As the Minneola Interchange and the Wekiva Parkway become fully functional in the coming years, Lake County officials acknowledge they do not have a funding source to widen some of the connecting roads to accommodate the growing traffic.
What’s more, county officials say they simply do not have a revenue source to begin road capacity projects, finish a number of current ones and resurface 100 miles of roads in critical shape.
County officials warn if there is not another funding source for transportation, roads will deteriorate at a pace where it will become more costly for the county.
“When you need to resurface roads or pave roads that is a challenge,” said Jim Stivender, the county’s public works director. “The cash flow is not there to enhance the road program.”
Lake County Commissioner Welton Cadwell said the county should consider looking at other revenue sources for resurfacing roads and capacity projects, such as an additional 5-cent gas tax or take revenue for roads from the county’s general fund.
“We can’t rely on past funding sources by themselves to maintain the roads we already have,” he said.
The Capital Facilities Advisory Committee, which is tasked with making recommendations to the Lake County Commission, recommended two years ago that the county allocate funding for capacity projects from an additional 5-cent gas tax and revenue from the general fund.
Commission Chairman Sean Parks agreed that the county needed to look at other revenue sources for roads.
“We need to consider it and I would like to get input from the cities,” he said. “Some of our roads are starting to age and we are going to have to find a way to resurface them in the coming years. We need to consider a portfolio of funding options such as MSBU’s.”
There are currently only three sources of funding for resurfacing of roads and capacity projects: a local gas tax of 6 cents, where the revenue is split between the county and its 14 municipalities, a 1-cent sales tax, where the revenue is divided equally between the county, the school board and the cities, and impact fees.
“You truly do not have an adequate funding source in north Lake,” said T.J. Fish, executive director of the Lake-Sumter MPO. “At least we have a gleam of hope in south Lake where the impact fee has been set at an amount that is almost keeping pace, whereas in north Lake that is not the case at all.”
Fish said Lake County has adopted all of its gas taxes except for the additional 5-cent local gas tax.
“By state statute this is the last option the County Commission can choose,” he said. “The tax is per gallon, not per dollar. It is still a nickel per gallon.”
Fish added only those using the roads would be taxed if the commission approved the additional 5-cent gas tax.
“At the local level our road infrastructure is deteriorating at a rate we are not keeping up with,” he said.
If nothing is done, Fish said projects are going to increase in cost.
“Every single property owner benefits from a county road serving them,” he said.
Stivender said the current funding source is not adequate because while more people are traveling the roads, it puts more wear and tear on them at the same time. He added road construction is up 233 percent.
County officials said they do not have funding to complete capacity projects such as Citrus Grove Road, south of the new Minneola Interchange set to open in 2017, County Road 466A, a top priority project in the county that connects Lake and Sumter counties cutting through The Villages.
“We are $7 million short,” from completing CR 466A, Stivender said.
Further, there is no funding to widen Rolling Acres in Lady Lake or Round Lake Road, connecting to the Wekiva Parkway.
County roads are also continuing to age.
The roads in the county are rated on a numbering system, with a lower number indicating a more severe condition.
The estimated cost to resurface the ‘4’ rated roads in the county is $9.2 million, public works officials stated.
Overall, the total cost to improve the roads in the area of critical concern is $42 million.
Commissioner Jimmy Conner said if an additional 5-cent gas tax is implemented he would like to see a corresponding tax decrease.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Leslie Campione said she had reservations about using additional revenue sources.
“My focus would be using the money we have as efficiently as possible,” she said. “I think you have to keeping finding more efficient ways to get the job done. If the economy is strong we should have money to work with from the existing sources we have. When you have a specific project the community wants to get done we need to reach out to the community.”
Through a partnership with the community, the county can explore creative sources of funding road projects such as a special assessment or MSBU, according to Campione.