June 4, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Highway Department needs a new piece of equipment and Road Supervisor Danny Hale is asking for some help from the county to purchase it.
During a meeting Wednesday evening, Hale addressed the county budget committee to request funds to buy a pneumatic roller in doing work on tar and chip roads. He said a pneumatic roller would be much more effective than the department’s existing steel wheel roller in packing down roads. The cost is expected to be around $95,000 which is the equivalent of two cents of the property tax rate.
Should the request be approved, the county could either increase its annual allocation of the property tax rate for the highway department by 2 cents or make a one- time expenditure from the capital projects fund. In the past the county has helped previous road supervisors fund equipment purchases. Hale said he would appreciate the county extending the same courtesy to him because the equipment is badly needed.
“I really need this piece of equipment pretty badly on some of our roads to make them right. A pneumatic roller is better for putting down these tar and chip roads. All we have ever had over there is a steel wheel roller which is fine for paving but not for tar and chip A pneumatic roller is better for packing all rock when you put them down,” he said.
Hale reviewed with the committee how that costs of materials continue to increase and the impact COVID 19 may have on his budget. “We know for a fact because of COVID we will be pulling in a lot less revenue because gas and diesel sales statewide are down by 20%”. He also shared with the committee how that some adjoining counties allocate more property tax rate pennies to their road departments than DeKalb.
While the vast majority of the budget for local roads is funded by state allocations from the fuel tax and the bridge and state aid programs, the state requires the county to fund basically a local match referred to as a 5 year average. The county currently provides 4 cents of the property tax rate to help fund roads along with collections from a mineral severance tax.
The budget committee took no action on Hale’s request Wednesday night.
The county budget committee is made up of members Jeff Barnes, Anita Puckett, Sabrina Farler, and Jerry Adcock. All were present for the Wednesday night meeting. Last week County Mayor Tim Stribling announced during the regular monthly meeting of the county commission that he was appointing Dr. Scott Little to fill a vacancy on the budget committee. Stribling also appointed Barnes as chairman of the committee. But since no commission vote was taken to confirm the appointments, a special called conference call meeting of the county commission will be held Monday night, June 8 at 6:45 p.m. to make the appointments official, subject to a favorable vote. WJLE will broadcast the meeting LIVE. During Wednesday night’s meeting, the budget committee appointed Barnes to serve as temporary chairman in the meantime.