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Local Roads Facing Decreased Revenues While Costs of Maintenance Rises

The infrastructure of America over the past two and a half decades has begun to crumble in many parts of the country.

This has not gone unnoticed by many lawmakers and for local highway engineers, they face a lack of funding to make improvements on a regular basis. One local engineer, Craig Fink, DeWitt County's Highway Engineer addressed the Clinton City Council Monday evening to update them on the condition of city and county roads and the challenges they face.

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Fink explains the tax you pay at the pump is slowly becoming a general tax. He explains there have been increases in fees in other areas but they are no longer subsidizing the costs for road maintenance, instead, they are going into a general capital fund, that locals do not have access to.

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An alarming trend Fink says they are seeing is the revenues they receive from the Motor Fuel Tax remain steady, but the cost of projects increasing.

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A cause for concern according to Fink is the state continues to increase certain fees that originally would have come back to roads, however, it no longer is. He believes they don't have any interest in making sure there is enough money come back locally to keep up roads.

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Much of the data Fink presented the City Council Monday, he says was very difficult to track down. He feels that should not be the case. He says tax payers should know where the taxes they pay at the pump are specifically going.

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