ST CHARLES, Mo. — A plan in St. Charles County calls for millions of dollars to be directed to road repair in 2022.
St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann unveiled a plan to fix potholes with American Rescue Plan Act funds, county sales tax and municipal budgets.
"We won't just fill five potholes, we'll go ahead and replace concrete slabs, we'll fix curbs that are broken, we'll do the sorts of things that we haven't been able to do because we have been forced to spend a lot of our money building and maintaining a greater state system," Ehlmann said.
The county was having to pay for repairs that are now covered by the Missouri Department of Transportation's motor use fee.
The St. Charles County repairs include replacing broken concrete slabs and deteriorating asphalt. The work would need to be done by the end of 2022.
The plan would make the funds available proportionate to the area's population in the county.
The plan directs $10 million of ARPA funds to the project, and $10 million from the county's transportation sales tax. Municipalities would need to match the county sales tax funds on their projects.
The county executive's office said subdivisions have expanded the miles of roads and number of travelers in St. Charles County. The money would help clear the resulting backlog of repairs needed.
“By the County using $10 million of the ARPA allocation to fund additional pothole repair and slab replacement, and combining that with $10 million from the ½-cent Transportation Sales Tax in matching funds for the municipalities as they use their ARPA or general funds to repair roads, the overall program could result in thousands of slab replacements and miles of asphalt repair on the county’s local and subdivision roads,” Ehlmann said in an emailed news release.
Ehlmann presented the plan to the county council Tuesday night. He hopes the council will approve the plan by the end of the month.
If that happens, the potholes and road repairs will start immediately and continue all year.