Tom Green County to Apply for State Funds to Fix Oil Boom Fatigued Roads

On Friday Dec. 20 there will be a public hearing at 1:00 p.m. to discuss a possible grant through the County Energy Reinvestment Zone.

The purpose of the hearing is only going to discuss and take input on whether or not we want this grant,” said Interim County Judge Steve Floyd. “

According to Floyd, the zone will not have a tax impact where it is implemented.

“It’s nothing more than a statutory mechanism that the legislature put on it… it’s administrative that we have to create this,” said Floyd. “If we want to take this grant money, we are required by law to create this tax zone.”

The public hearing will be used to both inform the public, as well as see what the public would like to add to the projects list. Said projects would mostly be roads and bridges heavily impacted by energy traffic.

Afterwards, the next discussion 30 days after is the projects to be funded. “We want to make sure we have enough projects to cover our allocations,” Floyd explained.

As of now, Floyd says that Tom Green County is guaranteed $400,000 from the state, with a 20% match being required from the county, bringing the total to about $480,000.

However, Floyd mentioned that the county could receive a potential $500,000 to $600,000 due to other counties opting out, or by the fact that allocated money not used returns to the state to be redistributed.

“It’s probably one of the better opportunities from the state, with what I call about the cleanest money you’ll get,” Floyd explained.

Photo courtesy of Peddle Pushers blog.