TIFFIN, OH (WTOL) - The city of Tiffin is trying once again to get their residents to approve a new levy to help fund road repaving
Currently Tiffin budgets $400,000 a year for road repaving.
But according to assistant city engineer Matt Watson, the funding will only allow them to repave the city's 89 road miles every 40 years, while asphalt has an estimated lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
Resulting in the city needing a May ballot measure of a .25 percent income tax levy approved. If approved, the levy would generate $1.3-1.5 million a year for the city to repave multiple roads at the same time.
Watson said the constant rising of cost in asphalt prices has chipped away at how many roads the city can repave.
"We went through the bids from 2005 to 2017, and the actual cost of asphalt has doubled over that 12 year period. So, with the cost of asphalt doubled but we're still spending the same amount annually. So, we basically need to double our budget with the cost of asphalt," said Watson.
The city had originally put the levy on last November's ballot, but the issue was voted down. The city of Tiffin has said that they would like to raise their repaving budget to $1,000,000 a year.
If this levy passed, that excess money raised would be set aside for future big projects like bridge replacement.
