The Dalton Finance Committee at a recent meeting agreed to shift $10.7 million in funding to renovation of the John Davis Recreation Center and to what City Administrator Andrew Parker called “a rather aggressive street resurfacing plan.”
The Finance Committee is comprised of the members of the City Council.
The funds that will be shifted to street resurfacing and the rec center include:
• $3 million from the 2023 budget surplus.
• $2.5 million from the fund balance of the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority to the city government.
Authority board members voted in December to transfer $5 million to the city and to Whitfield County because they believe the authority has a sufficient fund balance. The authority is owned by the city and the county.
• $1.9 million that had been allocated to improvements and streetscaping of Market Street. That project had been placed on hold because the city could not acquire right of way from the owners. The committee voted to cancel this project until further notice.
• $1.3 million from the city’s annual transfer payment from Dalton Utilities. This represents the amount by which that payment exceeded what was forecast in the city budget.
• $1 million in excess collections from the city’s share of the 2020 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
• $1 million in bond funds that had been allocated for improvements at Heritage Point Park. Those improvements are among the projects that would be funded from a four-year, $80 million SPLOST that will be on the May general primary ballot.
Some $6.2 million will go to the renovation of the John Davis Recreation Center.
At a work session earlier this month, Parker told the City Council members that an architect has completed plans for the estimated $12 million project. Those plans are now under review by the building inspector, the fire marshal, stormwater management and other permitting authorities.
The project’s budget is above what was projected when it was planned four years ago.
Some $3.7 million will go to road resurfacing. That’s in addition to the resurfacing that will be done with state Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) funds, SPLOST money and county service delivery agreement funding.
All told, the city plans to resurface 8.5 miles of streets at a cost of $5 million. That will include about four miles of Abutment Road, from State Route 3 to Walnut Avenue. It will also include some 2.5 miles of Glenwood Avenue from Walnut Avenue to State Route 3. And 1.4 miles of Tibbs Road improvements — from Walnut Avenue to Shugart Road — will be part of the work. And about a half mile of Tony Ingle Parkway from College Drive to the pavement joint just south of the lane widening will be resurfaced.
The work is expected to be done by August. A Georgia Department of Transportation Off-System Safety Project grant will fund all of the thermoplastic striping for these streets.
