At its regular session on Sept. 15, the Town Council approved nearly $1.8 million for the annual street maintenance plan for Fountain Hills.

This is the second year of a four-year stretch that work will be done in Zone 1, the neighborhoods across the northern part of town north of Palisades Boulevard and roughly east of Golden Eagle Boulevard.

Last year the major collector streets had asphalt replaced with mill and overlay. This year there will be additional mill and overlay on neighborhood streets.

Staff has decided that certain collector and residential streets require the top layer of asphalt to be replaced.

Due to budget limitations the work in Zone 1 has been spread out over four budget years. In the 2017-2018 Fiscal year there will be additional mill and overlay done and in 2018-2019 slurry seal will be put down.

Councilman Alan Magazine said he is very concerned about the maintenance effort, particularly funding.

“Our roads situation is intolerable,” Magazine said. “The Council has indicated that fixing our roads is one of the top two priorities for our town, but we are making very little progress, and the future looks bleak.

“The town has been divided into seven zones. Fixing the roads in Zone I was originally to take two years and cost $1 million. Now we are being told that it will take four years at a cost of $6 million in today’s dollars.

“That means that zones 2-7 will deteriorate further before we can get to them, and the cost is likely to be prohibitive. We must take this very seriously.”

Due to the extended time in a single area of town other street work is being deferred, and according to Public Works Director Paul Mood, the condition of the pavement continues to deteriorate.

Town Manager Grady Miller is recommending the town hire a consultant to provide a study of the pavement conditions to better set priorities.

“(The asphalt) was previously rated for a longer life,” Miller said. “They are deteriorating faster than expected. This is a greater challenge than we expected.”

He also said he is recommending a council study session to discuss the pavement maintenance and revenue to fund the work. He said that meeting could be set for November. He does not want to wait until the council budget retreat after the first of the year.

“We need to start work on budget planning this as soon as possible,” Miller said.

The council approved the cooperative purchase agreement for pavement maintenance with M.R. Tanner for $1,796,753.