County to fund bridge project
WAYNESBURG – Greene County commissioners are expected to award a contract today to replace one of the last county bridges for which state money will be available to cover the county’s share of the costs.
At an agenda meeting Wednesday, the commissioners voted to place on the agenda for today a motion to award a contract to replace Bridge No. 36 on Forney Hollow Road over Robert Run in Wayne Township.
The apparent low bid for the project is $955,000, submitted by Clearwater Construction, county Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said.
The bridge is one of the last for which the county will receive state money under Act 26 to cover its share of the costs of county bridge projects, Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said.
“Act 26 no longer exists,” Zimmerman said.
Last month, the commissioners adoption an ordinance to imposing a $5 vehicle registration fee to help compensate for the loss of the Act 26 money. That act provided money to pay the county’s 20 percent match for state and federal transportation grants used for local bridge projects. With Act 26, the full cost of county bridge projects was paid with either state or federal money.
Now, the county will have to pay a 20 percent match.
“There are 87 bridges the county has to take care of. That’s a lot of bridges,” Commissioner Archie Trader said.
The commissioners were permitted to levy the $5 vehicle registration fee under Act 89 of 2013, which also provided money for state highway projects through the removal of the cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax.
The $5 fee, which will be added to a vehicle owner’s current $36 vehicle registration fee, is expected to raise about $190,000 a year for the county to use on local transportation projects.
That amount would be almost exactly what the county’s share is for county Bridge No. 36 which, based on the low bid, would be about $191,000, not including the cost of design and engineering.
The county still has about two or three other bridge projects now in the works that will be eligible for the Act 26 money, Marshall said later. Then, it is on its own.
In other business, the commissioners agreed to consider a motion today to amend the natural gas lease with Vantage Energy to add one parcel not included in an amendment approved last month to participate in the pooling of gas leases.
The county signed a lease with Vantage, then Tanglewood Exploration, in 2009 for natural gas extraction under the county fairgrounds, airport and several other properties in Franklin Township.
The county, so far, has received more than $1 million in revenue from upfront payments and royalties on county property that has been drilled at the airport, Marshall said. The money is place in the county’s general fund.
The commissioners announced the start of a quarterly recycling program for electronics that will be held at the Greene County Fairgrounds. The collections will be held between 2 and 5 p.m. on April 20, July 13, Sept. 14 and Dec. 14.