Flagler considers new pavement program

The county would need to implement a new half-cent sales tax or dedicate some property tax money to fund the initiative.

Proposed repaving and resurfacing of Flagler County roadways could cost the county government $5.6 million in 2024.

A county staff-proposed Pavement Management Plan would repave 5.32 miles a year and resurface a road every 12-15 years at an average annual cost of $2.6 million, staff members told Flagler County commissioners at a July 17 workshop. The county’s share of the cost for Florida Department of Transportation projects in Flagler County would add millions more in 2024, bringing the 2024 total to $5.6 million.

To cover the $5.6 million, the commission could either dedicate four tenths of a mill from ad valorem taxes to the program or implement a halfcent discretionary sales tax.

As a small county, Flagler County is eligible to levy up to a 1% small county surtax. The county currently levies a half cent and is the only eligible county that does not levy the full 1% sales tax, County Administrator Heidi Petito said.

The sales tax would generate $9.7 million, but the revenue must be split among the county’s municipalities: Only $4.4 million would go to the county government.

Petito said that although the sales tax would generate less funding, the cost would be divided between residents and visitors, lessening the burden on property owners.

“There is a cost to delaying maintenance,” she said. “If you don’t have … some sort of a maintenance schedule and plan, you’re going to just be redoing roads.”

Commissioners directed staff to reach out to the county’s municipalities first.

Commissioner David Sullivan said similar initiatives received negative feedback in the past, so the county needs the support of local municipalities before implementing the tax or millage allocation.

“The problem to me is a publicity problem and a marketing problem,” Sullivan said. “I would like to see, if we’re going forward with this … that we have some support from Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell.”

Commissioner Donald O’Brien agreed.

“Politically, they don’t have any risk,” O’Brien said. “We have the risk.”

Road and Bridge Manager Ryan Prevatt said regular repaving would fix roads before they need total reconstruction, which costs three to five times as much as resurfacing.

“It’s about applying the right treatment, to the right road, at the right time,” Prevatt said. “There’s only been numerous benefits.”

Prevatt said the program would primarily use the asphalt mill and overlay method, which requires grinding down the top layer of asphalt, then placing a new layer to extend the life of the road.

Mill and overlay is the most expensive maintenance strategy, he said, but also provides longer road life between resurfaces and the highest return on investment.

The program would resurface roads that rate “good” or “fair” in road maintenance evaluations, Prevatt said.

An in-house Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating — or PASER — survey rated 137 of the county’s 188 lane miles as good, very good or excellent.

BY THE NUMBERS

$2.6 million would cover the average annual cost of the proposed Pavement Management Plan $5.6 million would cover the cost of the pavement plan and the county’s share of the cost for local FDOT initiatives in 2024

Four-tenths of a mill of ad valorem taxes would generate the needed $5.6 million

$4.4 million in revenue would come to the county government if the county implements a new halfcent sales tax

The ones that rate lower than “fair,” Prevatt said, need more expensive reconstruction that can be done by FDOT programs.

The county’s public works program is funded primarily through a gas tax that generates $2.5 million per year, but all of that money goes to day-to-day maintenance work, Petito said.

FDOT offers programs that cover resurfacing, but they have restrictions based on the nature of the project, the year the program was built and the county’s population size.

“As we continue to transition from a small county to a mediumsized county, we need to develop a plan while we still qualify for smallcounty funding,” Petito said.

Even state or federal grants, Petito said, require some form of funding match, and a sales tax or dedicated mill allocation would help pay for those as well.

“These are all the different challenges that we have,” Petito said. “Not just as Flagler County as it is today, but even moving forward, because we don’t have a dedicated source of revenue for our roads.”