With Iola paying $300,000 annually in sales tax revenues to Allen County, the city’s ability to fund major capital improvements will be limited in the coming years, City Administrator Carl Slaugh said.
On Monday, Slaugh discussed capital improvement projects with Iola City Council members.
The city agreed in 2010 to earmark one-quarter percent of its sales tax revenues, or $300,000, to the county to help provide startup capital for a new Allen County Hospital.
In addition, the city expects to spend upward of $102,000 this year to extend water, electric and natural gas service to the hospital site on North Kentucky Street.
The city also has plans to spend $76,000 for the Prairie Spirit Trail’s extension from Cofachique Park on North State Street to the north edge of Riverside Park, and another $10,000 for construction of a new dog park in south Iola.
In addition to the $600,000 the city receives in sales tax revenues, Iola also receives about $155,000 annually in gasoline taxes, dedicated to mill and overlay projects; $21,000 in Kansas Department of Transportation highway maintenance funds; and $70,000 through utility payments for stormwater maintenance. Those revenues go to the city’s general fund.
Street and Alley Superintendent Dan Leslie provided council members with a prioritized list of street improvement targets.
Topping Leslie’s list is a complete reconstruction of Cottonwood Street from Madison to Lincoln. Crews rebuilt Cottonwood from Lincoln to Garfield in 2008, but only overlaid the Lincoln-to-Madison stretch because of fund limitations, Leslie explained, particularly when it came to utility relocation.
Leslie also noted that the city also is looking to extend North Cottonwood Street from the new Cedarbrook housing subdivision to Oregon Road.
Both projects would qualify for state funding, Leslie said, because Cottonwood is a major thoroughfare.
Leslie pointed out that the hospital’s construction also will push Kentucky Street improvements higher on the city’s priorities list, “and it may go higher still,” he said.
Leslie said the stretch connecting North Dakota Road — known to most Iolans as Strickler Road — to Oregon Road has extensive rutting with drainage issues, particularly where Coon Creek begins. Increased traffic will accelerate wear and tear on the street. The city also would qualify for state funding.
Leslie also targeted First Street, from Lincoln to East; Carpenter Street, from Kentucky to Eisenhower Road; North State Street drainage improvements, as well as along other areas near Coon Creek; and along Broadway Street, from State to Kentucky. The city would qualify for state funding for all of the projects, aside from the Coon Creek work.
He also identified a number of subdivisions around town, but those do not qualify for state funding in most cases, Leslie said.
The city has had success in recouping state funding for bridge replacement projects, Leslie said. He pointed to four spans crossing Coon Creek, along Sycamore, Walnut, Douglas and Chestnut streets, as those in most need of replacement.
