County Highway Engineer David (Dave) (presented to the finance committee on Aug. 12) reviewed the highway department's 2026 draft budget, explaining how multiple funding streams, statutory constraints and township arrangements shape project choices and cash flows.
Dave told the committee the department manages about 220 miles of county roads and coordinates work for 22 townships that together cover roughly 950 miles; townships are separate statutory entities and their motor-fuel-tax money is held in county-administered agency funds, not the county general fund. “It is money that are in bank accounts under our tax ID number. We are the custodians of it, but it is not our money,” he said.
The engineer explained several funds: county highway, county special bridge (drainage/culverts), county FAS and matching funds, township motor-fuel-tax accounts and federally funded projects administered by IDOT. He said federal funds do not pass through county treasury; IDOT handles allotments and reimbursements. The committee discussed the motor-fuel-tax (MFT) appropriation and IDOT authorizations required before MFT funds can be spent.
Dave highlighted a one-time $650,000 wind-farm road-use payment set to finance a township project in Sublette and said that the 2026 highway-construction line item includes $100,000 as a placeholder for possible engineering work on a new facility. He told the committee that the department has an option on about nine acres at the northwest corner of Routes 52 and 30 (owner: an LLC identified in discussion as Irish Eyes LLC) and is seeking state community-project funds and motor-fuel-tax backing to build a replacement highway facility. The total project estimate discussed was roughly $7.2 million; the county team is pursuing Congressional community project funding and has requested about $5 million in appropriations as part of that process. Dave said the project would be funded with a mix of federal, state and county funds and that capital bonding/borrowing is the fallback plan.
On the township relationship, he explained that township road commissioners are the highway authorities for township roads and that townships make their own decisions about priorities. The county coordinates engineering and construction and charges a 4% fee for maintenance engineering to townships based on a 1996 ordinance; Dave said that 4% is “typical statewide.”
The engineer also warned of large, weather-dependent expenditures—most notably rock salt for winter maintenance—and said motor-fuel-tax allotments can vary year-to-year because they are tied to statewide fuel consumption. For planning, he said he models year-end cash balances for each fund and flags capital equipment timing (trucks on order, delayed purchases pushing costs between years).
No formal votes were taken on Aug. 12; the committee asked staff to carry the highway figures forward into the budget process and to provide a more detailed capital plan when the committee examines capital requests later in the budget cycle.