Sanborn turns to opt-out for road work

Talk about it

FORESTBURG — Sanborn County commissioners told a small crowd Thursday night that road repairs are badly needed in the county.

Commissioner Jeff Ebersdorfer, of rural Fedora, said the county has 325 miles of gravel and asphalt roads to maintain, excluding township roads. He acknowledged that some roads don’t need repairs, but road closures are becoming a public safety issue.

“We know we can’t fix every foot of every mile,” Ebersdorfer said. “If these roads aren’t open, if they’re impassable and we need to get a fire truck or ambulance in there, it could be a major problem.”

County residents will vote Sept. 14 on a $350,000 annual opt-out of the state property tax freeze over five years. County commissioners approved the opt-out last month and chose to put the issue before voters.

The county commission conducted the last of two public meetings Thursday night at the 4-H Building in Forestburg, where seven attended.

If approved by voters, the measure will take effect Jan. 1.

Flooding since June has plagued Sanborn County roads. The hardest-hit areas have been along the James River, Sand Creek and 397th Avenue, according to Keith Senska, county board chairman from rural Woonsocket.

County officials decided to schedule an election because they thought it was fair to taxpayers, Senska said.

Sanborn County’s proposed opt-out would increase taxes on a $100,000 home by $110 a year, County Auditor Diane Larson has said.

Senska said Thursday night he would face a $123 annual increase on 160 acres with a taxable value of $112,026. The assessed value is $131,795.

A Woonsocket resident with a $66,262 home will encounter a $72.89 annual increase, he said.

Ben Zoss, a farmer who lives near Letcher, said it wouldn’t be difficult for town residents to support the optout because they would experience smaller tax increases. He said he thought landowners only should vote, because they use county roads.

“They hardly ever use our roads except during hunting season,” Zoss said of town residents.

Senska explained that road materials have escalated in cost the past five years for the highway department. Gravel rose from $58,000 to $175,000, for example.

“It’s just crazy what prices do,” he said. “We are still trying to keep up the same miles of road.”

Commissioner Perry Moody, of rural Letcher, said the county has been laying down gravel on poor spots in roads for years.

He said it cost $4,480 a mile for chip sealing a road and $80,000 a mile for asphalt overlay in 2009.

“Our theory behind this is that we’ll do a better job of taking care of our roads,” Moody said.

Senska said afterward most of the county’s roads are open, with highway department workers making temporary fixes to them with gravel. But he didn’t anticipate the repairs would be finished by winter.

Three roads are washed out southwest of Artesian, southeast of Letcher and north of Forestburg, he said.

The cost to replace culverts and rebuild the roads is probably $60,000.

Senska noted during the meeting that more farmers in the county are using semitrucks to transport their grain instead of a 2-ton truck, thus putting more wear and tear on county roads that weren’t built to handle the extra weight.

Moody said that a lot of outof-county trucks also travel on Sanborn County roads.

“Unless we get a toll booth out there, we have no way of compensating for that,” he said

Leon Fredrichs, Sanborn County Drainage Commission chairman from rural Artesian, asked about other tax revenue the county receives.

Senska replied the county generates $56,000 from a wheel tax and a little more than $200,000 from the state for excise taxes.

Wheel tax money goes right into the highway department budget.

Highway Superintendent Lee Goergen’s 2011 budget will be the same as 2010 except for the opt-out if it is approved, Senska said.

Bill Taunton, who lives on a washed-out road near Sand Creek seven miles northeast of Woonsocket, asked commissioners to consider reducing their budget by 10 percent.

“There has never been a budget that can’t be finetuned,” he said.

Ebersdorfer said commissioners will try to reduce the budget, but a 10 percent decrease would be a stretch.

“I hate to cut services to the county, but when it comes to it, we might have to,” he said. “Once a service is gone, it’s gone. It’s hard to bring it back.”

Senska said afterward the county’s 2011 provisional budget shows a $50,000 increase from 2010, partly in salary raises.

Letcher resident Mary Ackman, who attended the meeting, said afterward she would vote for the opt-out.

“I’m satisfied. I think they need more money,” she said.

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