Both the City of Jackson and the State of Michigan are pushing for funding to fix the roads as fast as possible.
Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies joined WKHM with a plan. “Probably the most robust, comprehensive, smartest plan you could think of,” Dobies said. “(There’s) a lot of different components to it, but in large, we’re going to try to fix all of the roads in the city and put us on a sustainable path to maintain those roads over the next 20 years. It’s a very aggressive approach to getting our streets fixed.”
Eventually the voters will make the choice with a yes or no to a millage.
“I think people are just fed up, and want to be able to pay to fix their roads. I think that’s something that we’re going to have to do here. We’re going to have to allow for somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 mills. Its something we’re going to have to talk to City Council about. It’s not something we can fix with the funds that we currently have. In fact, in the last budget cycle, we actually doubled the amount of money that was going to our local streets. If you think about that, people have seen a lot of orange barrels around, but we’re hoping to really accelerate that and put even more orange barrels out there.”
The City is holding three community meeting this month to lay out the plan, and hear community feedback and input:
- Tuesday, January 8th – Martin Luther King Center, 1107 Adrian Street. 6pm
- Thursday, January 10th – Carnegie Library, 224 W. Michigan Ave. 6pm
- Monday, January 14th – Calvary United Methodist Church, 925 Backus St. 6pm
At the state level meanwhile, there is talk of fee increases to be dedicated to road work, which is something State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey is not ready to support. “I’m not going to tell her (Governor Gretchen Whitmer) in bold letters “no”, but I’ve been saying all along that I believe we need to let the current plan play itself out to become fully implemented which would be into next year, 2020,” Shirkey said. “(When)we implemented $1.2 billion per year spending in perpetuity, and then evaluate the progress we’ve made or not, and then determine whether we need to raise more money. I don’t think it’s the right time to do it. I’m fine with her pressing that we need to do more, I’m fine with her pressing with keeping it a priority. I’m not fine at this stage and time with adding on more fees and more costs to taxpayers.”
