Burnet County divides $5.7 million in bonds for roads
CONNIE SWINNEY • STAFF WRITER
BURNET — Officials approved the disbursement of more than $5.7 million in bonds Feb. 28 to fund a string of extensive road and low-water crossing projects in all four precincts of Burnet County.
“This is our first time to issue debt for roads in Burnet County,” Burnet County Judge James Oakley said. “We did a study and assessment of what our needs are.
“Our needs far exceeded $20 million but we weren’t ready to spend that kind of money, but I was comfortable issuing debt that would not raise our tax rate,” he added.
Commissioners initially approved issuing the debt in summer 2016.
Officials found direction on how to divvy up the road funds among precincts in the Texas Transportation Code to guarantee funds are “judicially and equitably spent.”
Burnet County officials considered three scenarios; two of which involved either dividing the money equally at 25 percent per precinct or choosing to divide funds based on the taxable value in each precinct.
“The division of the precinct by population does not mean the valuation is divided properly,” Oakley said. “We approved averaging an even 25 percent split with the number that was derived from the taxable value just to ease the pain so Precinct 2 wouldn’t get so much less.”
Officials opted for a third scenario:
• Precinct 1: $1.7 million (30.2 percent of total funding)
• Precinct 2: $1.1 million (19.4 percent)
• Precinct 3: $1.3 million (22.9 percent)
• Precinct 4: $1.5 million (27.5 percent)
The funding happened to coincide with the varied needs in each precinct.
The northeastern portion of the county, which includes Precinct 2, encompasses a high percentage of rural properties, while areas in the southern part, including Precincts 1 and 4, reveal more concentrated areas of industrial and/or commercial uses.
“We have high agricultural use in the northeast part of the county. Then you get down south around the rock quarries and you have heavy commercial trucks that are not only hard on the roads, but hard on the low-water crossings,” Oakley said.
“Normally the road and bridge budget allows for fresh seal-coating of roads. It does not allow for the large-scale re-builds needed for some of our infrastructure.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther Jr. said he expects to focus on a few special projects; among them aging low-water crossings.
“The needs in each precinct are a little bit different. We have a lot of commercial traffic on our roads — construction trucks, quarry trucks, cement trucks that are coming along with the growth in Burnet County,” Luther said. “Low water crossings on County Road 120 are a high priority; two in particular.”
Oakley added, “We have situations where low-water crossings are impassable even in moderate rain.”
Issuing the debt to upgrade county roads not only addresses immediate concerns but addresses future issues.
“This is yet another indicator that we’re a growing county,” Oakley said. “It’s one way we can take care of these needs and spread the cost forward.”
connie@thepicayune.com