Municipalities receive consensus funds

The town of Saratoga did not necessarily get all the money they requested from the Carbon County consensus funding meeting on Oct. 10, but it was good enough for Mayor John Zeiger and Town Clerk Suzie Cox.

The town of Saratoga originally placed a request from for $400,000 to fund the 2015 street improvement project. The project will go towards repairing potholes and chip sealing on various town roads.

However, after the meeting of Carbon County municipalities on Friday in Rawlins, it was determined Saratoga will only received $300,000. Saratoga is expected to contribute about $50,000 of their own funds towards repairing the roads.

“We were hoping for about $350,000,” Cox said. “But ours was one of the bigger projects in the county, and with all of the other smaller towns cutting their requests, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

“I am pleased,” Zeiger said. “We did better than I personally anticipated we were going to do.”

The last time a street project of its kind was completed was more than 10 years ago, Cox said. With the funds they receive, town officials are hoping to do work on Bridge Avenue and other high-traffic streets in town. Cox hopes the one-percent sales tax, which will be voted on in the general election in November, will also help fund street projects in town.

“You have to stay up with maintaining the streets,” Zeiger said.

Cox said it is extremely difficult to receive money for any street project.

Elsewhere in the Platte Valley, the town of Encampment received $75,000 to go towards the 2015 Hydrant and Valve Replacement Project, and Riverside was granted $46,977 for improvements to Rick Martin Memorial Park.

A total of $1,911,477 was distributed among the 10 municipalities and Carbon County for projects. The State Land and Investment Board will approve the applications and totals in December.