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County road crew seeks added equipment and preservation funding as commissioners weigh road‑fee program
Summary
Public works asked for equipment operator hires, a county road inventory and funding to continue a road preservation program; staff flagged possible use of road‑preservation revenue and county impact fees in CIP planning.
Lancaster County public works staff told the County Council Committee of the Whole they need more equipment operators, a completed county road inventory and continued funding for road preservation as the county grows.
Public works Director Jeffrey Cato presented the department’s FY26 equipment and preservation requests, saying only three miles of county roads were preserved under current contracts and that the department’s crews are short‑staffed. Cato requested three additional equipment operators and an upgrade to the county road inspector role to an engineering tech classification to align pay with comparable positions.
Cato said the county has begun a multi‑phase road inventory and asked council to fund the next stage. "We've started phase one of that this year," he told council. "We'd like to continue that — it is a three‑year process — so the public and staff know exactly which road is county maintained and its condition."
The county’s road preservation program relies in part on revenue sources targeted at roadway maintenance, including the county’s road preservation fees and the capital project sales tax. Cato reminded council that the CTC (county transportation committee) and state funding patterns had shifted in recent years; he urged council to plan for stable local funding to keep preservation work on track.
Council members pressed staff for clearer and updated line‑item totals; staff said they would reconcile figures and include road inventory and paving project detail in the administrator’s recommended budget. Several council members also asked that staff provide a prioritized list of parking‑lot repairs and protective paving needs at county buildings so those projects can be considered for FY26 appropriations.
Cato told council the capital replacement plan includes a trackhoe request as a top equipment priority, with a motor grader also listed for replacement if funding allows. Staff said the capital replacement fund (Fund 11) and the fund’s current 6.4 mills will be part of council’s deliberation when weighing all rolling‑stock and capital requests in the FY26 budget.
