Patching is underway on Perry’s weather-beaten streets, Perry Public Works Director Jack Butler told the Perry City Council Monday night.
“We’re making our way,” Butler said. “We did eight hours Friday, 15 almost 17 tons we did. They did 12 or 13 today. We made two trips with our haul truck to Des Moines, and we stockpiled some because they’re running out. We’ve never had a problem with the suppliers running out of cold patch. This year’s a different story.”
The city buys its cold patch from Grimes Asphalt and Des Moines Asphalt, Butler said. If demand exceeds supply and the suppliers sell out, then the city will have to resort to back up plans.
“Then you’re dumping gravel in the holes just to try to deaden the blow until the plants open up,” he said, “and that doesn’t happen until the temperatures stay above freezing at night for a long period.”
Butler asked that Perry residents try to be patient as the street crews work their way filling the potholes.
“We’re working our way through town, so we’ll definitely get them all squared away,” he said. He also said alleyways will be repaired once the ground dries out a little more.
In the longer term, about 45 city blocks were resurfaced with hot mix asphalt (HMA) in 2016 at a cost of about $850,000, and the city is saving money for a similar project planned for summer 2020.
Since a large multi-block project done every few years is more cost effective than small overlay projects done each year, this year’s city budget again sets aside $130,000 in Road Use Tax Fund dollars and $100,000 from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds in an HMA Resurfacing Fund.
The city’s higher revenues from the Road Use Tax Funds followed a 10-cent fuel tax increase approved by the Iowa General Assembly in 2015. The city is also seeing higher LOST revenues now that the tax is collected countywide.
