Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies lays out the plan to begin paving city streets with an eye toward a possible grant to aid in funding the project. (T-L Photo/J.D. LONG)

MARTINS FERRY — Mayor John Davies spoke last week of the city’s future paving plans but reminded City Council that “it’s not going to get any cheaper.”

Davies’ plan calls for spending $1.2 million on paving projects now, with the money coming from the city’s income tax dollars “and our county money.”

“So, the city’s not going to have to put up the money for it,” he said, again reminding council of the plan to draw from income tax money out of the general fund.

Councilman Rick Rodgers said later that funds would also come from license plate fees and from Belmont County permissive funds as well.

He said the issue will first have to be presented to the street committee to be discussed with the finance committee before making a recommendation to come up with a fee “that is feasible.”

An Ohio Public Works Grant will also be sought for the project, but Rodgers said this would require matching funds. Service Director Andy Sutak said it would take approximately 15 years to pay off the project.

“So, it’s not going to get any cheaper,” Davies repeated. “Fifteen years ago, it was a lot cheaper than what it is today.”

He went over some of the areas to be paved, including Hillendale, Floral Valley, Ninth Street, “and then pick up whatever streets we can through there.” Davies figured these street surfaces would last around 30 years and said he couldn’t remember any of those streets being paved in that length of time.

“But we’ve got to start someplace because doing one street today and maybe one street in July ’til we get a little bit more money, we’re not going to get anything done,” he told council.

Sutak picked the subject back up during his report later in the meeting after Davies mentioned the possible grant funding. Sutak also left that up to council and said to let him know if members wished to move forward. He suggested possibly receiving a “better deal” if the city paves a certain number of streets around the same time without moving around too much. Davies agreed.

Councilman Jack Regis Jr. said he couldn’t see paving those streets mentioned without paving Fifth Street. Davies clarified that Fifth Street would be included when he mentioned the paving from Ninth Street “all the way to Hanover Street.”

Rodgers said his estimate just for Fifth Street back in 2017 was for around $401,000 from the fire station to Hickory Street. Sutak then picked up the subject and repeated the payback for $1.2 million would take 15 years.

“But we would actually have a way to pay that back, so it wouldn’t be like taking any extra funds,” he said, adding that the 4% of the income tax that would go toward paving would generate about $45,000.

Sutak said the city’s funds from the county permissive taxes is “roughly” $30,000 with another $5,000 or more from street and highway funding.” He surmised that $80,000 to $90,000 could be used to pay toward the paving each year.

“If we wait and just use the thirty-thousand and what we get in the four percent, we’re barely going to have seventy, seventy-five thousand dollars, which will probably get you maybe a couple blocks or so,” Sutak said. But he cautioned that he was not exact on these figures because of the unknown cost of asphalt this year.

Sutak said if the city received the $1.2 million grant, then it could invest it with more money going “back in for usage.”

“If we can pay either through a note or something in that perspective, or we can look into that,” he said. “All this is, is just something for council to think about.”