Grimes County commissioners review Road & Bridge budget, training and floodplain compliance needs

Grimes County leaders spent most of a July 25 budget meeting focused on the Road & Bridge Department’s fiscal 2026 requests, with department managers asking the Commissioners Court to restore training funds, approve targeted equipment purchases and consider one or more new positions to handle rising development and floodplain compliance work.

The discussion centered on three near-term needs: (1) a training program the department says will increase productivity and lower long-term maintenance costs, (2) equipment and machinery replacements prioritized by field staff, and (3) a proposed development/inspection technician to handle permit reviews and floodplain compliance tasks that staff say are growing rapidly.

Why it matters: Road material and labor costs have increased sharply in recent years, the department said, and county staff said better training and targeted capital purchases could stretch the county’s available funds to maintain more miles of road. County engineers also warned the court that state and federal floodplain requirements expose the county to potential loss of National Flood Insurance Program participation unless a backlog of unpermitted structures is addressed.

John Stiber, who identified himself as manager of the Grimes County Bridge Department and county engineer, told the court the department maintains about 600 miles of county roads and roughly 113 county bridges and assists five cities with about 76 miles of municipal roads. He and his staff outlined a move toward full-depth reclamation and subgrade stabilization techniques — using an asphalt zipper, reclamation equipment…