Honesdale scrambles to afford costly infrastructure repairs

HONESDALE, PA — Though a number of Honesdale’s roads are in “bad shape,” according to public works director Rich Doney, so are the borough’s finances.

At their meeting August 12, borough officials said there is almost no money to go toward paving and repairing stormwater damage on roads. Around $400,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money might have been enough to make needed road fixes, but it’s slated for reparation of a pedestrian bridge.

“We’re in trouble,” Doney said.

After presenting five roads that all need to be repaved, Doney identified Johnson Lane and Beechnut Drive as the two most pressing projects. When they are plowed in winter, he added, the trucks dig up the macadam on these roads.

On top of needing to be repaved, several roads, including Johnson and Beechnut, also have stormwater issues, which have plagued the town all summer. [Click here to read more about Wayne County's road conditions]. 

“This rain has hurt us,” Doney said. “It’s not that we don’t take care of our roads or our stormlines.”
Council president Mike Augello said that it is difficult to find ways to pay for these repairs without any funding. “We have no money, we are broke as a borough,” he said.

Councilor Jim Jennings offered the idea of reallocating funds collected from parking meters, which, he said, can total from $14,000 to $17,000 each month, to go toward road repair. Poltanis explained that because parking is a subcategory of public works, that money is already there.

Usually, the borough would apply for a CDBG to pay for road repairs, but earlier that night, the council committed to spending the $400,000 on replacing a pedestrian footbridge near Fifth Street. Augello said that residents have been talking about replacing the bridge for years. Honesdale won’t be able to apply for additional CDBG funding until 2021.

Borough secretary Judith Poltanis suggested that the council may want to pick just one road to be repaved and complete stormwater maintenance on it at the same time.

Jennings, who is also on the stormwater committee, said that these problems are going to require tough conversations with the public about raising taxes and borrowing money. He said the council cannot continue “kicking these problems down the road.”

“Every meeting that we have, Mr. Doney brings to us more streets that are in need,” he said. “Mr. Doney says we are in dire straits in various places.”

Poltanis suggested that the council consider applying for a 20-year, 2% loan through Pennvest and develop a full-fledged stormwater management plan. The last plan was developed in 2008.

For the time being, the council voted unanimously to award E R Linde with $69,519 to repave Johnson Lane and $43,750 to repave Beechnut Drive. The council also voted to get engineering estimates on stormwater projects on Fourth Street and Vine Street and to begin receiving estimates from engineering firms on a full stormwater management plan.