Lake County looks for levy increase for snowplow equipment
The Lake County Commissioners have signed Resolution 15-02 and scheduled a public hearing on March 24, 2015 in the Commissioner’s chambers in Polson to hear comments as to whether or not to seek a public vote on a $1.9 million dollar levy that would be dedicated to the purchase of new snow plowing equipment for the Lake County Road Department. The proposed levy would have a sunset of two years and would be conducted by mail ballot this spring.
Lake County received only one significant snowfall last season, but the snowfall brought to light the problems that the Lake County road department faces when trying to clear county roads of snow after a major storm. When at full strength the county has a fleet of nine dual purpose trucks for plowing; a 1979 Ford, two 1988 GMC’s, one 1998 International, one 2000 Sterling, one 2003 International, and three 2006 Internationals. The age of the trucks led to repairs this winter ranging from hydraulic line breaks to engine, transmission and plow frame failures resulting in a total expense of nearly $55,000. At the height of this winter’s storm, four of the trucks had to be taken out of service due to breakdowns. The impact to county residents is that it took crews nearly one and half weeks to plow the over 1,000 miles of county maintained roads with the remaining trucks, a job that could be done in two or three days with newer and better equipment. The county is also unable to take on additional county roads to plow due to the amount of time it takes to plow the currently maintained roads.
The $1.9 million dollar levy would allow the county to purchase new plows that would completely replace the existing fleet. The new purchases would include some smaller trucks capable of plowing some of the roads that our larger trucks have a difficult time plowing because of narrow roadways or inadequate space to turn around.
More details regarding the need for the new equipment and the yearly cost to individual taxpayers will be provided at the public hearing.
Gale Decker, Chairman Lake County Commissioners