Hawkins County Mayor Mark DeWitte told the commission Monday he’d like to see a 10 cent property tax approved to cover the debt and other expenses associated with replacing the Goshen Valley Bridge.
DeWitte gave the county commission an update during Monday’s meeting on what progress has been made since county leaders became aware that the bridge will have to be replaced.
Hawkins County has approximately $1.2 million of state funding set aside for bridge repair.
But, they’re projecting they’ll need a minimum of $20 million for the 60-year-old Goshen Valley Bridge, which has received a rating of 6 out of 100 and been recommended for replacement by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Finding funding
In the current fiscal year there’s no immediate state or federal funding for that bridge.
“We can apply for various grants for the next fiscal year, but we’ve got no assurance of receiving anything,” DeWitte said. “The best shot we’ve got for a bunch of money is the Federal Bridge Improvement Plan. Their cutoff was a couple of months ago for this fiscal year. They’re going to open it up again next year.”
To be eligible for the federal bridge grant, however Hawkins County will need 20% of the total funding required in hand, or about $4 million, to meet the local match.
Hawkins County has five smaller bridges on the state’s top priority bridge list ahead of the Goshen Valley Bridge, and they may be able to get all six bridges covered with the federal grant.
DeWitte noted, however, that the Baltimore bridge collapse will tie up quite a bit of federal bridge funding, and those grants will be highly competitive.
“If we can have money available and show them that we made progress toward working on this bridge, it probably will give us a little bit of an inside on getting that money,” DeWitte said. “You have to keep in mind that even if we had $20 million in our pocket today we’re looking at multiple years of permitting, design, studies, and preparation before construction even begins.”
DeWitte also recommended utilizing part of the county’s existing $1.2 million bridge fund to begin required studies and engineering that must be completed before actual construction on the bridge can start.
That way when the when the major funding falls into place, they’ve already got some of those time consuming aspect of the project out of the way. Highway Superintendent Danny Jones controls that fund, and he would have to agree to use those funds for that purpose DeWitte noted.
Bond Resolution
The commission can also take an action now to move the bridge project forward.
DeWitte noted that a representative from Cumberland Securities, which is Hawkins County’s bond advisor, recommended that the commission approve a resolution allowing the issuing of a bond (loan) for the bridge, should they be needed.
“That resolution could become part of our application packet with the Federal Bridge Improvement program, so they know we’ve got money available should we need it,” DeWitte told the commission. “That would put us in a position to act pretty quickly if we needed the money”
Tax Hike
The bad news is, paying for the bond will cost 10 extra cents on the county’s property tax rate to cover the bridge debt, DeWitte added.
A penny of property tax generates approximately $122,000 at a 93% collection rate. For a residential property valued at $100,000, one penny of property tax costs them $2.50 per year.
“That’s not what anybody needs or wants to hear, but there is no other source of income right now to get that together to pay off the bond if we should need it,” DeWitte said. “I’d like to go ahead and put that (tax) hike into affect. We know we’re going to have to show money to match the federal money. If we did (raise taxes) we could start using some of the money to make sure that some of the roads that will become detours around the bridge are in shape to handle the added traffic.”
Alternate routes
During the citizens comments portion of Monday’s commission meeting Jessica Patton expressed concern about those detour roads, and the impact that the bridge project and impending closure will have on Goshen Valley residents who live south of the bridge.
Patton noted that her husband works, and her children attend school in Kingsport, so they will be using Mountain View Road when the bridge is unavailable. She lives about 1.5 miles from the bridge, and the detour will add about 30 miles each way when she has to trade in Church Hill.
“I would like you all to travel the alternate we’re we’ll be taking,” Patton said. “They’re a little shaky. I’m afraid things will snowball if those end up being the main routes to get out of there. It’ll cover Mountain View Road, and Miler’s Bluff Road. I invite all of you to visit that end of the county and journey on those roads as you’re making decisions about this.”
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