After rural residents voiced concerns about road maintenance Tuesday, the county board again brought up a half-cent sales tax as a potential solution to road funding projects.

About four residents talked to the board during its regular meeting about concerns on County State Aid Highway 9, also called County 55, which runs about 20 miles north to south from State Highway 16 between Dexter and Elkton south to the state border.

But without legislative changes to funding, County Coordinator Craig Oscarson said the board’s options are limited: add additional road repair funding through the tax levy, approve a half-cent sales tax or keep the funding as is while waiting for more state money.

“We keep trying to hammer the Legislature to do their job … They’re not doing they’re job,” Oscarson said.

Dave Weness and other rural residents urged the board and Public Works Director Mike Hanson to make more frequent repairs and maintain roads like CSAH 9, a gravel road that he said is burdened by many potholes and in need of more rock and more frequent road gradings.

“We need to get some better maintenance out there,” he told the board. “Get some more rock on the road.”

Another resident told the board it’s a public safety issue and that more money needs to go toward continued road maintenance.

Hanson said the issue isn’t as simple as adding more dirt and more grading, as many pot holes are caused by frost and require more repairs.

“We recognize that you can’t just go out and dump gravel on something like that. It just doesn’t work,” Hanson said.

Hanson and Commissioner Polly Glynn, who represents much of rural eastern Mower County, assured the men that they are working diligently to address their and other residents’ road concerns.

“Mike and I talk almost daily,” said Glynn, who added she gets frequent calls from residents concerned about road issues.

Hanson assured the residents he and his staff get to road repairs as quickly as is allowed by staffing and budgets, but that’s not always right away.

“We cannot always respond immediately,” Hanson said.

Commissioner Jerry Reinartz pointed out the county has 400 miles of roads to maintain and about 59 deficient bridges, with little help in funding solutions from the Minnesota Legislature.

“We get no help from the state,” he said.

Commissioner and County Coordinator Craig Oscarson asked the residents if they’d support a half-cent sales tax for road funding, but did not get a clear answer from the constituents.

While Board Chairman Mike Ankeny said the half-cent sales tax could get as much as $2 million a year for specific road projects, he noted it’s a case of a cost being shifted from the state to the county.

“It’s just another pushdown from the state,” he said.

Reinartz, as he has in past meetings, again criticized the state for getting caught up in partisan rhetoric not addressing transportation funding.

“We feel we got shorted there,” Reinartz said. “We’ve got to have some help on these roads. Without raising your taxes, we cannot keep up with this.”

Though the board is yet to put the issue on the agenda or refer it to a committee for more study, the half-cent sales tax has come up in discussions in at least three recent meetings.

In 2013, the state approved a wheelage tax and a half-cent sales tax as options for counties to fund local road and bridge projects, which county officials have called a way for the state to pass off road funding to local government. Mower commissioners approved a $10 wheelage tax in June 2013, which is paid when drivers renew licenses and is estimated to bring in $357,000 a year.

Public Works Director Mike Hanson previously told the board that money would be used quickly if the county were to ever approve a half-cent sales tax. It would take about $15 million to replace 25 deficient county bridges and about $4.6 million to replace 34 deficient township bridges without even addressing roads, Hanson has said.

Freeborn County approved the half-cent sales tax on Aug. 18, and its board also voiced concerns about the issue being passed down.

Weness and the residents also asked why more of the money from the wind farms isn’t going to repairing and maintaining roads. In 2014, just under $1.6 million went to Mower County based on 2013 energy production — $1.27 million to Mower County and about $318,000 was distributed among the townships with towers.

While the townships often use their portion of the funds for road repairs, the county board opted several years ago to distribute its money into its general budget to offset property taxes. While County Coordinator Craig Oscarson said that funding could be directed and used for roads, should the board chose, that would mean an additional $1.2 million would be needed in property taxes.