The La Plata County Road and Bridge Department is seeking a $1.7 million increase to its 2026 budget for road improvement projects, including repairs related to October flooding in the Vallecito area.
The department says its budget is too low to cover material costs, storm damage repairs, safety infrastructure and rising prices.
Mike Canterbury, department superintendent, presented the requests to the Board of County Commissioners last week. He asked that funding be restored closer to 2024 levels, plus additional money for specific repairs and inflation-driven increases of materials.
The largest requests include funding for gravel, dust control, asphalt resurfacing, guardrail repairs and seasonal workers. Smaller increases would cover equipment rentals, culverts, striping paint, software and other operational costs.
The total $1.7 million request combines line items above and below $50,000. Under county policy, requests under that threshold are approved by the county manager, while those above it require commissioner approval.
Several of the largest projects include chip sealing a portion of County Road 318 and resurfacing County Road 500, which was damaged during October flooding in Vallecito. Responsibility for resurfacing that road now rests with the county after Federal Emergency Management Agency funding was denied.
“It doesn’t sound like we are going to be getting any money on the flooding issue up at Vallecito,” Canterbury said. “With that money I could get most of CR 500 paved.”
Residents in the Vallecito area had concerns about County Road 500 even before the flood, he said.
Commissioners appeared open to considering the additions, largely because of additional revenue from a sales tax increase voters approved in the fall.
“One reason 1A passed is because of road and bridge,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said.
The funding would come from the Road and Bridge contingency fund, which is largely supported by revenue from the 1A tax measure.
Any formal approval of the request would be placed on the commissioners’ public meeting agenda, and the public would be notified several days in advance.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
