2022-02-28-minutes-public-works-study-session

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Executive Summary The Kittitas County Board of County Commissioners adopted Public Works' twenty-year Transportation Improvement Plan with Resolution 2018-165. The plan identifies a funding shortfall of approximately $100 million dollars financing necessary improvements to the County's aging Public Works infrastructure. The plan evaluates all funding mechanisms in state law and inventories strategies for funding the shortfall. In 2018, Public Works identified a significant Road Fund Levy increase of approximately 98 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value as the necessary increase meeting identified plan improvements. The identified funding shortfall was approximately $50 million. Recognizing the likelihood of not raising the Road Levy by $0.98/$1,000; Public Works spent the bulk of 2021 re-evaluating critical infrastructure needs and completed an intensive review of existing programs and improvement strategies. The project costs estimate in 2018 were planning level estimates. The project estimates in the ten-year plan are significantly refined. A much more intensive engineering evaluation accompanies projects selected for the ten-year plan. This refined approach reduces the funding shortfall to approximately $10 million. This ten-year Transportation Asset Management Plan provides the County a specific path forward addressing critical transportation asset investments. The plan advances two key scenarios: PRESERVATION and REHABILITATION/REPLACEMENT. PRESERVATION assumes current revenue streams will continue with additional Road Fund Levy. This course of action maintains existing road maintenance service levels and replaces critical bridges and key road upgrades for the next ten years. The cost of this service level is estimated to require an increase of the Road Fund levy of $0.15/$1,000 of assessed value. REHABILITATION/REPLACEMENT allows for the existing road and bridge network to remain but does not fund critical bridge replacements nor support significant road network upgrades. Currently, the Road Levy is $1.04/$1,000 of assessed property value. Management will have the option to divest from Public Works assets (roads, bridges, and facilities) creating fund savings that will then go in a prioritized fashion to keeping a backbone system in place. This service level necessitates allowing the local roadway network to decline in order to preserve funding for more important routes on the public roadway system. By divesting from local road maintenance, the savings will then be applied to prioritized bridge replacements and key road upgrades. The longer the County delays acting on a Road Levy increase, the greater the impact from deferred maintenance and the larger the decline in public works infrastructure leading to increased costs. Current cash reserves will carry the PRESERVATION program another two years — after that — management will need to begin divesting of Public Works assets. Kittitas County Department of Public Works 2022-2032 Transportation Asset Management Plan Janaury 2022: Page 2