Road rebuilding work about to end

SHARON — The Board of Selectmen (BOS) held an almost two-hour special meeting on Aug. 23, attended by approximately 30 people. The topic: repairs to the towns roads, and how to fund the ongoing work.First Selectman Robert Loucks reported that work on about 37 of the town’s 40 miles of planned road rebuild has been completed. With work currently being completed, the total project expeditures will rise to $5,893,402. The bond to finance the road repair project will cover approximately $6.2 million. Loucks cautioned that there will not be enough money left from the bond to complete the last mile or two of roadwork.He suggested using $215,000 from the selectmen’s budget, which has a line item for road repair. He said without additional money, a few roads will not be rebuilt right away. Most but not all of the roads will be repaired over time, but they will probably not be rebuilt.Nearly everyone in the audience who commented on the proposal said they are opposed to using money from the selectmen’s budget for the road repairs. Several people said they were worried that, if the money is used for repairs, there would be no safety net for road repairs that might come up during the year, or that there might not be enough money to pay for extra sand and salt if this turns out to be a severe winter. It was voted to not take money from that budget.