Fairfax road project bids dwarf town’s allocation

A major road maintenance project in Fairfax has stalled because the bids came in “significantly above the budgeted amount,” Town Manager Heather Abrams said.

The town budgeted about $500,000 for the project, which calls for slurry seal, asphalt repair and dig-out pothole repairs on portions of 19 streets.

The town received three bids. VSS International of California and Arizona bid $937,000; Always Paving of Hayward bid $1,193,318; and Pavement Coatings of Riverside County bid $1,292,129.50.

Abrams said that staff would likely “value engineer” the project, meaning prioritize the essential function while reducing expected cost, and seek bids again.

Abrams said the Town Council would consider rebidding at its meeting on Sept. 4. If a new bid is approved, work would begin in the spring.

The bids come as the town considers its limited road budget for the year. In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the road repair budget was $140,000. This year it is $1 million, with half allocated to the slurry seal project.

The town is embarking on a five-year, $2.5 million plan to address some interior roads before the potential passage of an $18 million bond measure that will appear on the November ballot.

“The slurry seal project is an important component of our five-year road program,” said Mayor Barbara Coler. “We know that road construction projects have increased significantly over the last few years.”

The bids are yet another bump in the road for the town as it grapples with chronic road maintenance difficulties.

Fairfax is ranked the lowest in the county on the pavement condition index, or PCI, which rates the severity and extent of road damage. The town has a PCI of 52 — considered “at risk” — and ranks 98th out of 109 Bay Area municipalities that track road conditions.

The town’s PCI is on pace to drop to 46 in the next five years, a town consultant told the council last month.

The issue has become so severe that the council has chosen to place an $18 million bond measure to fund road maintenance and repairs on the Nov. 5 ballot. The measure would impose a tax of $30 per $100,000 in assessed value, raising an estimated $1.2 million per year in revenue.

The bond-funded plan focuses on the main routes through town, including Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Bolinas Road, Center Boulevard, Broadway, Laurel Drive, Scenic Road, Willow Avenue and Porteous Avenue.

The five-year plan includes 18% of town roads. The bond measure would account for 22.9%. Combined, they would involve about 1.3 million square feet of pavement.

Councilmember Chance Cutrano said the bids illustrated the significance of the road bond to fund increasingly expensive maintenance.

“Part of the reason why we’re doing the bond is because we don’t have funds at the level like how the respondents provided,” said Cutrano. “It’s not going to get any better. It’s indicative of why the Town Council and the town staff felt it was timely and crucial that we put this question out to the voters because if we don’t pass this road bond we’re going to run into a lot of the same issues.”

The bond measure would need a two-thirds majority vote in favor for it to pass. However, it could pass with 55% with the passage of ACA-1, a state ballot measure to lower the voter threshold for general obligation bonds and special taxes for affordable housing and infrastructure projects.

The town has forged ahead with the bond measure despite a survey indicating support of less than two-thirds. The poll showed that 61% of respondents said they would support a 30-year, $36 million bond, while 64% would support a $18 million bond.

The last roads bond, Measure K, passed in 1999. Bonds were issued in 2000, 2002 and 2006. Measure K was set to have an estimated maximum tax rate of $58 per $100,000 of assessed valuation. The current rate is $22.50 per $100,000 of assessed valuation.