KINGSVILLE, Texas — An item on the agenda at the recent Kingsville City Council meeting called for additional funding for street maintenance following the deployment of street crews to work on downtown streets in February.
At the time, the money for this work was taken from the highway authority’s budget. Now the money has to be put back into their budget in order to carry out work on other roads.
“We added that concrete pavement, so we knew we had to pay for it. I knew I had it in the treasury, but while we were doing it, we had the road department pay for it out of their normal budget that would have gone to other roads. So now we’re just taking money out of the treasury and bringing it forward and saying, okay, now we’re broken even,” said Kingsville City Manager Mark McLaughlin.
Jacob Gonzalez, who has lived and studied here since childhood, said he understands why the funds were reallocated and is grateful for it.
“I was there when it was still being built and there was a lot of work that needed to be done. Plus, the parade is here too, so there were huge potholes that we marched through for the marching band,” Gonzalez said.
The City of Kingsville has a road maintenance plan. This plan is funded by road user fees. This fee is paid by residents who have a utility account with the city. This fiscal year, city leaders estimated that $1 million will be allocated for road repairs.
The current roadworks will not change the fees residents pay. However, there may soon be a change for another reason.
“We’re actually expecting a slight increase next year due to inflation. Material costs have risen so much,” McLaughlin said.
This increase will benefit residents who pay their monthly utility bills. Instead of paying six dollars a month, they will now pay eight.
Work is currently being done on the roads surrounding the courthouse, but Gonzalez said he would like to see the work done a little closer to where he lives.
“It’s just the neighborhoods that have huge potholes, and they’re all weird,” Gonzalez said.
McLaughlin said work is pending in the neighborhoods, but they may not be next in line. The city’s road condition index number and regular inspections determine which streets are worked on first and in what order the rest follow.
McLaughlin said if crews are already working on one road and an adjacent road also needs repairs, they can rearrange the sequence and take care of it while crews are already on site.
Many roads had to be completely rebuilt, meaning roads had to be taken apart to give them a new look. Three miles of roadwork was done this fiscal year.
“If we have a really bad road and there’s nothing there, it will be given a lower priority, while there are people living on that street who are just as in need,” McLaughlin said.
The streets around the courthouse are scheduled to be completed by September. The fiscal year ends in six weeks.
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