HARTFORD — Road Commissioner Alan “Bim” McNeil submitted his preliminary summer roads budget to selectmen last week, which includes a roughly $20,000 increase for equipment rental and supplies.

He told selectmen on Thursday, Feb. 4, he kept the numbers mostly the same, sans the increases. His request totals $170,160, according to Selectmen Chair Lee Holman. Last year’s summer roads budget was $150,763.

The increases include budgeting $8,000 for a roller rental, which costs $3,900 a month, $5,000 for calcium, which is about $800 a ton, and $12,000 for culverts.

For the latter, McNeil said to have the culverts shipped directly from the factory to Braggs Pit where they’ve always been stored, a minimum $10,000 order is needed. The town does not have a highway garage.  This will also save the town money, he added.

“Plus they’re cheaper to buy. We won’t have to hire a 1-ton [truck] to go get two culverts,” McNeil said.

As for the special projects account, McNeil said normally $50,000 is raised a year. He shared a list of roads that could have work done on them including the west end of Stetson Road, Pratt Hill Road and Farrand Hill Road.

“I do think before the year is over we will be asked to pave Farrand Hill Road. There’s several houses right on the side of the road and they probably won’t like the dust,” McNeil said. He projected it to cost $70,000 to put a base on the road, from the Canton town line to the Hartford end.

He spoke with Lane Construction – which recently did other road work in town – to get a rough estimate of how much it will cost to pave a road. He said it’s $139,000 to do one mile.

“This is only an estimate. We would put this out to bid,” McNeil said. “I called them up to get some numbers to get my mind on a budget.”

He also suggested giving voters an option to allocate more than $50,000, possibly $200,000 or $250,000, for the special projects account.

“If we raise $50,000, which is what they’ve done each year, we’re not really going to be able to do much paving. That’s not going to be a mile anywhere,” McNeil said. “I think this is kind of up to the voters.”

The budget committee will now review McNeil’s draft budget. 

He also told selectmen Town Clerk Lianna Bedard just received a bill from Northland Supply for $5,100. Of that total, $4,100 was charged in June 2015 by then-Road Commissioner Jeremy Johnson for culverts and other supplies for Church Street. The rest McNeil ordered in July, including a pallet of calcium and a few small things, he said.

“I don’t know why we’re seven months later getting a bill,” he said. McNeil noted if the money has to come from the rest of his summer roads budget, he might not be able to do all the road work he had planned to this spring.

Holman and McNeil agreed the town has to pay its bill regardless.

“More concerning is having left it for that many months, it does put it into a different fiscal year and a different administration for the road commissioner,” Holman said about the bill.

She added she would get together with Bedard to figure out the best way to pay for the bill.

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