Pothole Budget Short by More Than a Third

Nearly a third of the potholes in Haddonfield may go unrepaired if the borough can’t find more money to fix them.

Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough told the Board of Commissioners during a work session Monday the current budget only has $20,000 for pothole repair but the lowest bidder to repair the estimated amount of holes is $33,000. 

“It sounds like we’re worse off than last year and last year was horrible,” Commissioner Ed Borden said during the meeting. “We had a worse winter this year.”

Last year, the borough filled about 220 potholes, nearly 30,520 square feet, with 285 tons of asphalt. McCullough said options for fixing the potholes this year have been narrowed by a budget cap imposed by Trenton. She said the borough has previously hired temporary workers to help its public works department fill potholes but won’t be able to afford that this year.

“We may not have the manpower to accomplish this in-house,” she said.

The borough has road repair equipment but not enough workers to staff four-man road crews to make the repairs, McCullough said. Public works can’t fix the holes and perform its other duties.

Haddonfield spent $20,000 on asphalt last year for repairs done by borough workers. This year, spending cuts forced the borough to seek bids to have a contractor do the work. The $33,000 low-bid estimate includes materials and labor.

“This is going to mean there are holes that we can’t get to right away,” McCullough said.  “It’s going to depend on when we have the manpower and funding for it.”

Public works supervisor Dave Watson is still doing an inventory of potholes, she said. That inventory could likely turn up even more holes than estimated because of the harsh winter which dumped a record amount of snow on New Jersey.

“This is not adequate,” Borden concluded.

McCullough said: “We are not able to do business as we have done. We have to do the best we can with the dollars we have.”