Town staff is recommending the Town Council appoint a citizen committee to consider funding options to address street maintenance and pavement management for the Town of Fountain Hills.

The proposal was presented to the council at its annual retreat session on Feb. 23.

Public Works Director Justin Weldy outlined the issue for the council. He said town streets represent an asset valued at $216 million that includes 390 lane miles of pavement. Currently, the town budgets $2.5 million annually for street maintenance and repair. Funding for this comes from gas tax, vehicle license tax and state shared sales taxes which go into the street fund. Weldy said all of these revenue sources do not show much, if any, in the way of potential growth while costs of street maintenance continue to grow.

Last summer, following a presentation by IMS, a pavement consultant for the town, the council agreed on desired level of pavement condition that reflects a good or better condition based on the category of street (arterial, collector or neighborhood). This was approved as part of a 10-year pavement management program.

Weldy said based on this desired level of pavement condition, IMS is recommending the town spend an additional $3 million per year on maintenance. This would maintain the “good” rating and prevent a major backlog of street failures.

Town Manager Grady Miller said the town simply does not project an additional $30 million over the next 10 years for street maintenance.

Staff reports that without additional funding, streets will cost more to maintain and will fall further behind in maintenance, resulting in costly pavement failures and repairs.

The town would task the citizen committee with researching and proposing options to generate the additional funding. They would meet with staff and IMS representatives.

A possible funding alternative is a bond proposal that would be financed through a secondary property tax for local property owners. Miller noted that while town residents have consistently rejected any proposal for a primary property tax, there seems to be some willingness to consider the secondary tax as an option. This type of funding would be directed specifically to the street work and would presumably have a specific lifespan. It was noted that the town currently has no bond indebtedness.

Mayor Ginny Dickey suggested the committee also be tasked with considering other funding options.

The goal is to have the committee appointed and ready to meet beginning in September 2021 with recommendations presented to the council by March or April of 2022. Council could consider referral of the bond question to voters for the ballot possibly in November 2022.

Cost of the bond to taxpayers would not be known until a package could be put together for voter consideration. Some clarification is also needed with regard to when such a question can be placed on a ballot; election law has some specificity regarding bond questions and whether a certain type must be presented in the fall or spring.