Washington Co. Roads 2008

8/8/2019 Washington Co. Roads 2008

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Gravel Roads in Washington County:

An analysis of the condition, engineering solutions, and policy

options for sustaining the gravel road system.

Section I: Problem Analysis

Prepared for

Washington County Board of Supervisors

Prepared by

David Patterson, Washington County Engineer

Jake Hotchkiss, Lyle Moen, Jeremy McLaughlin


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Problem StatementHigh costs and flat revenues, increased vehicle weights, and increases in rural traffic volumeshave created conditions on the gravel road system in Washington County that are quicklybecoming unacceptable to residents. While any one of these changes: financial, increasedweight, or traffic issues could probably be handled by the system under its current allocation ofresources, the combination of all three has tipped the system into a downward spiral that willbecome irreparable if changes are not made. Under its current allotment of resources, the gravelroad system has reached a point where damage is being done faster than can be repaired.

Funding ShortfallDramatically increasing costs associated with maintaining the gravel road system have placedSecondary Roads Department in a very difficult financial situation. Cost increases haveoutpaced all revenue sources for many consecutive years.

The most typical example of this funding shortfall is seen in the relation between the cost ofgravel and the local property tax returned to the Secondary Roads Department. Figure 1 shows

money raised through local property tax as compared to money spent on gravel over the past 10years. As the cost and need for gravel has increased, a substantially larger percent of localrevenue is being spent on gravel. More gravel is being hauled today than ever in the past. At thesame time, it is more expensive than ever. Over the past 10 years, the percent of property taxspent on gravel has increased from 45% to nearly 75%.


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Gravel Cost vs. Property Tax Revenue

$0

$200,000

$400,000

$600,000

$800,000

$1,000,000

$1,200,000

$1,400,000

$1,600,000

$1,800,000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Year

Gravel Cost

Prop Tax to Sec Roads

Gravel Cost Trend

Prop Tax to Sec Roads

Gravel costs have increased139% over the past 10 years(13.9% per year)

Property tax revenue hasincreased 23% (2.3% peryear)

Figure 1: Gravel Cost vs. Property Tax Revenue


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Rising Costs

Spurred on by substantial increases in the price of gasoline and diesel, the cost of every essentialelement of maintenance and construction has seen large increases in price. Fuel itself hasincreased more than 170% in the past 5 years requiring an additional $200,000 per year just tokeep our equipment running. Increased fuel prices have driven up the price of steel, concrete andconstruction materials in general. Equipment prices have increased 30% over the past five yearsmeaning a new motor grader will cost $35,000 more today than in 2003. The price of salt hasrisen from $27/ton just three years ago to more than $70/ton today meaning it will cost an extra$50,000 to purchase salt for this winter.

In total, it will cost an additional $500,000 to perform this years normal Secondary Roadmaintenance and repair operations than just 5 years ago.

Flat Revenues

The Secondary Roads Department is funded by a combination of revenue sources that includelocal, state, and federal funds. Over the past decade, revenues that are returned to the SecondaryRoads department from all sources have been nearly flat and have not come close to keeping

pace with the increases in expenses. Figure 2 shows what percentage of the Secondary Roadsbudget comes from the different sources. Note that this graph does not include funds restrictedfor construction projects.

Maintenance Income Sources

Property Tax35%

Federal Gas Tax5%

Bridge Funds4%


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Local Property Taxes

Washington County has levied the maximum normal levy for the Secondary Roads Department

that is allowed by state law for more than 30 years. Since the levy is stagnant, increases in thisfunding source only come from increases in the tax base. Consequently, the tax revenue for2008 is essentially the same as it was in 2003, the same period where the dramatic cost increaseswere seen.

There have been numerous new houses in rural Washington County; however those houses donot contribute substantially to the Secondary Roads budget. A new $200,000 house will generateabout $264 for Secondary Roads Department. Figure 3 shows a detailed tax breakdown for atypical rural house. $264 is not even enough money to pay for two loads of gravel, let aloneprovide blading maintenance, snow removal, repair culverts, or perform any new construction.While growth is generally very good for rural counties, it is important to recognize that newhouses do not pay their own way when it comes to gravel road maintenance. As a result, theuncontrolled rural housing growth is adding to the deterioration to the county road system.

Typical Rural House Value $200,000

Property Tax Rollback 45%

Average Tax Credit $2,235

Taxable Value $87,765

Total Rural Levy (per $1000) $28.50

Rural Taxes Paid $2,501

Secondary Roads Levy (per $1000) 3.00375

Taxes Returned to Secondary Roads $264

Figure 3: Rural Residential Tax Example

Unfortunately, confinement facilities cause even more severe damage. A new confinementfacility that cost $500,000 to construct will produce just $197 for the Secondary RoadsDepartment. This is not enough money to haul a single load of gravel. Figure 4 shows thiscalculation in detail as provided by the Office of the County Assessor.

Typical 50' x 384' building $500,000

Depreciation 3%$485,000

Ag Factor 80%

$97,000

Pit Exception -$31,400

Taxable Valuation $65,600


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In 2008 the Washington County Board of Supervisors raised an additional $300,000 in the formof a special levy for the gravel roads. While this one time increase was a needed band aide to

help the county recover from the abnormal winter weather conditions, it does not address thefundamental issue of lagging revenue.

State Gas Tax

The state gas tax was last increased in 1989 and remains at 19 cents/gallon for ethanol blendedgasoline. Because the tax is a set amount per gallon and not a percentage, increases in fundingfrom gas tax revenues only happen when consumers use more fuel. When fuel prices began torise three years ago, consumers began to change their purchasing and driving behaviors.Consumers are purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles and driving less. As a result, this fundingsource has been nearly flat for several years and is projected to decrease if the current drivingtrends continue.

Road Use Taxes

Road Use Tax funds come substantially from vehicle registration fees, vehicle sales tax,overweight permits, driving penalties, and drivers license registrations. Increases in this funding

source have been lagging behind maintenance and construction cost increases for more than adecade. As a result the Iowa Legislature recently passed the TIME-21 legislation to increaserevenue. Unfortunately, the increase is phased in over several years and gives proportionally lessmoney to Counties in Iowa than previous bills. Whereas Counties used to receive 24.5% of thetotal Road Use Tax funds, now they will only receive 20% of new revenues. This highlights theshifting focus in Iowas transportation policy towards more urbanized areas.

Figure 5 shows how the TIME-21 legislation is projected to impact Washington County. The

legislation is projected to provide less than $35,000 in additional funds for 2009. When thelegislation is fully funded in 2012, it will produce $225,000 in additional funding. While thismay seem like a significant increase, it will not restore the buying power that has been erodedover the past years.

FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012

Secondary Increase Increase Increase Increase

Road Fund from TIME-21 from TIME-21 from TIME-21 from TIME-21

WashingtonCounty

$2,430,174 $34,772 $108,794 $171,163 $226,439

Figure 5: RUTF Projected Growth


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Federal Transportation Taxes

The current Federal Transportation Bill was passed 2 years ago. As a whole, the nationwide bill

represented a respectable increase in funding for transportation. However, because of earmarks,new programs, and a shifting focus towards more populous states, the money received by ourregion (and Washington County specifically) is actually less than in the previous bill.

The Federal Transportation Bill is largely funded by the federal gas tax. With the passage of thisbill, Iowa became a donor state for the first time. That means more money leaves Iowathrough the Federal Gas Tax than is returned through the bill. This further highlights the shiftingfocus of nationwide transportation policy towards urbanized areas.

Operational Cutbacks

Over the past five years, the Secondary Roads Department has made cutbacks in construction,equipment, and needed roadway repairs in order to maintain a balanced budget. It has striven tosave money through innovation, economization, and pursuit of additional funding through grants.The department has implemented the use of low-water crossings to replace bridges, internalizedformerly outsourced maintenance, and even used railroad flat cars to replace bridges.

The Secondary Roads Department is currently staffed based on its snow removal operations. Itoperates with one maintenance person for each piece of snow removal equipment. Maintenanceterritories and snow removal routes are engineered to have all paved roads cleared the first dayand all gravel roads cleared by the second day after a snow event. Any reductions in the currentlabor force would mean an immediate reduction in our level of service for snow removal andgravel road maintenance.

Equipment and maintenance sheds are also sized based on our staff and territory locations.Combining buildings or reducing equipment or staffing levels will not provide any significantcost savings.

Increasing Traffic LoadsThe vehicle size of the traffic on the gravel roads in Washington County is greater than everbefore. About 20 years ago, farms began to get much larger and more industrialized. Toaccommodate this change, farming vehicles and equipment have grown in size and weight.

Tractors, combines, wagons, and equipment are larger and heavier than ever before. As anexample, a loaded manure wagon will commonly carry as much as 9,000 gallons and weigh inexcess of 90,000 pounds.

Confinement facilities exemplify this change. According to the Office of the County Assessor,160 new confinement facilities have been constructed in just the past 5 years. In total, there are


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Figure 6: Washington County Confinement Locations


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The damage done by loaded semi trucks is exponentially greater than that of a typical passengervehicle or even farm tractor. The gravel road system was not designed or constructed to be able

to consistently carry these heavier loads. As a result, the Secondary Roads Department hasrepeatedly seen gravel roads that were in good shape for many years become damaged beyondnormal repair in a matter of weeks after a new confinement opens on a road. This spring, roadswith new confinements that had held up in the past became impassable as a result of the heavierloads. Roads that had been recently rocked were turned to mud. The Secondary RoadsDepartment has dozens of examples of roads that were excessively damaged this past spring as aresult of the increased frequency of heavy truck loads. By contrast, there are several segments ofroads without confinements that held their shape and condition even through the series of recent

weather events.

More Rural Traffic than EverHousing in Washington County has been on a steady increase. According to the office of theCounty Assessor, there have been 327 new houses in rural Washington County over just the past5 years. This does not include the 206 new homes within the cities in the County. According toIowa State research, each new rural house produces an average of 8 vehicle trips per day. Newhousing alone is producing thousands of extra vehicle trips per day. The majority of these tripsbegin on a gravel road. Figure 7 shows the location of all new rural houses in WashingtonCounty for the past 5 years. An important element to consider about new rural residents is thatmany bring an expectation for levels of service based on what they experienced in the city.

A review of traffic patterns over the past 20 years shows that there have been significantincreases in traffic on the rural roads in Washington County. Figure 8 highlights an area south ofRiverside which typifies this increase and shows what happens to traffic counts as rural housing

increases. It is worth emphasizing that the property taxes generated by these new houses (seeFigure 3, page 7) do not pay for the additional maintenance and service requirements theygenerate.

The widespread increase in traffic on rural gravel roads has brought traffic volumes on manyroads to the point where the County should be considering hard surfacing them. Unfortunately,there is insufficient funding to maintain the gravel on them, let alone begin to consider regradingor paving them.


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Figure 7: New Rural Houses (2003 2007)


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1986 Traffic Counts 2006 Traffic Counts

Figure 8: Rural Traffic Comparison South of Riverside (1986 2006)

Documents

Washington Co. Roads 2008