Well That Was Not Expected!

As mentioned yesterday morning, 491 was coming back up for discussion at the BOCC meeting... and what a discussion it was.

What seemed like a simple thing... adding 491 to an appropriations request... turned into a surprise... one commissioners were not expecting.

Commissioner Kinnard brought this item to the agenda. He stated that he had talked to newly elected state senator Ralph Massullo who had been appointed to the head of a senate transportation board. Massullo recommended that the county ask the state for $2.6 million this funding cycle.

Our senator leading a transportation board asking us to apply for state funding. Great huh?

Hold your horses.

Staff was called forward because there were some questions from the board on how all of this works. The total for the 491 project from Pine Ridge Blvd to Hampshire is $37 million for the 1.3 miles. This includes the planning, design, land acquisition, legal fees and construction. All in... $37 million.

So why only $2.6 million? It was money to go towards the planning and design costs for the project that was estimated to be $2.26 million.

The idea is to get the money for the design phase from the state, get the design done and then move forward with asking for more money for construction moving forward. Makes sense.

But (there is always a but)... a wrench was thrown into that plan.

Commissioner Finegan had a few questions that she wanted staff to answer. She basically wanted to know how the money would be used, what it would cover and how much the county would have to come up with. She questioned why we were asking for money when we had no plan to use it. She wanted to know what the plan would be and how all of this would work.

Staff replied that since this request would be for money to go towards the design phase of the project, it would then become a FDOT project and no longer a county project. Due to this and processes with the FDOT, the cost will be triple what it would cost the county to do it.

Ummm.. what?

Instead of $2.26 million for the design for this section, it would cost over $7 million and the county would not be in control of it. It would become FDOT managed project that would balloon to $7 million or more and have to go through all the bureaucracy of state government.

Needless to say, commissioners were shocked. They had assumed, as did everyone else probably, that if we got the appropriation, that it would just go to the county to then do the design and all that would be paid for by the state. None of them knew that it would then become a state project and the cost would skyrocket.

The commissioners then decided that it was impossible to ask for this request this year because it would be bad government to approve something that would end up costing 3x the amount. Also, while they could ask for an appropriation at any time, they felt it was not a good idea to ask for that this year without any type of plan in place on how to spend it. Makes sense. Why would Tallahassee just write a check blindly without knowing total project costs and the actual project plan?

The plan instead was to move forward with the project using impact fee money. It would cost around $13 million for the design, acquisition and legal fees for this 1.3 miles. Once that is done, we could then go to the state next year and ask for funding for the construction portion of the project, which would be around $24 million or so.

At one of the next two meetings, staff will come back with a plan to utilize impact fee money to begin the 491 expansion project's design phase, which includes the land acquisition and legal fees. They would then use that plan to approach Tallahassee for further funding for the road construction.

Now, one other interesting note. The county dodged a bullet. Remember last year with the 491 debacle and appropriation request? Despite some wanting to move forward with the "free" money, the commissioners ultimately decided to reject the senate request and said that they would decline the money. Some on social media were outraged that we would turn down state money that could help us get 491 moving.

Turns out, had we accepted that money, we (or the state, which is also our tax money) would be on the hook for an additional $4 million or so in fees because it would have become a FDOT project. It also would have taken significantly longer to go through that process than it would be as a county project. No one back then thought to have that conversation and ask those questions.

Bet you are glad we did not move forward then and that the public pressure was enough to get the BOCC to reject it. This is why I keep saying that you need to get involved. It works. In this instance, they largely listened and declined the money.

I am glad we had that conversation yesterday, asked the additional questions and did not blindly approve what appeared to be an amazing gift on the surface.