Patterson takes on more street repair work

PATTERSON — The City Council on Tuesday took another step in a series of street improvements.
The council is considering a bond issue of $570,000 to fix as much as they can on a list of streets, most of which are currently gravel roads.
The council also got a look at City Accountant Reginald Weary’s proposal for a city government budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Streets
Patterson’s city government has been busy with street work. In addition to hundreds of thousands in repairs made possible by a parish government bond issue and revenue-sharing arrangement, Patterson also plans to use $680,000 in Community Development Block Grant money for more street projects.
The work discussed Tuesday night focuses on the hard cases: generally short pieces of road, most covered with gravel and with low traffic.
The list of potential projects includes portions of 24 streets, all but three of which are gravel roads. Only seven of the projects are for stretches longer than 860 feet.
The Providence Engineering cost estimate for all 24 projects is about $984,000, so the city government will have to come up with a priority list for the work.
The city would pay for the work by borrowing against revenue from an existing 8.3-mill property tax. A mill is 1/10th of a cent in tax applied to each dollar of assessed valuation. Then assessed valuation of residential property is 10% of its market value.
The gravel streets on the list of projects includes portions of Taft, Eighth, Ninth, 10th, 11th, Tall Timbers, Fern, Dangerfield, Vaughn, Willow, St. Mary, St. Lucy, Sugarhouse, Stable, Joseph, Lucia, Progresso, Morrison, Rousell, Laws and Jake.
Streets that are on the list and already have overlays include Park, Shady Grove and Bridge.
The most expensive project on the list is Shady Grove between Red Cypress Road to Cul-de-Sac at about $153,000. The smallest is Willow between Taft and Martin Luther King, estimated to cost $5,400.
Budget
The proposed 2021-22 budget anticipates revenue of about $8.48 million, up about $23,000 from this year, and spending of about $8.1 million, down about $110,000 in 2020-21.
Weary budgeted an increase of $30,000 in tax revenue over the current year.
He described the budget as fiscally conservative and says it maintains the current levels of service.
A public hearing on the budget is set for the next regular council meeting at 6 p.m. June 1.
Proclamation
The council also adopted a resolution declaring this week to be Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Week.
The resolution says the sorority has demonstrated its commitment to educational development, economic development, physical and mental health, political awareness and involvement, and international awareness and involvement.