KINGSVILLE, Tx — The city of Kingsville’s most recent commissioners agenda included an item calling for additional funding for street maintenance. That’s because crews worked on the streets downtown back in February.
At the time, the money to pay for that work was taken out of the street department's budget. Now, that money has to be moved back into their budget to be able to work on other streets.
“We added that concrete overlay, so we knew we had to pay for that. I knew I had it in the fund balance, but while we did it, we just made the street department pay for it out of their normal budget, which would have gone for other streets. So now we’re just taking money out of the fund balance and bringing it forward and saying okay now we are all square,” Kingsville City manager Mark McLaughlin said.
Lifelong resident and college student Jacob Gonzalez said he understands why funds were moved around and was thankful they were.
“I was there when it was under construction, and it needed a lot of work. They also have the parade out here as well, so there would be massive potholes we would march in for the marching band,” Gonzalez said.
The City of Kingsville has a street maintenance plan. That plan is funded from the street user fee. That fee is paid for by residents who have a utility account with the city. This fiscal year, city leaders estimated $1 million in funding for street repairs.
With current street work there will be no change to what residents pay. But there could be a change soon for a different reason.
“For next year, we actually have a slight increase due to inflation. The cost of materials has gone up so much,” McLaughlin said.
That increase will go toward residents who pay their monthly utility fees. Instead of paying six dollars a month, they will pay eight.
Streets around the courthouse are currently being worked on. But Gonzalez said he’d like to see work done a little closer to home.
“It’s just the neighborhoods that have huge potholes, and they’re all weird,” Gonzalez said.
McLaughlin said that neighborhood work is set to happen. It just might not be next in line. The city’s Pavement Condition Index Number as well as regular eye witnessing determines what streets will get worked on first and in what order the rest follow.
McLaughlin said if crews are already working on a street and a street adjacent to it is also in need of repairs, they could re-arrange the order to take care of it while crews are already in the area.
Many streets have needed full depth construction, meaning streets have to be taken apart to be given a fresh new look. There have been three miles of street work done this fiscal year.
“If we have a really bad street and there’s nothing on it, it will be a lower priority when I have people who live on streets that are just as much in need,” McLaughlin said.
Streets around the courthouse are set to be completed by September, with the fiscal year ending in six weeks.
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