Marion County reviews transportation improvement plan; engineer warns $170 million in bonds may be needed

Marion County Commissioners reviewed a draft five-year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) at a March workshop where County Engineer Steven Cahoon said the county could need about $170,000,000 in bonds over the TIP period if sales tax and other revenues do not rise.

The TIP lays out more than 113 miles of roadway work, including over 10 miles programmed this year for resurfacing, expansion of the county's rural chip-seal program, and multiple legacy capacity projects approaching construction, Cahoon said. He asked the board for feedback and said staff will return for final adoption at the March 18 meeting.

Why it matters: The plan attempts to balance capital capacity projects and routine preservation work while managing cost pressure from higher construction and property-acquisition prices. A bond program would accelerate projects now at today's prices but would add annual debt-service costs to the sales tax revenue stream, officials said.

Cahoon, Marion County engineer, summarized the financing options and project priorities, saying county staff reprioritized the TIP after a positive sales-tax report. "In this TIP, we've got over 113 miles of roadway," he said, and added the county had "over 10 miles of road that are programmed this year for resurfacing." He also described the chip-seal program for low-traffic rural roads: "We've got a lot of these rural roads, 50 to 100 vehicles a day."

On financing, Cahoon presented two scenarios for debt service if the county issued bonds to cover shortfalls. "When, if, and when we take the bond approach, if everything remains in the TIP as…