Mayor Says "Bonding for Road Repair is a Pothole, if not a Sinkhole"

Does the Village need more than the annual budget allocation of $1.3 million to repair roadways and should they issue bonds to finance the work? Mayor Jon Mark addressed this question at the Village Board meeting on Tuesday night April 28, prompted by Bob Harrison's call to replace 15-20 miles of Scarsdale's 79 miles of roads using debt financing.

Mark explained that $525,000 of the $1.3 million for road repairs in the 2014-15 budget has yet to be spent and will be used to patch and replace roads in the next few months. Another $925,000 will be available in the 2015-16 budget, and if that's not sufficient he said that the Board would analyze priorities and find ways to make additional funds available.

He said that "bonding for road repairs is not considered prudent fiscal management" and argued that if the Village borrowed money they would need to budget to repay the borrowed funds over many years, affecting their ability to keep the budget under the tax cap. Saying, "don't borrow long to solve a short term problem" he called road repair "a hardy perennial that is bound to reappear."

To those who suggested that each resident be levied a $100 fee to fund road repairs he answered that the NYS Taxing Authority does not permit the Village to impose this tax.

He answered critics who wanted to know why the Village would borrow for the library improvement project and not to repair the roads... saying, "Because a building remains for years." To others who asked him why he was "comfortable spending money for the revaluation and not road repair," he said, "The reval will pay dividends in the years to come with an updated database. This is a long term benefit in contrast to the short term benefit of road repair."

He explained that road repair is a seasonal business that has to be done when the temperature was above 40 degrees. Asphalt plants close in the winter so the Village has to wait to purchase asphalt until the spring. The Department of Public Works has already filled 1,800 potholes and it will take another month to fill another 1,800. In addition, contractors have been hired by the Village to do more extensive roadwork. In the meantime, he urged drivers to drive sensibly.

He concluded by saying that "Bonding for road repair is a pothole if not a sinkhole."