You only get one chance to make a good first impression!
This picture on County F (Entering Dane County from Iowa County) documents the disintegrating condition of just one, of many, county roads in Dane County.
As the Dane County road network deteriorates, the whole county loses major assets build up over years, assets created with vast amounts of taxpayer money, time and effort. This deterioration will, very fast, infect road transport. In general, the long term damage caused by deteriorating county roads to public, private and business vehicles increases vehicle repair costs, infects the economy of the transporters, takes from pocket books of private citizens and drains away tax dollars from other public needs. The transporters will transfer their expenses to the customers and the economy of the whole county then suffers. It’s important to know, the costs involved in road maintenance and the costs of not maintaining the roads. The money which is saved in the maintenance budget by not maintaining the roads is ultimately paid by the users and the society. This is an invisible tax, and the total cost to the economy, is huge!
Good roads make our county more competitive in economic as well as social terms. A region's industrial and employment base is closely tied to the quality of the transportation system. Good, dependable transportation infrastructure allows businesses to receive inputs to production facilities and to transport finished goods to market in an efficient manner. An efficient transportation system allows companies to lower transportation costs, which lowers production costs and enhances productivity and profits. In addition, how long will recreational events such as the Iron Man and Horrible Hilly Hundred continue bringing dollars into Dane County’s economy if roads continue to deteriorate? Any business operating vehicles within Dane County appreciates and values well maintained roads the same way those who ride their Trek bicycles on the county roads for recreational enjoyment. Poorly maintained roads can, and do, cause damage to both four wheel as well as two wheel vehicles.
Unfortunately, Dane County has actually proposed, to many towns, that they would only repair/resurface county roads on the condition that the towns then take over responsibility for those roads going forward. Within my own town, the Town of Blue Mounds, this very proposal was made when inquiries were made about needed repairs to County Road E!
Road construction and maintenance is a basic core function of county government. The Dane County Board’s current philosophical majority has shirked this responsibility for far too long. I will stand strong, be outspoken and do all I can to ensure the basic core public services for which the taxpayers of the 28th district pay are actually delivered to the Towns and Villages of the district.
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