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Commissioners caution against diverting road funds as bridge and maintenance needs rise
Summary
Commissioners warned June 16 that drawing interest or principal from the county road fund for non-road operating expenses would risk bridge and road maintenance amid rising costs; they recommended prioritizing road infrastructure and exploring investment diversification to boost returns before reallocating interest.
Several Curry County commissioners and committee members told the budget committee on June 16 they are reluctant to reallocate interest or principal from the county's road fund for non-road operating expenses, citing growing maintenance and bridge-repair needs and sharp inflation in road-maintenance costs.
Commissioner Lynn Coker said repairing or replacing a single bridge can deplete the road fund and urged caution before reallocating interest to other departments. Committee members noted that road-maintenance costs have risen sharply since 2021'for example, asphalt and materials costs have increased dramatically'and that available revenue sources have contracted over the last decade.
Finance staff and commissioners discussed the current proposed road-fund contribution, which rises modestly in the draft from about 1.18 to 1.21 (a percentage share applied in current budget calculations). Staff warned that increasing allocation rates further risks dipping into principal and reducing the fund's ability to pay large capital needs like bridge work.
Possible responses and longer-term options Committee members suggested several measures to protect infrastructure funding: diversifying investment strategies to increase interest earnings without tapping principal; building a clear five-year capital improvements plan that inventories bridges and categorizes which structures require immediate capital; and coordinating with state and federal grant opportunities to cover large one-time projects.
Staff also said FEMA reimbursements had increased the road reserves in recent months and that staff would continue to pursue eligible reimbursements. Committee members said they would prefer to see road-fund interest reserved for roads and bridges and to consider any use of that income for other purposes only after evaluating bridge and pavement inventories and long-term capital needs.
Ending: Committee members asked staff to provide a clearer inventory of bridge conditions and a projection of five-year repair costs before considering reallocations of road-fund interest or principal.
