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STREET PAVING PROGRAM By: City Engineer Steve Jankowski Case Background: In 1993 it was determined that the City should pursue a program of paving its remaining dirt and gravel streets. The 1994 budget contains $20,000 toward the implementation of this program. As you will recall, during the discussion of the Bison Street N.W. paving this past summer, one of the major obstacles to realizing the paving of the remaining dirt streets was attributed to the high individual assessments associated with these projects. The Council determined that it may wish to subsidize paving projects to some level in order to eliminate this concern. The first order of business toward establishing this program is to determine the appropriate level of subsidy. In order to assist in this task, I have prepared a map (not enclosed but available at the meeting) which identifies all of the remaining dirt and gravel streets. Attached is a list of street paving projects which identifies and describes 14 candidate projects targeted for paving under this program. It should be noted, that several dirt roadways which are maintained by the City are not included on that list. These exceptions include three roadways which service only one property. In addition several sections of dirt street which are close to existing sewer and water have also been eliminated from the program since these streets have a high probability of being serviced with sewer and water prior to the paving program ending in 1997. Attached is an exhibit entitled Financial Analysis of Street Paving Program. This table contains the number of benefitted properties which will be served by each project, the estimated total project cost and the individual unit cost per benefitted property. Also contained on this table is the project subsidy which will be required if various assessment caps are instituted. Depending upon the assessment cap selected by the Council the excess unit cost above this level would be borne out of the street paving program account and would result in the necessary project subsidy identified on the table. The table has been prepared showing assessment caps in increments of $500 ranging between $3,000 and $4,500 for purposes of illustrating the magnitude of the entire program subsidy, however, any assessment cap level may be selected. Also attached is a table entitled History of Street Paving Projects Since 1980. The purpose of this exhibit is to provide the Committee with information on the level of individual assessments which have been made on previous street paving projects in order to determine an appropriate assessment cap for the proposed paving program. As you can see, individual assessments on various street paving projects have ranged from $1,563 to $4,181. The far left column of this table contains the assessment unit price adjusted to reflect 1993 costs. You will also note that since 1980 over 500 properties have been assessed for street paving improvements and the average assessment in 1993 dollars has been slightly over $4,100. Whatever assessment cap is selected should be indexed to the construction cost index so that it can be adjusted annually for inflation. Finally, I have prepared an exhibit entitled Proposed Paving Schedule. This schedule seeks to address projects which have the greatest number of parcels as a priority while still seeking to stay within the $20,000 per year subsidy budgeted for this program in 1994. The attached schedule shows the proposed program could be accomplished within four years with a $20,000 annual budget at a subsidy cap level at $4,000.