OPINION — When will town leaders fess up to the real problem with our streets? Some are 50 years old. It costs money to repair them. And that’s the problem.
All science-based consultant studies clarified the need to fix the right streets, at the right time, with the right repair, and in the right order. I understand to do so means the town must obligate more than $5M per year in order to manage the problem, not really fix the problem. Every street report starts with: “Over time, every street continues to deteriorate”. Just because it’s fixed this year doesn’t mean you can ignore it thereafter, as the town has done for decades. It’s called backlog. To keep up with the overall system condition, the Town must both maintain, and fix, its streets.
We’ve been lucky the town had a windfall of federal COVID funds that it sunk into the need. In the last 10 years, it has spent down funding reserves by applying much of it to streets. The town has even taken from its capital fund of money used for roofs, chillers, parks, lake and fountain needs to fix some streets. As a result, the town so far has met the $5M+ need. But those days will soon be over.
