Clinton credits planning for being able to pay cash for projects in village
CLINTON — For a community its size, the village of Clinton has a lot going on, and for the most part it is paying with cash.
The Marion Street construction project, which is seven blocks of Marion Street, Marion Court, Nellie Court and Kathy Street, are being pulverized right down to the base and paved.
“This is a big road construction project for the village; probably the biggest project we’ve done, short of Tecumseh Road,” village manager Kevin Cornish said.
The village’s annual general fund budget is $1.3 million. Cornish said the village had been saving for this project and so will be paying $370,000 cash for the project.
“Roads are always a big part of the budget. We did Kehoe Road last year for a cost of about $250,000, to put it into perspective. The Marion Street construction project is significantly bigger; it’s more blocks and the work more extensive,” village president Doris Kemner said.
The Kehoe Road construction project was a straight-forward mill and asphalt overlay, Cornish said. He indicated that the streets in the Marion project were constructed with inferior street base and that there was not enough subbase gravel to support the street and there was inadequate subbase drainage.
The village therefore has to remove all the asphalt, remove and replace some of the subbase, install some drainage pipe, then pave the streets, Cornish said.
The village is also replacing its 1960 electric substation which is at the end of its useful life.
“That’s going to be a $3.7 million project, which just started. The contractor is in the process of setting footings and performing underground work. Of that $3.7 million, we’re going to pay about $2.2 million in cash, which is unheard of,” Kemner said. “Most communities doing a project like this would pay about $500,000 in cash and borrow the balance. But, like we have been saying, we’ve known for 62 years that the electric substation would need to be replaced in about 60 years. So we started funding depreciation about 25 years ago so we could have money set aside to pay a significant portion of the cost."
Last year the village had to increase electric rates 3% to fund the $1.5 million loan for the project, Kemner said.
The village of Clinton and Clinton Township work together to manage the Clinton Fire Department.
“Fire chief Dennis Keezer and his officers have been great about controlling fire department costs. A number of communities bid out custom fire trucks that are significantly more expensive. The Clinton Fire Department bid out a commercial fire truck that is built on a Freightliner chassis," Cornish said.
Kemner added: “If the current fiscal year continues as budgeted with no surprises, the village should have enough money to pay $435,000 in cash for the new pumper truck.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Clinton paying cash for big projects
