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Howard County highway director warns gas-tax suspension could reduce paving and grant matches
Summary
Amber Tol presented the 2025 highway operations report, citing roughly $1M on bridges, $1M on local streets, about $3.5M on road improvements and just under $2M on operations/salaries; she said the governor's suspension of gas-tax collections may reduce Community Crossings matching grants and could force the county to pave fewer miles in coming years.
Amber Tol, speaking for Howard County's highway department, presented the department's annual operations report for 2025 and warned commissioners that the governor's suspension of portions of the state gas tax and related wheel tax could reduce state matching funds for local projects.
Amber said the department spent about $1 million on bridges and about $1 million on local streets (including equipment purchases and winter operations) during the reporting year, and roughly $3.5 million on road improvements such as paving and chip sealing. She also said the department spent just under $2 million on general operations and salaries. "All of these items take money... so the less that comes in, the less that will be dispersed to each of our counties and the less we can actually do for the community," Amber said.
She noted the Community Crossings matching grant program is a matching fund and that Howard County's recent match request was reduced from $1.5 million to $1.0 million; she said she expects possible additional cuts depending on how suspended gas-tax receipts ripple through state allocations. Amber described an operational change planned for the year: continuing chip-sealing work followed by a fog-seal application over the chip seal stone to reduce loose stone and extend pavement life. "What we're going to do start doing this year is adding a fog seal over top of the chip seal stone," Amber said, describing it as a low-cost way to improve surface permanence.
On schedules, Amber said paving is expected to start after the July holiday and continue through the season, with chip sealing operations starting after the Memorial Day holiday. She reported the Hannes Bridge project was near completion and expected to open around Memorial Day, pending final guardrail, pavement markings and minor concrete work.
Commissioners and staff also discussed the county's desire to prioritize local labor for the upcoming jail project and to host a local contractor open house to review jail drawings.
The presentation concluded with commissioners signing the annual operations report for county records. Amber said the highway department will monitor state revenue changes and adjust project planning accordingly.
