Coming up against a deadline, the Jefferson County Commission voted after much discussion July 25 to use metal mine money as collateral for backing bonding to extend public utilities to a proposed rest area at Boulder.
Delay in putting together funding could delay construction of the rest area a year, said, commissioners. Initial engineering estimates put a price tag of about $800,000 on extending utilities under Interstate 15 to serve the rest area site on the northwest corner of the Boulder interchange.
The commission previously pledged to the Montana Department of Transportation that the county would pay for that portion of the project if the rest area were developed. The county had not, however, nailed down where that money would come from.
When the MDT initially proposed a rest area at Boulder about a decade ago, the estimated utility cost was $300,000, said the commission. “Now it’s $800,000,” said Commissioner Cory Kirsch, indicating further delay could result in even more cost. In recent weeks, working through the Jefferson Local Development Corporation, the county has been exploring options for funding the utility portion through a combination of grants and loans.
Tom Harrington, JLDC, expressed confidence funding could be aligned to cover muh of the cost. But none of that had been approved yet, he said.
Commissioner Bob Mullen expressed reluctance to commit the metal mine funds. That money is in a trust that has about $2.2 million total. The $800,000 is a sizeable chunk of the county’s rainy day money, he said. “I’m not interested in slowing down the project, but I am concerned about protecting the metal mines trust fund for everyone in the county,” he said.
Commissioner Leonard Wortman said he liked what Mullen had said once before that the trust “should be a treasure and not a treasury.”
“Once the $800,000 is gone out of the $2.2 million…I’m concerned,” Mullen said. He also expressed concern that the City of Boulder has not stepped up to offer any funding. “I am more concerned about no commitment from the city,” he said. “I would like to somehow require that the city get involved in this,” he said.
Boulder was awarded a $500,000 grant by the state legislature to be used for economic development. That money is not yet in city hands, and work that must be done preliminarily to spending any of that money has not been completed.
A Boulder Development Fund Board is to be formed to advise the city in expenditure of the money, and the city is currently accepting applications for appointment to that board. Once that board is formed, there is no guarantee the board will recommend spending any of the $500,000 for the rest area utility effort.
Wortman said he agreed “it should have been the town coming and asking for help with this,” but that had not happened. The commissioners agreed to send a letter to the city council asking to be on their next agenda regarding the matter. In the end, all three commissioners voted in favor of the motion but Mullen’s reluctance remained clear.
