County road maintenance program needs revamping

Deb Hill

Deb Hill

Ya'ah`teh to all Coconino County residents! I hope Thanks-giving was a wonderful time for everyone to be with their family and friends and celebrate those things we are thankful for. This has been an extremely busy fall here at the county offices and with the arrival of December I realized that winter is here already. That means Christmas, snow on the San Francisco Peaks, frozen water buckets in the morning, andÉ phone calls about roads when winter storms begin to make roads impassable.

In our rural county, roads are very important. We have many miles of roads that we rely on to connect us to jobs, shopping, medical assistance, mail service, food and water, schools -- the list could go on and on, and everything on it is important. The Coconino County Board of Supervisors recognizes how important roads are -- that's why we have been providing road maintenance in many rural communities.

The Navajo Nation comprises almost one third of the land in Coconino County and 78 percent of the roads on the nation are unpaved. While the Arizona Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining state highways that cross the nation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for the majority of the rest of the roads. Coconino County does not own any of the roads that cross the Navajo Nation.

Until the 1990s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was the primary service provider for road improvements and maintenance on the Navajo Nation. In 1995, Congress began a series of budget cuts that reduced the ability of the BIA to continue to perform all the necessary work. At that time the BIA began forming partnerships with other agencies to provide road maintenance.

In 1996 the Coconino County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with the BIA under which the county maintains more than 200 miles of roadways. The county contracts with the BIA to do this work and because the work costs more than the BIA is able to pay the County, county funds obtained from state gas taxes are used to pay for the work.

This agreement has worked very well for everyone involved. County residents that live on the Navajo Nation have enjoyed the road maintenance provided by a crew of five county Public Works employees using four road graders stationed on the Navajo Nation. The roads maintained by Coconino County include: N20 from Gap to the junction of 6211, N21 from the Junction at N20 toward the road project, N16 from SR98 to SR 160, 6210 from Coppermine to SR 89, 6732 from North of Leupp to Grand Falls, 6910 from Grand Falls to N15, N2 from Leupp to the Navajo Nation boundary (Winslow side), N71 from N15 at Birdsprings to N2 to Winslow, 6810 from Birdsprings to Tolani Lake, 6812 from Tolani Lake to N2, 6720 from Tolani Lake to Coalmine, 6331 from the Kaibeto Chapter House to SR 98, 6260 from the Junction of N6260 to N6270, 6270 from the Junction of N6270 to N16 and 6211 from N6211 to US Highway 89. The BIA must approve all roads that we work on before we can provide any maintenance, and all roads we work on must be public roads (as opposed to a private road to someone's house).

In 1999, the Navajo Nation Council approved the Navajo Nation Fuel Excise Tax. Approximately $10 million is collected each year through this tax. This funding is available for road maintenance within the nation, but the county does not receive any of these funds.

The amount of funding that the BIA has for roadwork continues to be reduced due to federal budget cuts. The funds used by the county for our road maintenance program come from the state gas tax. When the Navajo Nation elected to create its own fuel tax, it stopped contributing to the state gas tax funds.

A recent ruling by the Supreme Court that Kansas could impose a tax on fuel sold on tribal lands may have impacts for how things are handled here in Arizona. However at this time, the county is using a fund to pay for the road maintenance to which residents of the Navajo Nation contribute only if they purchase fuel outside the nation. It remains to be seen whether this will create legal issues for the county or not. The Board of Supervisors is expected to engage in a discussion on this point in early 2006.

Meanwhile, the agreement with the BIA authorizing the county to work on Navajo Nation roads expired in 2003. The county has been working diligently with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to ensure that the agreement is renewed. As part of these discussions, the Board has directed county staff to negotiate the reimbursement schedule, which the BIA is using: $50 per mile of road maintained does not even begin to cover the true costs associated with the roadwork that is being done. County estimates are that it costs us close to $2,300 per mile per year for this maintenance. While the BIA budget is shrinking, there is no mechanism for using the Navajo Nation Fuel Excise Tax Fund, funneled through the BIA, to help pay for the costs of road maintenance now borne by the county.

I would like to see the county continue to maintain the roads that we began working on almost a decade before. It is in the best interests of our county to make sure that major roadways are passable, allowing residents to commute to their jobs, kids to get to school, and the elderly to receive care and services. Unfortunately the situation is complex. We will certainly be hearing from the county attorney, with advice about whether or not the continued use of the Highway User Revenue Fund is appropriate now that the Navajo Nation no longer contributes to that fund.

We expect to continue the discussions with the BIA and hope the result will be a more realistic approach to funding the county's work on the "N" roads. We would like to broaden the discussion to involve the Tribal Council, to see if there is a way for tribal fuel tax funds to be dedicated to assist with the roadwork being done by Coconino County.

I welcome comments from all county residents on this issue. As always, you can reach me at my office in Flagstaff 928-779-6696, through the Tuba City office 928-283-4518, or via email: dhill@coconino.az.gov. The Board of Supervisors meetings are open to the public and we encourage you to come and comment on this issue.

In the meanwhile, Merry Christmas to everyone. Please stay safe and have a happy holiday! And if you happen to see the Coconino County road crews out on their graders, let them know how much we appreciate their efforts to keep our county connected.

(Deb Hill is Coconino County Supervisor for District 4, which takes in portions of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations.)

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