Aurora is looking at about a $9.5 million road resurfacing plan for 2023.
City Council members on the Finance Committee Thursday recommended the contract to Geneva Construction Co., of Aurora, which was the only qualified bidder for the 2023 program.
The contract includes resurfacing of more than 43 miles of streets throughout the city. That compares to almost 36 miles done in 2021, and a program for more than 40 miles in 2022. The 2022 program still is going on because there was an operator’s strike during the year that delayed some of the work.
“When you’re talking about streets, you’re dependent on weather, labor and supplies,” said Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, a committee member.
Overall, the city maintains about 1,300 lane miles, and those streets have pavement with a wearing surface life expectancy of 20 to 25 years. The $9.5 million contract is about 1.05% lower than the engineering estimate for the work.
The contract would be paid for by a combination of motor fuel tax funds from the state, local motor fuel funds collected separately by the city of Aurora, some federal Community Development Block Grant funding, and some money from the city’s capital projects funds.
Because there is federal funding in the mix, the city’s local preference ordinance did not apply to the contract.
The actual amount of the city program was to be about $9.35 million, but another $115,000 was added to the work for the 9th Ward, to be paid for by 9th Ward funds. That money will do some work on streets that were not in the program at first.
In combination with recommending the program, the Finance Committee also recommended appropriating $3.8 million from the state motor fuel tax fund to put toward the program. Another $2 million will come from the city’s own motor fuel tax charged on gas purchased in Aurora.
Chris Minick, the city’s finance director, told aldermen the city has the $2 million in the local fund. The city estimates it will collect another $1.7 million from the local fuel tax this year, he said.
Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, Finance Committee chair, said he thinks Aurorans like to know that some motor fuel tax collected at the pump in Aurora goes directly to the city’s streets. It might make the difference when they are deciding to buy gas in Aurora or Batavia, he said.
“I think Aurorans like to keep their money here,” he said.
The 2023 money proposed to be spent by ward is: $980,650 in the 1st Ward; $751,300 in the 2nd Ward; $438,400 in the 3rd Ward; $593,500 in the 4th Ward; $912,700 in the 5th Ward; $741,700 in the 6th Ward; $629,000 in the 7th Ward; $864,500 in the 8th Ward; $1.1 million in the 9th Ward; and $988,175 in the 10th Ward.
Tim Weidner, engineering coordinator, said the work for the 2023 road resurfacing plan will be substantially done between May and November, and each project takes between eight to 10 weeks.
The full council will consider the program list at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
