The July 9 Etowah County Commission meeting was dominated by a complaint about roads in a part of the county that expanded into a discussion of road funding in general — something all parties agreed is lacking.
Mickey Naylor, a resident of the Smith's Institute community, addressed commissioners about the roads in that area, calling them “horrible” and asking who he should contact when his vehicle needs alignment or repairs because of the conditions.
“This is unsatisfactory,” said Naylor, who claimed roads in the area — Gregg, Horton Gap and Leeth Gap Cutoff were mentioned — haven't been properly repaired since he retired from the military in 2009.
He said crews have re-graveled some roads, “then you've got tar all over everyone's cars and windows getting chipped because come through and are picking up rocks and slinging them.”
Naylor said he started with the commission as “the first step in the chain of command.” He noted that gasoline taxes were raised in 2018 to raise funding for roads and he questioned where the money is being spent, “because I know where it's not being spent — in our area.”
Commission President Tim Ramsey said the county gets a little more than 2 cents a gallon from the 2018 Rebuild Alabama gas tax hike for road construction, about $1.5 million a year, with each commission district getting a sixth of the money.
Ramsey said combined with some efforts to make the process more streamlined and efficient, it allows the county to pave 20 miles of road a year, compared to 6 miles a year before the tax increase.
The problem is there are 866 miles of roads in the county, and as Ramsey put it, “We need to be paving 80 miles a year.”
That would put the county on a 20-year repair cycle; at the current rate, it would be on a 50-year cycle.
Materials also have doubled in cost since 2018. County Engineer Robert Nail said it costs about $250,000 a mile to asphalt roads, about $75,000 a mile to apply tar and gravel.
“Funding is woefully inadequate for what we need to do,” Ramsey said. “We went 26 years without raising anything on our taxes as far as roads, and in those 26 years our roads got into terrible shape.”
He challenged Naylor to contact state legislators about the issue, since the commission can't raise additional revenue, only the Legislature can.
Naylor questioned why that should be the people's responsibility, noting that they elect commissioners to be their voice, and why funding for roads is so inadequate.
“It's because they (legislators) are worried about votes, worried about raising taxes when because people raise heck when they do it,” Ramsey said.
He said Gov. Kay Ivey “shoved the gas tax down their throats and said, 'We're going to do this' ” in 2018, and it is rebuilding Alabama.” He noted that the money goes strictly to roads; it can't be used for salaries, equipment and the like.
Blount and St. Clair counties have added a local 4-cent gas tax earmarked for roads, Ramsey said, but said at least one local legislator pledged in 2022 to seek repeal of the 2018 tax and there was a constant social media drumbeat about “remember how they raised our gas taxes.”
“We can talk until we're blue in the face,” Ramsey said, “but until citizens say, 'We've had enough, we're going to talk to our legislators,' ” nothing will change. He told Naylor that he “didn't mind him coming here fussing,” and challenged him to bring his neighbors next time, and legislators “might see that and hear their voices.”
Jamie Grant, commissioner for that district, said he'd been on the roads in question and would get out there again. However, he told Naylor, who referred to the body as “road commissioners,” that their role has been expanded and that those responsibilities lie totally with the road department and county engineer, to ensure an “even playing field” and prevent commissioners from prioritizing their own roads.
And Nail noted that Gregg Road is on the list to be paved this year, hopefully by the end of August.
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