Normal hears you. Your constant calls to fix the streets are resonating with the town.
At its Town Council Budget Review Work Session on Tuesday Normal announced it was increasing its budget for the next five years for resurfacing to $22.7 million. Next year alone $5.5 million will be spent. Last year the town’s budget was $10.8 million for the next five years. So the increase for resurfacing is 110%.
“That’s a large increase over the previous years,” Ryan Otto, Normal Public Works Director, told us in an interview after his presentation. Otto also pointed out that the overall picture is larger saying, “It’s not just that (budget) line (item).”
Otto continued, “There’s a street improvement line, there’s a concrete streets concrete patching line … along with all of our work that we talked about earlier that’s not in house with our own crews, that puts us well into the recommended range for PASER (Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating) that we are looking at.”
PASER is a software package that utilizes data to help governments manage their road systems and convey information to the public. This is the first year Normal is utilizing that tool to determine budget priorities.
Council member Kevin McCarthy made a statement during the session that, “It is rare in government to get a five year look into the future.”
Kasper Files 414 Page Motion to Dismiss in Shoraga et al. v. Normal and Hounker
McCarthy was pointing out that when Normal looks at its operating budget it doesn’t just consider one year to the next like most government bodies do. Instead it looks five years down the road. While this can make budgeting a little more complicated, such as when one has to describe the increase discussed above, it is a great budgeting practice because it considers impacts a change made one year might have on future budgets.
It is a bit to early to know what streets will be overlaid this year. Otto says his staff is working on narrowing down the list. It is important to realize that while PASER considers the roadway surface other factors also come into play when determining what roads to overlay such as for example, the condition of the roadway beneath the surface. Otto said his staff is looking into other records such as what streets have been patched.
Normal Finance Director Andrew Huhn explained during his opening presentation beginning the session that the town is spending down its reserves. The city has more cash on hand than is recommended. Therefore Normal is putting these excess funds to work. Some of these funds are being transferred to the resurfacing program.
