FULTON TOWNSHIP — The Fulton Town Board knows it doesn’t have an easy sell to make in Tuesday’s referendum.
“You say 62 percent, and they about have a heart attack,” Chairman Evan Sayre said.
But that’s how much the town needs to raise its levy to repair roads and avoid more costs down the line, he said.
The town board is asking residents to approve that increase at Tuesday’s primary election, in time for the town to incorporate the increase in its 2009 budget.
Under state law, a municipality can raise its tax levy by only 2 percent or the percentage of new growth in the community in 2009 unless it holds a referendum.
In Fulton, that means the board could raise its levy by about $10,000, Sayre said.
That doesn’t even come close to the increasing cost of road maintenance, he said. Road maintenance and snow removal made up almost a quarter of the town’s 2008 budget.
The cost of road maintenance, especially the price of asphalt, has risen dramatically over the last four years, said Ben Coopman, Rock County Public Works director. Fulton contracts with Rock County for its road maintenance.
In 2008 alone, the cost to pave 1 mile of road with a 2-inch layer of asphalt has gone up 20 percent, from $67,000 to about $80,000. The cost is now almost double what it was in 2004, and the county doesn’t expect it to drop anytime soon, Coopman said.
Officials blame the rising costs on the price of oil.
“All you’re doing is buying oil, and that’s about what the price of oil has gone up in the last few years, 62 percent,” Sayre said.
The town should repave between 3 and 3½ miles a year to keep its 63 miles of road in good repair, Sayre said. But this year, the town could afford to finish repaving only a 2.75-mile stretch of Kidder Road that it started last year.
The town hopes to repave 2½ or 3 miles next year, but the total could be more or less depending on the price of asphalt and whether the referendum passes, Clerk Connie Zimmerman said.
An analysis from the Wisconsin Information System for Local Roads found more than half the township’s roads are in “poor” or “fair” condition, though very few are in “very poor” or “failed” condition.
Those roads will get only worse—and more expensive to fix—if the town ignores them, Sayre said.
“If you don’t deal with the problem now and we’ve got to deal with it five years from now, you can just multiply (the cost),” he said.
The town estimates the increased levy will add $116 in taxes on a $100,000 home. That homeowner paid $183 in taxes in 2008 and will pay about $299 in 2009 if the referendum passes.
Sayre believes residents understand the need to fix the roads, even in today’s tough economy.
“It’s kind of hard times, but it’s never a good time to spend a lot of money,” he said.