BY RITA COOK / News Editor
Body
ELLIS COUNTY – If you’re like me, you are over all the roadwork in Ellis County.
However, roadwork means better roads and less damage to vehicles – and that’s a good thing.
Ellis County’s Public Information Specialist Corey Rogan put together some research explaining how the road improvement process works in each precinct in the county. As he put it, “Because road improvement projects can be somewhat complex when it comes to planning and funding.
“County roads are maintained by each of our four road and bridge precincts,” Rogan explained.
“The commissioner for each precinct then serves as the presiding authority over road improvement funds. At the beginning of each fiscal year, each road & bridge precinct receives an equal amount of revenue from the Ellis County General Fund.”
Rogan said according to what he has learned from the county’s auditor, a precinct is then allowed to use this revenue allocation for maintenance and operating expenses as well as road improvement projects. For fiscal year 2022, each road & bridge precinct received a revenue allocation of $848,295 from the General Fund.
“Please keep in mind that this allocation adds to whatever fund balance each precinct already has to carry over from previous fiscal years,” Rogan added.
To take that a step further, apart from the General Fund allocation, each road & bridge precinct receives an allocation of farmer-to-market road revenue too.
According to the Ellis County auditor, farmer-to-market road revenue is raised through a separate set of property taxes, and the State of Texas also disburses a small amount of “lateral road” funding to the county that adds to this revenue before it is allocated to the precincts.
“Unlike General Fund revenue, farmer-to-market road revenue can only be used for road improvement; it cannot be used for maintenance & operating costs,” Rogan said.
More generic types of improvements come from the General Fund allocation and in Fiscal Year 2022, each road & bridge precinct received a farmer-to-market road revenue allocation of $1,547,170. This allocation also adds to the already available fund balance in each precinct.
As of September 27, the fund balances of each of Ellis County’s four road & bridge precincts included:
PRECINCT 1: $3,369,880 of General Fund allocation; $3,404,887 of farmer-to-market road allocation;
PRECINCT 2: $2,976,367 of General Fund allocation; $2,118,153 of farmer-to-market road allocation;
PRECINCT 3: $2,761,797 of General Fund allocation; $2,445,195 of farmer-to-market road allocation;
PRECINCT 4: $3,449,455 of General Fund allocation; $3,196,572 of farmer-to-market road allocation.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
