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Muscatine City lays out $1.7M road-use tax plan, prioritizes overlays and alleys
Summary
City staff presented a fiscal 2026–27 road-use tax budget of roughly $1.7 million, with about $1.5 million available for asphalt overlays, alleys and local patching and $200,000 earmarked as match for grant-funded projects. Council debated whether to use a $285,000 surplus now for interim fixes or roll it into next year for reconstruction.
Kevin, a city staff member, presented the proposed use of road-use tax and local-option funding for the July 1, 2026–June 30, 2027 fiscal year, describing a budget of roughly $1.7 million with about $200,000 set aside for grant matches and $1.5 million for general overlays, patching and alleys.
"The budget for the 26–27 fiscal year is roughly $1.7 million," Kevin said, explaining that a recent rollover increased available funds from a typical $1.2 million to $1.7 million this year. He proposed approximately $1 million of that remaining budget be used for asphalt overlays and alley reconstruction as a single larger contract to get better pricing, leaving about $285,000 in discretionary funds.
Staff said they started with the lowest-rated pavements from the 2022 InTrans pavement condition index (the city has arranged to receive such data more frequently) and narrowed the list to about 10 streets for mill-and-overlay work, yielding about 2.35 miles of proposed overlay. Specific streets mentioned for overlay or attention included Pum, Woodlon, Leroy, Lucas Street and portions of 55th Avenue; Lucas Street was noted as the remaining segment from a prior West Hill reconstruction.
On alleys, Kevin said five problematic alleys were selected based on roadway maintenance staff input because they have persistent drainage and pothole issues; the city plans to invest in deeper pavement sections for alleys so the repairs hold up to truck and garbage-collection loading.
Kevin described options for the $285,000 balance: use it this year to perform interim remediation (for example milling and rolling millings on 47th/25th) or roll it into next year’s budget to fund a larger reconstruction project. "We have plenty of work either way," he said, and council members debated whether temporary millings or a permanent reconstruction should be prioritized for streets with very poor base (for example sections described as muck or farm dirt under the pavement).
Kevin also detailed in-house concrete fold-up patch work, cold-planer milling for joints (51st Street), crack sealing and pothole response. Council members pressed on specific streets including Iowa Avenue (between Second and Fourth) and Bidwell (noting localized sinkholes and separation), and staff confirmed the Folium/Houser roundabout is a separate grant-funded match project and was excluded from the road-use-tax funding list.
Council did not take a final funding allocation vote at the meeting; staff said they will proceed with public materials and further cost refinements and return with recommendations.
