Road-maintenance spending update
The City of Manhattan used the Special Street and Highway Fund to pay for less than $500,000 in salaries and street maintenance in 2020, despite it seeing over $2.5 million in revenue.
Public Works director Robert Ott says this is due to low revenue projections for the Special Street Maintenance Fund, which is funded by sales taxes and cannot be used to pay employee salaries.
“We needed folks that could fix potholes and deal with flooding and plow streets,” Ott said. “We had to make sure we had cash to pay their salaries.”
Special Street and Highway Fund revenue, which comes from the State Motor Fuel Tax, was down in 2020 from 2019, when it saw an influx of nearly $3 million.
City manager Ron Fehr says Manhattan may be able to use American Recovery Plan Act funds to help make up for this drop in income.
“It looks like we’re going to be able to use 2019 as the base year compared to 2020,” Fehr said. “So those revenue shortfalls in those funds from ’19 to ’20, which will be considerable, especially TGT and other places, those will be eligible for the recovery act.”
The $1.9 trillion American Recovery Plan Act was passed earlier this month to combat the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Safe Routes to School update
Manhattan has spent about $500,000 on the Safe Routes to School program since 2017 with another $176,000 in SRTS projects on the way.
The program, which promotes safe school routes for pedestrians and bike riders, is partially funded by a .2 percent sales tax increase that was approved by voters in 2016.
Public Works director Robert Ott says its also funded by the Kansas Department of Transportation, which typically covers about 80 percent of SRTS project costs.
“I never say that it’s free money because it’s not,” Ott said. “It’s all our tax dollars that came out of all our wallets, but if I can bring more back to our community, then so be it. It’s just the way the rules are so that’s the game I’m going to play.”
The program is currently headed into Phase 2-C, which includes work near Northview Elementary School and Marlatt Elementary School.
Once Phase 2-C is finished, about 13 SRTS projects will be completed.
According to Ott, the city is projected to bring in $2 million per year over the life of the .2 percent sales-tax increase.
Five percent of the revenue is to go to SRTS program each year.
For more information on Ott’s report covering road maintenance and SRTS spending, click here.
