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Public works warns of $23.5M road backlog; council weighs fee, bonding and program options
Summary
Director of Public Works Wes Anderson told the council the city faces a multi‑million dollar backlog for road repairs, rising winter maintenance and equipment costs, staffing shortages and a transfer-station pricing mismatch that is subsidizing haulers.
Wes Anderson, Laconia’s director of public works, told the City Council that the department’s capital and operating budgets must grapple with an expanding road maintenance backlog, equipment aging and staffing shortages during the FY26 budget presentation.
Anderson said the city’s estimated backlog for reclaiming/ reconstruction is $12.3 million and another $11.2 million for overlays and shims, for a total backlog of about $23.5 million. He told the council the annual funding needed “to keep good roads good,” measured as milling and overlay cycles, is roughly $2.5 million to $2.8 million a year; the city manager’s recommended annual road program for the coming year is $1 million.
Anderson summarized project and funding needs and potential responses: increase the annual road program, develop a multi‑year bond program, consider charter exemptions for a more aggressive funding approach, decline to accept additional private roads in current condition,…
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