June, 25, 1998
Road money for county carefully doled out
By Jodi Billerman
Staff Writer
Imagine having to keep watch over 374-plus miles of roads, 450 bridges, 1,500 culverts and more than 6,000 signs.
Daunting, huh?
That's exactly the responsibility with which County Engineer Jim Nimz and his 33-member staff are charged. That's all to be done with a $2.7-$2.8 million budget funded almost exclusively by gas tax revenues and county license fees.
That figure might seem large to the average citizen, but it requires careful management and evaluation of all those structures to be sure they get repaired, replaced and repaved in a timely manner, explained Nimz and Deputy Engineer Caroline Minges this week.
The county is doing very well with respect to bridges. At the current rate, area bridges are being replaced on a 44-year cycle, well within the 50-year cycle recommended.
Nimz said, ''We're not in bad shape for bridges. We can get a little behind because of a big project like the Old Fort Bridge, but we're able to keep this cycle because we're replacing smaller ones essentially with our own crews.''
Being slightly ahead of the 50-year cycle is necessary, Minges said, because, ''The standards of bridges have changed. There are some bridges that were designed for horse and carriage but are now carrying semis and very wide farm equipment.''
Still, Nimz said the department replaces bridges based on structural integrity, not wideness or load, because there may be other bridges in worse shape.
A more critical problem remains: ''The biggest problem we have is getting our county roads in shape. If it weren't for Issue 2 (Ohio state) funds, the county would be in trouble,'' Nimz said.
''As of the end of this year, we will have paved 196 miles of road, and that's including everything from 1991 through now,'' Nimz said. ''That puts us on, now, a 13-year road paving cycle.''
Which is not quite where we should be, Minges added. ''Based on normal engineering practices, roads should be paved every 10 years. That's based on the materials' life expectancy.''
Unfortunately, there's just not enough money in that budget to hit each road every 10 years. So Nimz has to make do by sealing the roads, using a roller to embed stone in a thinly-spread layer of tar.
The seal fills cracks in the pavement, keeping out water, frost and debris and helping to prevent further deterioration. Normally roads are sealed only once, at around six to seven years after original paving, but some of Seneca's roads are sealed twice, or even three times.
Minges said, ''We rely very heavily on seals, which a lot of counties won't mess with at all. Bigger communities have the money to just go ahead and hot-mix them. But seals are very accepted in rural counties because that's they only way they get by.''
Nimz also tries to stretch the county dollar by applying for every available grant.
Last year, his office received $10,579,155 in other sources of funding, such as federal programs, the Ohio Department of Transportation money, Secondary Road Funds, and contributions from the Ottawa-Sandusky-Seneca Solid Waste District.
''We're not sitting still, If we don't go after the grants, it comes out of our budget,'' Nimz said.
Minges added, ''Or it just doesn't get done.''
Nimz and Minges aren't asking the public for additional funding.
Nimz said, ''When I took office, I agreed I would not initiate any taxes and would provide the best service possible with the funds available. I feel we've done that.''
However, he said, ''There are 174 miles of road still unpaved, and we basically don't have the funds to provide that service based on 1980 dollars, which is when the gas tax and license fees were last increased.''
Basically, he said, it's up to citizens to decide if they are satisfied with the level of service the budget provides.
Anyone dissatisfied with that service is welcome to form a grass-roots organization to add a permissive tax on license fees, which would go directly to the county.
''We would support any citizens' group that had an interest in pursuing additional funding, and we'd be glad to work with them, but as promised, I won't initiate it,'' Nimz said.
''I have no problem providing what we are,'' he said, ''If people are satisfied, we'll continue to provide in the future what we've done in the past.''
Even the 13-year cycle might become impossible if oil prices or other costs go up, Nimz said.
''That 13 years is if funding, costs and everything else stays the same &emdash; and that's a pretty big if. Costs usually go up.''