Coming under budget has leftover some funding that will help pay for some additional road work. The Dexter Township Board of Trustees approved its second road agreement this year with the Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC).
At the Sept. 17 meeting, the township board approved to sign an agreement for $100,000 with the WCRC.
The basis for the board’s decision is that the Dexter Township Board of Trustees budgeted $500,000 for local road repairs and approved a road work contract this past March 2024 for $470,000 worth of repairs. The board said this was part of its multi-year commitment to bringing all local connector roads up to “Good” condition, beginning in calendar year 2022 and with a planned completion in calendar year 2025.
“The actual cost of the CY24 work was $400K instead of $470K, leaving $70K remaining to be reapportioned to other work,” the board report said. “An additional $30K was budgeted but not allocated, bringing the total available for the current fiscal year to $100K.”
According to the township, the three remaining roads are Stinchfield East, Quigley and Madden.
Based on the township’s rubric, “these roads were originally scheduled for this year, but we moved them to next year because of the Road Commission’s safety project at North Territorial and Dexter Town Hall Road.”
Township supervisor Karen Sikkenga said, “It is the second agreement of the year, made feasible by the fact that the projects on this year’s agreement came in under budget.”
Sikkenga said this second agreement will fund canopy work on Wylie Road, previously deferred to keep costs down.
“It is a best practice to conduct tree work in the fall because it minimizes the spread of oak wilt,” Sikkenga said. “Also, the WCRC expects costs will escalate 7 percent next year, so this helps keep the cost down. This contract will also complete the Quigley Road work.
The second project is Quigley Road, Dexter Townhall Road to Brand Road, and it includes drainage improvements, heavy brushing, shaping the existing surface, and the application of 6 inches of 22A Gravel (C.I.P.) (approximately 2,800 tons) with associated dust control and project restoration.
The Dexter Township Board packet said “the Road Commission is preparing a budget estimate as of this writing to estimate the cost of the remaining work in CY25/FY26 for Madden and Stinchfield Woods East (ditching and adding material).”
After next year, Dexter Township said it “will move into maintenance mode. In maintenance mode, roads with 500 or more daily users will receive attention every five years, and roads with under 500 daily users will receive attention every ten years.”
