The Lamar County Board of Supervisors hopes to start improving county roads by issuing no more than $7 million in bonds.
Supervisors set the bond process in motion at their recent meeting at the William J. “Pete” Gamble III Chancery Courthouse by hiring the law firm of Butler Snow to issue the bonds. County Administrator Joseph “Jody” Waits said improving the roads will take several steps.
Lamar County's County Administrator Joseph "Jody" Waites.
“Board members are currently working with the county engineer to get a list of road projects that are currently planned and on the board,” he said. “They will get them prioritized so when the bond is done, they can begin to work quickly. They would probably have three years to get it done.”
Waits said payoff from the 10-year bonds would come from state funds, not from the local tax base.
“The funding to pay that bond back is going to come from the infrastructure bill that was passed by the Legislature in last year’s session,” he said. “We expect to get close to $800,000 a year in new money for road projects and infrastructure. That’s what we’re pledging to pay the bond back over ten years.”
Starting early on the construction will also save money, Waits said.
Waits said payoff from the 10-year bonds would come from state funds, not from the local tax base.
“By doing that, we can go ahead and take advantage of lower bond rates and construction costs that are only going up,” he said. “We can get started now and get these things done, rather than save that in years and try to do it piecemeal.”
The supervisors are familiar with escalating costs and shifting timelines.
“You can talk to individual supervisors, but it’s just about where they can only do about half the roads they used to do 10 or 15 years ago,” Waits said. “Certainly with all the infrastructure projects in the state, it’s driving competition for contracts and materials, and it’s kind of crazy.”
Waits said each project would require its own bidding process.
“Each (project) would have to bid out individually, and that is part of what we’ve got to get ready for because that can take some time,” he said.