Southold Town Highway Supervisor Asks Town Board For Additional $250,000 For Road Work

Southold Town Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando announced at the Southold town board work session meeting on Tuesday that the town has spent all of the money allocated for road resurfacing this year.

“I am out of funds to pave roads as of today,” Orlando said at the meeting.

The town spent the entire $750,000 funds that were allocated, which included $563,000 in Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPS, funds, and $175,000 in the town highway department’s resurfacing budget, according to SoutholdLocal.

At the meeting, Orlando asked for an extra $250,000 to begin work on repairing roads, starting in Orient and East Marion where some roads “down to dirt,” before the severe cold weather hits the area, SoutholdLocal reports.

The town board will be voting on Tuesday night to take the money needed from the about $5.7 million in highway department reserves, The Suffolk Times reports.

In order to tackle next year’s repaving projects, Orlando applied for a $250,000 grant, but it wouldn’t cover the work that needs to be done this season, which would require about $300,000 to $400,000, according to The Suffolk Times.

In total, the town needs about $5 million of overall road repairs to cover the work the area needs, which Southold Town Supervisor Scoot Russell said the Town Board might create a bond to cover some additional road work and that the regular highway department budget each year would cover the rest, according to The Suffolk Times.