SUMNER – Selectmen have begun to research a possible bond to bring the town’s roads up to par.

The issue arose at a meeting of the selectmen and the Budget Committee last month at which Selectman Tom Standard said, “We’re never going to have anything much better than we have unless we bite the bullet” and issue a bond.

At Monday night’s selectmen’s meeting, Standard reported that he had met with Phil Curtiss, a consultant for the Maine Local Roads Center, who estimated that the cost of significantly improving all but the least-used roads in town would be $4.25 million.

“A lot of these roads were just cow paths that they kept adding to and were never properly built as a road,” Standard said. “Most of them need complete rebuilding to get them up where they ought to be.”

Town Clerk Susan Runes noted that the yearly payments on a bond that size would be higher than the $110,000 the town currently budgets for roads each year.

The decision of whether to continue to appropriate just enough money to repair the roads, or to take out a bond that would allow a more permanent solution to the problem, will ultimately be made by the voters. Selectmen will present the topic for discussion at the town meeting on Aug. 9, to be voted on at a later date.