Covington council adopts $3.5 million budget amendment to repave seven streets

The Covington City Council voted unanimously on March 31 to adopt ordinance 2026-03-01, a $3.5 million amendment to the 2026 operating and capital budget that reallocates Growth Management Area (GMA) funds to repave seven streets identified as priorities by district council members.

"This is wonderful news because it's seven streets that are getting upgraded, paved," Councilman Roberts said during the public hearing, describing the prioritization process by district and the engineering review. "You see the reduction in GMA is going to be 3.5 million but all necessary funds being spent on something that needs to get done."

Roberts said he asked each of the five district councilmen to nominate three roads in their districts most in need; engineering staff then assessed subterranean sewer repair needs and assigned values so public works could apply GMA funds to the projects. The council described the work as phase one of discretionary street spending, with a phase two introduced that evening and a planned phase three to develop a comprehensive plan for River Forest.

Council members moved, seconded and adopted the ordinance by roll call. The roll-call vote recorded all present councilmembers voting yes: Councilman Bushnell, Councilman Roberts, Councilman Enman, Councilman Burrell, Councilman Bodzford, Councilman Barrett, and Councilman Callahan.

Council discussion emphasized the benefits of coordinated planning: Roberts said public works performed smoke testing under streets to identify sewer repairs needed before repaving, and that a comprehensive River Forest plan will consider undrivable stretches rather than piecemeal fixes. The ordinance was adopted that evening; no amendments were recorded during the vote.