By Kim McDarison
The Fort Atkinson City Council authorized on Tuesday the release of city funds to the Jefferson County Road Aid Fund, a matching funds program designed to allow cities to make use of county work crews for work done on city streets.
In a memo to council, City Engineer Andy Selle noted that the county’s road aid program has been in place since 2005 and the city began making contributions to the fund in 2015.
According to Selle, the program allows municipalities to contribute cash to the account based upon total length of streets within their jurisdiction. The county then matches the contribution, effectively doubling the contribution’s value.
The city has approximately 62 miles of roads within its jurisdiction, he said.
In a followup interview, Selle told Fort Atkinson Online that the city began making contributions in 2015, and, after making contributions from 2016 to 2019, the available county road aid balance that could be used by the city was approximately $48,000. In 2019, he said, the city expended its available funds held within the program, utilizing county crews to pave White Street to Chippewa Court and a section of Whitewater Avenue south of Third Street.
After that work was completed, Selle said, the fund showed a balance of zero. Since then, the city has continued to make contributions of about $6,000 annually, and, with the the addition of county-matched funding, the balance has grown each year by $12,000.
On Tuesday, council approved a contribution made by the city of $6,191. Monies will come from the city’s 2021 Street Program budget, which, Selle said, currently has a balance of approximately $600,000.
In 2020, Selle said, council approved approximately $6,000, which was matched by the county, making the balance just over $12,000. After the county matches the contribution approved Tuesday, he said, a balance of approximately $24,000 will become available to the city in 2022.
The city would not likely expend this money again until the balance reaches about $48,000, he said.
In a separate action on Tuesday, remaining monies within the 2021 Street Program budget were approved for expenditure as part of the city’s $1.784 million project to replace surface asphalt on several city streets. the work will be done this year. (See related story: https://fortatkinsononline.com/several-city-roads-approved-for-surface-asphalt-repair-or-replacement/.)
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