Fiscal Note
Under the current process, jurisdictional transfer takes place when a County owned roadway within a City or Village is re-constructed. After the transfer takes place, routine maintenance costs that were previously shared between the City and County are now the full responsibility of the City. Components of routine maintenance include:
• Annual traffic signal & street lighting electricity costs
• Annual street sweeping & snow plowing costs
• Crack seal repairs every 5-10 years
• Chip seal & crosswalk marking every 5-10 years
• Full resurface every 15-20 years: Costs evenly split between City and County
In the case of the City of Madison, portions of the following costs fall to the City regardless of who maintains the street:
• Street Lighting (Annual expense)
• Street Sweeping (Annual expense)
• Cross Walk Marking (Every 5-10 years)
The average cost per lane mile for all routine maintenance is approximately $26,600. There is currently 78.3 County lane miles of roadway in the City of Madison. If the City were to take on all maintenance of these roadways, the increase cost would be approximately $2.1 million annually.
Title
Resolution Requesting Dane County Eliminate its Policy on Requiring Jurisdictional Transfer of County Highways
Body
WHEREAS; in 1999 the Highway Committee of the Dane County Board adopted a policy on jurisdictional transfer of county highways that said the county shall consider a transfer of ownership to a municipality whenever the county reconstructs a county highway within a city or village; and
WHEREAS; in practice, this policy has been implemented in a more uncompromising fashion, forgoing a reconstruction project when a municipality has refused the transfer of ownership; and
WHEREAS; taken to its logical end, such an approach would divest the County of all responsibility for county trunk highways (CTH) in cities and villages although residents living in cities and villages contribute between 80 to 90 percent of Dane County’s levy and vehicle registration revenues; and
WHEREAS; in the 18 years since the county highway committee adopted its policy there have been fundamental changes to the laws governing local governments, most notably the implementation of strict levy limits and the updating statutes governing larger counties; and
WHEREAS; all levels of local government are now operating under levy limits, although, the county also receives revenue from a half-cent sales tax and the recently-enacted vehicle registration fee; and
WHEREAS, local governments should be open to a discussion about adjusting lane miles to create a more efficient distribution of jurisdictional responsibility, but transfers of ownership should be the exception, based on criterion such as efficiency and transportation planning policy.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the City of Madison requests that Dane County suspend its practice of requiring cities and villages to take ownership of a county highway as a precondition to any county highway reconstruction projects,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City requests that the County work cooperatively with municipalities to re-establish a logical county highway system; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the City requests that the County join municipalities in a discussion of how to revise and update the county’s highway policy and how it is implemented.