The Illinois budget stalemate is delaying payments of the Motor Fuel Tax.
Highway engineers across the state say this means county roads could end up in very poor shape going into the winter season.
Union County Highway Engineer Kevin Grammer was in Springfield recently to address this issue in front of the Illinois House Committee of the Whole. He says Union County has had to delay its road repair program because 70-percent of the funding for his highway department comes from the Motor Fuel Tax.
"We've had to completely put that off this year in order to keep the doors open, so that we can do things like emergency response, take care of the issues that keep popping up because of all these intense rains that we have. So, that being put off is going to cause numerous pavement deterioration issues this winter. Our roads are going to come apart."
Grammer says there is a proposal to release the motor fuel tax money through the end of September, which would help alleviate some of his concerns.
"If the monies were freed up and I saw that it was going to be distributed we could at least have a limited oil and chip program this year, we wouldn't commit to our usual $350-400,000 program, but I could get some of the worst areas patched up and minimize the impacts that this winter is going to have."
In addition to negatively affecting roads, Grammer says the lack of Motor Fuel Tax money may force him to lay off employees in the highway department.
He urges residents to contact their legislators about the need for the tax money.
