By Nick Worth Funding for Navajo County Public Works through Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) has dropped by 32 percent over the past six years, according to County Manager James Jayne. In fiscal year 2006-07, Navajo County received a total of $9,233,466 in funding. Fiscal year 2011-12 saw that amount reduced to $6,733,161. The result, said Jayne, is a lot of belt tightening when it comes to maintaining the county’s 733 miles of roads–both paved and unpaved. “We’ve had to tighten up in Public Works while still maintaining the roads to ensure the public can travel safely,” said Jayne. “At the same time, we’ve had to drastically curtail capital expenditures from HURF funds.” HURF money is generated by the sales tax on fuel purchases. For every gallon of gas you buy, a portion of the sales tax comes back to the cities, towns and counties through a complicated formula that also incorporates population figures and the money the Arizona Legislature takes off the top of HURF to fund the Department of Public Safety (DPS). The money is then distributed to the county monthly. Part of the problem, according to Jayne, is that the most recent census in 2010 shows Navajo County has grown in population by 10 percent since the previous census in 2000. “While we did show growth, our percentage of growth was less than the percentage of growth in the state’s urban areas,” said Jayne. He said that means the urban areas receive more of the available dollars. He said another factor impacting the amount of money to the county from HURF is that people are driving less, and so buying less fuel, and are buying more fuel-efficient vehicles. This results in fewer gasoline sales tax dollars available for HURF. The final piece of the HURF shortfall is the fact that the State Legislature takes millions of dollars off the top of the HURF monies to fund DPS, instead of funding it through the state’s general fund. According to Public Works Director Homero Vela, because of this “sweep” of HURF money, Navajo County received $750,000 less this past year. One result, said Jayne, is that now, instead of pursuing a regular program of equipment replacement, equipment that would have been replaced is now repaired to keep it in service longer than in the past. “This equipment sees year-round duty,” said Jayne. “The blade that’s scraping a road during one part of the year might be pushing snow during another part of the year. “We’ve had to curtail the purchase of equipment because of the hit we took in HURF funds,” he said. “In the last four or five years we’ve been holding back on buying major equipment,” Vela said. “We haven’t bought a new motor grader in five years and we haven’t bought a new pickup truck in four years. “They (county pickups) travel the entire county from the White Mountain Apache Reservation to the Navajo Nation,” Vela said. He said his own county pickup has 125,000 miles on the odometer. According to Vela, his department has taken several other steps to compensate for the reduced money flow from HURF. “Our fleet management team has stepped up what they do,” he said. “We’re doing our own heavy maintenance to save money.” Vela said “heavy maintenance” is work such as replacement and repair of differentials and transmissions in equipment. “We received a used motor grader from APS,” said Vela. “It needed work, so we repaired the differential and transmission ourselves. That is work we used to have done by Caterpillar.” Vela said in addition, as a money-saving measure, the Public Works Department was “flattened” by elimi-nating the supervisor of the fleet and deputy director of road yards positions. “We flattened the organization and are asking the team to do more,” Vela said. He also noted there has been no pay raise in the past four to five years. “We do a combination of things with our team,” Vela said. “During emergencies, like monsoon emergencies, we ask them to take comp time instead of overtime.” He said emergency overtime is usually paid 50 percent of the time, with the employees getting comp time the other 50 percent of the time. Jayne said another way the county is trying to make the HURF dollars stretch is by “partnering.” He pointed to the recent partnering with the City of Holbrook to pave and chip seal some streets in the city as a good example. In the project, the city bought the materials and provided some labor, while the county provided the machinery and a crew to run it. Vela said his department also has gravel and cinder pits in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. “That way, we get our cinders for free in the winter,” he said. “We do our best to partner with the three tribes, as well as the cities and towns whenever possible,” said Jayne. “We’re committed to partnering.” Since HURF money is earmarked for the maintenance of roads, the bottom line is the county still has to maintain the 733 miles it is responsible for with far less money than in the past. “Our first priority is maintaining the roads,” said Jayne. “We take that very seriously.”