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Resurfacing roads before the winter season
AUSTINTOWN
More than 20,000 feet of Austintown Township roads are scheduled to be paved by November as part of a 2016 resurfacing program.
In July, trustees, in conjunction with Boardman and Canfield townships, awarded a $737,295 contract to R.T. Vernal Paving & Excavating Co. of North Lima to pave these roads.
The township is paying up to $400,000 for its portion of the paving, at $142 per cubic yard of asphalt for 4,700 cubic yards and $13,000 per day for milling, out of the road department’s budget.
At a previous township meeting, Austintown Township Administrator Mike Dockry said the township will be the last out of the three townships to get its roads completed – beginning around Labor Day and hopefully ending in mid-October.
Streets not included in the current project, but part of a separate project using a $150,000 grant awarded in 2015, include sections of Georgetown Place, Yorktown Lane, Cannon Road, Dunbar Street, Oakleigh Avenue, Beverly Avenue, Whitebeech Lane and more.
Dockry said if he is unable to get a contractor to move forward with these streets in 2016, they will be top priority for 2017.
“When we were initially awarded this grant last year, we were what is known as a ‘bubble project’ – the significance of that ... is that we were not assured the Ohio Public Works Commission would tell us come July 1 this year that there was money for our project,” Dockry said. “I expected the notification to come between the fall and early 2017. To my surprise, notification came July 1.”
Dockry said he is working on getting another $150,000 grant for 2017 for further resurfacing. Some of the roads on the list include sections of Elmwood Avenue, Bentwillow Lane, Selkirk Avenue, Almerindan Drive, Cavalcade Drive and Fitzgerald Avenue.
What grants do not pay for, the township is responsible to pay.
This year is the last that Austintown will receive any funds from either the state or Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course – which goes into the road department’s fund – “as the result of the racino’s location in the township,” Dockry said.
“Originally, the state law passed when the state gave Penn National permission to locate a racino in Austintown called for two $1 million payments in 2013 and 2014 and $500,000 a year payments thereafter for each year the racino continued to operate in the township,” he said. “Subsequent legislation terminated the indefinite $500,000 annual payments and instead, the township will receive only $500,000 – $250,000 each from the state and racino – in 2015 and 2016.”
The township has received $3 million since 2013.
“The township, since 2013, has spent, or in the case of 2016 has appropriated to spend, approximately $2.9 million on resurfacing of township roads,” Dockry said.
Since payments are coming to an end, trustees will be asking township voters for passage of a five-year, 1-mill additional levy for roads in November.
The levy will generate $614,966 annually, and the owner of a $100,000 home will pay an additional $35 per year. Currently, there are two five-year road levies in effect generating $1.1 million annually.