At the June 17 County Commission meeting, as often happens the room was packed over a road issue. In this case, it was residents of the Aucilla Shores area, who wished to turn over their roads to the county so they could be paved since they could not afford to pave them. They quickly learned of the catch-22 involved: To do so, they would have to bring them up to county standards- basically have them paved, which they cannot afford to do. There is a solution possible, but it will take some work to sell it.
Residents of the Valley View area are going through the process of the Private Road Improvement Program- a system the county has adopted based upon a model from Marion County. This system allows the county to upgrade the roads, and then pass on the cost via property taxes over time to only those property owners that will benefit. That way, the rest of the county’s property owners are not paying for something they won’t use.
Speakers at the meeting justifiably expressed concern that there was not enough support in their area to get a majority to vote for the program. I learned some of the numbers involved, so the options can be evaluated:
• There are about 33 miles of roads in the affected area. Of these, only 3-5 miles are main roads that would really need paving.
• The coordinator estimated the cost to upgrade the roads to pavement would cost about $185,000 per mile.
• There are about 299 property owners in the affected area. Of these, only about 33 are known to be in favor of a road improvement program.
Given these numbers, if 5 miles are paved, the cost is about $925,000. Spreading this out over 33 owners over 10 years adds an unaffordable $2,800/year to property taxes (there would be an interest cost as well, so it would be higher). However if the cost were spread out over the 299 owners, the annual cost per owner drops to a far more affordable $325 +/-. Dropping it to 3 miles reduces the cost to about $200 annually. Extending the time to pay from 10 to 20 years drops the 5 mile annual cost to under $200. Here is where the sale of the idea comes into play.
People usually own vacant land for a couple of reasons. They may desire to build on it later on, or they may be holding it to eventually resell it. Having paved road access does a number of positive things for either situation:
• For those that live there or will live there, it means their vehicles are not being torn up by traveling on rough roads. It’s very possible to spend over $300/year on vehicle repairs due to suspension damage such as misalignment.
• For those holding land as an investment, having paved road access greatly increases the sales appeal of the land. When a buyer looks at land, they may reject a parcel due to access.
• Another factor is that in the event of an emergency, be it weather, medical, or law enforcement, having the main access roads paved means it’s easier to evacuate or get the help residents need.
I’m not a salesman, but someone that is could repackage this information and sell it to a majority of the remaining 266 owners so the area could get needed help with their roads.
Paul Henry