You might have read in my previous posts and newsletters that under previous councils, the county budget had increased by nearly 50%, from $41 million to $61 million over the seven years from 2016 to 2023. This increase doubled the actual growth of the county and inflation. During that same time period, do you know how much prior councils increased funding for county roads? If you guessed zero, you would be correct. Roads are the number one concern of citizens, yet they received no additional funding despite a rapidly growing budget. From 2019 to 2022, only 5 miles of our county's 400 miles of paved county roads were paved. You read that right: five miles of 400 were paved during a three-year period. Last summer, our new conservative council majority increased funding for county road repairs by 47%. This was accomplished not through a tax increase, but through proper fund allocation. At the last council meeting, this increase in funding allowed us to approve a 22-mile paving contract this year, the largest county paving contract in at least the last 10 years, if not in history. Additionally, the roads department staff was operating with a 60% vacancy rate. That's right, they were left at half-staff. This was due to years of neglecting the pay scale, as the county was trying to hire workers at 15-20 year old pay rates. Good luck finding CDL drivers and heavy equipment operators for $13-$14 per hour. Our conservative council majority decided to stop kicking the can down the road, as prior councils had done, and we took decisive action. We instituted pay raises to bring those positions up to a competitive pay grade. Again, this wasn't done through a tax increase, but through proper fund allocation. As a result, the roads department is now at a 90% occupancy rate. When the vacancy rate was at 60%, the average time to repair a pothole was two weeks; now, we're down to five days. It's my goal to get us down to 48 hours. The majority of the roads in the county are state roads, and county council has no control or say over what happens with state roads. However, we do control county roads and we need to take care of what we can and do have control of. When we gained a conservative majority on the council, I said that it was our duty to show what conservative governance looks like. We can't do anything about what goes on in DC or Columbia, but we can here, and it’s our responsibility to do what’s right, right now, and right here. I understand that 22 miles doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a significant change from where we were. A ship doesn't turn on a dime, but our conservative council majority is taking decisive actions to correct issues that have been ignored for years. If you know of a particular county road that is in distress, please message me. The easiest way to tell a county road from a state road is that county roads do not have white lines on the shoulders.