County engineer Gary Pool says the county road budget for 2024 should be just over $28 million with the vast majority of funding coming from state and federal monies.
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Hancock County Commissioners are in the midst of hearing from multiple county department heads who are all preparing budget reports for financial needs in 2024. The head of the Hancock County Highway Department, engineer Gary Pool, spent some time at the most recent commissioners meeting discussing plans for next year and said he knows county leaders get many questions about the work his office does.
“We recognize that everyone drives on county roads every single day,” Pool said.
Pool spoke with the commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting and told the officials, who work with the County Council handling the purse strings, he’s projecting a budget for 2024 at $23.4 million for road work and projects and then another $5.1 million for salaries and equipment the public cannot directly use.
“It’s a pretty big budget because we’re doing a lot next year, just like we’re doing a lot this year, but it’s work that needs to get done,” Pool said. “We’ve tried to work it out that the vast majority of the budget is spent on things people can actually drive on.”
This year the county has paved some 50 miles of roads, but more paving is coming in 2024, Pool said, between 30 and 50 miles along with chip sealing. Pool stated his department also has planned a really big year in 2024 for road maintenance.
“We’re also in the process of getting six to seven new roundabouts in the county with some getting done this year and the rest within the next few years,” he said.
Pool also noted the vast majority of the funding for 2024 will come from state and federal funding, some 75% to 80%, with the county picking up the remainder, an estimated $5.4 million, which will come from the gas tax, Pool noted.
“Our commissioners know what projects we’re working on and what monies we are chasing, and most of the projects are backed with state money,” Pool said. “We all pay state and federal taxes, and we want as much of that money to come back to the county as possible and we do great on that.”
Pool noted federal grants are a “huge deal” to the county and end up funding at least some 80% of the work the county highway department does. Over the past 10 years, Pool estimates the county has been able to collect over $110 million in state and federal monies for county roads as well as local projects, and he noted that’s a lot of money.
“Every county gets some of that federal and state money, but my goal is to always try and get it to where we’re only paying somewhere in the 20% range with the state and federal dollars funding mostly everything else,” Pool said. “We feel like that’s pretty good.”
Pool wanted to remind residents that his department must plan for projects several years in advance, and that they must apply, about five years out, for state and federal money. That means planning is one of Pool’s biggest jobs.
“Grant money is going down across the board, and the most recent state budget really slashed grants,” he said. “I think the $10 million a year goal might get tough in the future but when County Road 600W is done, we can ease the pace a bit, and I think with capitol cost of money going up, it is slowing development and that will give us a breather.”
The exact total of state and federal monies coming back to the county during the nine years Pool has been in charge of the county highway department is approximately $112 million.
Pool said the commissioners and officials with the Hancock County Council are very good about letting him run the department and chase the money and complete the road projects he feels are best for the county, which are not always popular decisions.
“Some of these projects have cost them politically, but they have the courage to think longterm and it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and the construction is tough no matter what,” Pool said.
For the most part, Pool feels the projects his department work on end up working to help connectivity throughout the county and keep things rolling safely and smoothly.
“We drive the roads every day and generally don’t give roads and bridges we use a thought until they need repair,” he said.
While Pool knows the county roads and construction projects frustrate drivers at times, he said, overall, crews work hard and the department tries to avoid shutdowns as much as possible.
“If I do have to sit in traffic, it’s about five minutes or less,” Pool said. “That’s a lot better than when I lived in Indy.”
