Already, more county gas tax revenue having to be allocated to annual project list to try to get work completed
As the expense of roadway resurfacing continues to rise, at some point, Sarasota County’s Public Works Department staff likely will have no choice but to delay some projects by a year or more, unless the County Commission decides to budget more money for the work, Spencer Anderson, the Public Works director, has told the commissioners.
During the board’s May 21 budget workshop, Anderson did suggest that the commissioners might want to pursue implementation of a special assessment of property owners, to provide more revenue for roadway maintenance. Then, he continued, other county funds allocated to that annual work could be dedicated instead to speeding up construction of roads that the board members have deemed a high priority. (See the related article in this issue.)
Some municipalities, he explained, “have a specific assessment” for resurfacing.
Anderson reminded the commissioners that the county’s Surtax 4 Program — which is funded by the extra penny of sales tax that voters have approved through 2039 — is the primary source of money for road resurfacing. A county ordinance dedicates 50% of the Surtax revenue to transportation initiatives, he pointed out.
“We use 50% of that 50% just for pavement management, [to maintain] what we have,” Anderson continued.
In some cases, he added, staff has transferred money that had been set aside for projects in the next fiscal year to the budget for initiatives planned in the current fiscal year “in order to complete the projects on time.”
Yet another option for board consideration, Anderson said would be to adjust the priorities of the county’s resurfacing program to try to ensure that the funds allocated each year can cover the projects chosen for that year. However, he pointed out, that would result in keeping a lower number of roads at the targeted level of service.
The current program calls for keeping 60% of all county roadways at a condition rating greater than or equal to 60 on a scale that goes up to 100. In 2013, then-County Engineer James K. Harriott Jr. explained to the commissioners that when the condition of a road falls below 60, the commissioners and staff begin to hear complaints from drivers.
During his May 21 remarks, Anderson pointed out that new software in use automatically assesses the level of service for each road — instead of staff’s continuing a manual inspection process. That software, he added, has been rating road conditions more highly. Therefore, he said, staff likely will make a formal proposal next year that the commissioners modify the level of service to call for 70% of county roads to have a condition rating of 70 or better.
Otherwise, he noted, if the program continued to use the 60 figure, more roads would be found to meet that level of service, resulting “in a false sense of security” about their actual condition.
“We’re still working through some of the nuances with this new software,” he told the board members, “to make sure it fits exactly what we want to reflect in our condition rating index.”
Anderson also explained that, starting in the 2023 fiscal year, the commissioners seated at that time agreed to adjust the pavement management budget each year in accord with what is called the Engineering News Record Building Cost Index (ENR BCI). That adjustment is made each Jan. 1, Anderson added.
For the 2023 fiscal year, the index was 13.94%, he said. Because “it was so significant,” he pointed out, “we didn’t use the entire [adjustment].” Instead, as shown in a chart, the increase that was approved was 3%, which added $401,700 to the overall budget for pavement management.
The index for the 2024 fiscal year was 8.39%, the chart said, while the adjustment for the 2026 fiscal year — which will begin on Oct. 1 — was put at 1.57%. The latter figure would add $243,545 to the budget, the chart showed.
Staff has been using more of the county’s gas tax revenue to boost the budget, Anderson said. The total Pavement Management Program budget for the 2026 fiscal year has been set tentatively at $18,625,000, the chart noted.
Another chart showed examples of projects with staff’s estimate for their expense and the lowest resulting bids that were deemed acceptable.
Anderson pointed to the initiative that included the resurfacing of Tuttle Avenue, Ashton Road and related school zones in 2023. Staff had estimated the cost at $3,945,448, the chart said. Yet, Anderson told the commissioners, “The bids [were] almost double …”
The chart showed that the lowest acceptable bid was $7,309,024.
Anderson did note that the staff estimate for the resurfacing of Beneva Road and the roads in various North County subdivisions in 2024 was $2 million, which was not as far below the lowest acceptable bid — $3,538,375 — as the Tuttle project had been.
Altogether, the slide said, for the seven projects listed, the bids ended up being $18,842,854 higher than the estimates for them. However, a note on the chart explained that other road segments were added to the Siesta Key initiative that began last year, before Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck, increasing the overall expense.
As for that Siesta work: Anderson said he had talked with leaders of the Siesta Key Association (SKA), which represents residents on the island, and learned that they are “pretty pleased” with the results of that project.
Yet another chart showed that staff expects the work on Siesta to be completed by Aug. 8.
Already, as illustrated in other graphics, staff is planning on resurfacing more major county roadways in the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years, Anderson continued. Because more lanes will be involved, he said, fewer projects have been proposed.
He did note that the list of roads for resurfacing is subject to change in upcoming fiscal years.
Anderson also discussed the county’s Pavement Preservation Program, which has resulted in the rejuvenation of approximately 45 lane miles this fiscal year. “I think this is the first year we did somewhat of a major roadway, which was Gulf Gate,” he added.
The expense of that program, he said, is low, compared to what it achieves.
A chemical is applied to the roadways, Anderson explained, to make them more flexible over time. “It’s not toxic.”
He added, “Traffic can go on [those roads] moments after it’s applied.”