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All were in agreement that it is a pressing concern, but resolution on how to finance impending bridge repairs will have to wait as Marco City Council decided Monday night to put off taking steps to advance a funding plan for some $8 million in unbudgeted bridge repairs.

Council scheduled the issue for Monday’s special-called meeting after trimming capital improvement funds from the fiscal year 2008 budget. Some on the council expressed concern that the city was delaying critical projects to make room for state-mandated property tax rollbacks. However, the council seesawed back and forth Monday over how to free up the funds needed, and deferred a decision until more information could be gathered on the immediacy of the needs.

The issue will come back at a special-called meeting for Nov. 26, scheduled at 4:30 p.m.

Council further discussed creation of a special Fire Rescue Assessment, a possible step bandied about during an October council meeting. Creating the special funding plan for the city’s fire services would alleviate some of the burden the department places on the city’s annual budget. However, council discussed creation of the assessment in the same breath as it discussed using the alleviated funds for bridge repair.

“The reason to pass the fire rescue assessment is because of the state legislation — so we could fund part of the fire rescue effort to raise those funds, so we could fund other programs -— not to reduce taxes,” said Councilor Glenn Tucker. “The state rammed this thing down our throats.”

LESLIE WILLIAMS / Eagle staff

The future is uncertain for the Caxambas bridge, says Public Works Director Rony Joel. With a life span of 35 years, the bridge will not fall down tomorrow, says Joel, but the city is approaching a critical point for the bridge's repair needs.

However, councilors Terri DiSciullo and Bill Trotter were more cautious about the creation of the assessment for the purpose of freeing up funds to be used elsewhere.

“I would feel more confident in having a referendum passed to pay for bridges — to have a reserve fund out there for bridges — if we reduced taxes through a fire assessment,” DiSciullo said. “It would be a special assessment. It’s up to (the voters) whether they want us to float a bond to pay for their bridges.”

Discussions seemed to run in circles as council bounced from the fire assessment to bridges and back again.

“We need to come to a consensus here. Are we talking about a fire assessment fee or are we talking about bridges?” Trotter asked.

Council, it seemed, could not talk about one issue without the other looming in the background.

LESLIE WILLIAMS / Eagle staff

Rony Joel, Marco Island's public works director, crouches on the sea wall below the Caxambas bridge to examine its pilings. With only minor work done in the last 34 years of the bridge's life, the wear and tear on the structure is obvious, particularly on the bridge's underbelly, says Joel.

If council decides in the next month to go forward with a special assessment for fire services, the process for getting voter approval and putting the plan into action would make the funds unavailable until the fiscal year 2009 budget.

Discussion also encompassed the suggestion of taking the funds out of the city’s dwindling reserves, expected to amount to roughly $4 million at the end of fiscal year 2007. Some of the residents who approached the podium Monday expressed concern that the city would endanger itself financially by dipping further into that pot of money.

That was the solution favored most by Councilor Ted Forcht, who said he wanted to see the funds put toward the initial engineering for a redesign of the Caxambas Bridge, which was engineered and built in 1973 to last 35 years.

Of the island’s 15 bridges, 10 were built before 1975. Most were built by the Deltona Corporation or the Mackle brothers, said Senior Project Engineer Tim Pinter. Those built before 2002 were designed to last 45 years at most.

“The majority were built by the developer,” he said. “Maybe one or two might have been developed by the state — maybe the one on Collier, over Smokehouse bay, since it was a state highway at the time.”

By the time that 36-year old bridge is ready for a budgeted replacement in 2012, engineers estimate that the dual spans over the bay will cost $12 million to replace, Joel said. The five-year Capital Improvement Plan has $4.7 million set aside for the project, leaving $7.8 million unbudgeted.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have a silver bullet solution,” Joel said. “There is a reality that our infrastructure we acquired from the county is reaching the end of its useful life. It may now be time to begin to look at investing in a dedicated funding scheme to upgrade our existing infrastructure.”

Though Joel said the North Collier bridges are the most pressing concern, they only rank second in the realm of expense, next to the bridge that links Caxambas Court to the rest of the island. That bridge, a span of roughly 200 feet, will cost $15 million to replace, Joel said.

It was built with a design life of about 35 years. With just two years left on its life expectancy, the city is in a difficult position to replace the bridge that serves the fewest residents on the whole island.

There are just 37 properties on the little strip of land, though they are some of the most valued and valuable ones in the whole city. And the bridge was built to reflect those low expectations of traffic, Pinter said.

“Because of the low volume of traffic for that particular design, it was built not as robust as other bridges,” he said. “It’s like any other street in the city too; it has garbage collection, it has mail delivery.”

Plus, he and Joel add, the area is a destination for tourists curious to check out the homes variously referred to as “megahomes” and “McMansions.”

In the Florida Department of Transportation’s annual bridge inspection, the Caxambas bridge was not deemed functionally obsolete, as some structures on the island were, thought it also did not pass with flying colors.

With a “health index” of 84.69, the bridge just barely falls under the category indicating that “some repairs are needed,” according to the Florida Department of Transportation. However, the literature on the ratings states that a lower health index “does not mean the bridge is unsafe.”

Caxambas Court resident Mark Merlowski echoed that sentiment Monday night when he cautioned the council to question whether the time was right to replace the bridge. Of the 30 or so homes on the tiny strip of land, Merlowski said, only a dozen or so are occupied at any given time. He reasoned that the responsibility to get off the island in the event of a hurricane lies with the residents of Caxambas Court alone, leaving safety concerns in the hands of residents.

Joel said there is no way of telling what strength of hurricane that bridge could withstand, though he and Pinter both pointed out that it would bear the brunt of a major storm as it makes landfall.

Of the island’s other bridges, several were named functionally obsolete, including the two bridges over Smokehouse Bay along North Collier Boulevard and the two bridges on Winterberry Drive.

Another, the Goldenrod Avenue bridge over Smokehouse Bay, was deemed structurally deficient. That term denotes a bridge the FDOT believes should undergo either repairs or replacement in the next six years. Repairs expected to add 17 years of life to the Goldenrod bridge are slated for 2008, with $150,000 allocated toward that work.

In all, the city has budgeted $910,000 in bridge repairs during the 2008 fiscal year.

The East Winterberry bridge is in the middle of replacement — council opted to build a new bridge rather than undertake the short-term repairs presented as an alternative. It is now in the demolition stage.

Scheduled for completion in the spring, the new structure is designed to last 75 years, a closer reflection of current design standards, Pinter said.

“The council, I think, has been proactive in addressing the city’s infrastructure needs,” Joel said. “Council made the decision to go with the long-term solution there, which was the best solution.”

That $6 million project is being funded by money from the city’s reserves.

As with many of the bridges, a $500,000 repair would have bought the East Winterberry bridge another five to seven years of useful life. Such a solution is possible for the Caxambas bridge too, though council’s comments Monday reflected an awareness of the awkward balancing act between repair and total replacement.

“We decided to go with the long-term solution when they could’ve spent $500,000 to $600,000 to fix the Winterberry bridge for now,” Council Chair Mike Minozzi said Monday. “(With that solution) you’re saving in the short run, but in the long-run, not at all.”

That East Winterberry bridge project was originally slated to receive a $1 million grant from the state, but after making it past the Florida house and senate, Governor Charlie Crist line-item vetoed $500,000 of the grant.

With reduced property tax revenues, starting next year, the state may be increasingly loathe to fund local infrastructure repairs.

Still, on Nov. 28, Joel and Minozzi are set to make a joint presentation to the legislature requesting another $1 million for “various bridge repairs.”

“We’re hoping that the governor puts a higher priority on infrastructure and does not veto this important grant,” Joel said.

Though stumping for federal funds is a possibility, said Joel, the complexities of acquiring such grants are many, with the city requiring an advocate in Washington.

That puts the ball back in the city’s court — something no amount of delay can remedy. Eventually, everyone is aware, someone must make a decision, and it is unlikely that anyone other than the Marco Island’s seven-member council will step up to the plate.

“I think council has a real challenge,” Joel conceded Monday before the meeting. “The do nothing alternative, I don’t think, is a possibility.”

• • •

By the numbers: bridge repair

15 bridges on the island

10 bridges built before 1975

7 slated for repairs in current or next fiscal budget

$8.5 million in unfunded bridge repairs

$15 million to replace Caxambas bridge

$700,000 to repair Caxambas to last another 5-7 years