East Homer Baltimore Road in Cortland County. (Photo Source: Cortland County).
The Cortland County Highway Committee unanimously approved the proposed creation of a reserve account to be used in the purchasing of specific highway equipment that costs more than $100,000 per individual item at Tuesday’s meeting.
The new road machinery capital reserve fund isn’t unlike other reserve accounts that the county operates. The resolution approved during the committee meeting would place $839,676 in the capital reserve fund, if it passes a vote at the County Legislative Session later this month.
“This is basically just a savings account,” said County Highway Superintendent Charles Sudbrink.
Andrea Herzog, the county’s finance director, said the county operates similar funds. This includes one that is dedicated exclusively to county landfill equipment.
“This is specific to highway equipment over the $100,000 individual item cost or capital projects that aren’t roads, culverts, or bridges,” Herzog said. She noted the county may opt to use the funds in the account for an emergency. She also added the county could also make use of the money on projects such as fixing or building a new garage for county vehicles, or even a project that would help with road salt.
Legislator Joseph Nauseef (R-LD-12) said instituting the fund is a “good move.”
“We should have been doing this a long time ago in a lot of different areas,” he said. “We are doing this so we have allocations for money down the road instead of having big surprises jump at us.”
The resolution will now move to the Finance and Administration Committee at its meeting on June 14. It will then go through the County Legislative Session on June 23.
