kittle said RCOC indicated officials could identify problem areas.
Kittle said many stretches of road have been cold patched numerous times, so they just keep falling apart.
‘Areas in the township have gotten to the point I am deathly afraid of what those potholes will look like in the spring,” he said.
The $250,000 would fix pot holes up to four feet wide and four inch deep on about seven miles on the township’s main roads.
‘It won’t cover everything, but will help many areas on main roads like Maybee, Clarkston Waldon and Sashabaw,” he said.
Kittle previously said he would contact local asphalt companies to seek the cost of similar work, but working with the RCOC would be a much better deal.
‘I have been asked why don’t we wait and see if the May 5 Ballot proposal passes, but that is still a big ‘if’ and if it does happen, it will be another eight or nine months after it passes until we see funding from that revenue,? he said.
In May, voters will decide if the state sales tax will increase from 6 to 7 percent. If passed, the proposal would provide over $1.3 billion in funding for roads, as well as tax cuts for low-income residents, $300 million in more funding for schools and millions in dollars more funding to local governments.
Under the proposal, the tax per gallon on regular and diesel gas will drop to a standard 9.5-cents- a- gallon and top out by 2018 at 15.5-cents-a-gallon.
Lohmeier said if voters approve the proposal in May, he would reconsider the township paying for the project up front.
The trustee also said he recently learned at a conference one of the biggest things to protect roads is to keep weight limits on trucks down ? something the township already addressed by hiring a weigh master and citing truckers for violations like being overweight.
The board agreed to explore how much money in road work Independence Township is already scheduled to receive this year, and also put the item on a future agenda so the public can have input.