A lot of roads and infrastructure in Farmington need updating. In May, Hesse noted, a farmer needed to get a large piece of equipment across a bridge-like culvert structure on Schultz Road, near Skoy Coulee Road, but the narrow culvert had angle-iron railings on each side. The farmer couldn’t get his rig across the bridge, so he cut the railing off one side and dumped it off the side of the road. The farmer later reinstalled the railings, but what’s really needed is a new, wider culvert that meets today’s safety standards, including a flex-beam guardrail that would be lower so it wouldn’t have to be cut to get across.

Hesse estimated it would cost the town $20,000 to $25,000 to put in a new culvert, this to basically serve two farms. “We can’t afford to replace that,” Hesse said.

To try to keep pace with road maintenance needs, municipalities also can go to the voters for an override of state-imposed property tax levy limits. For towns with a population of less than 2,500, going to the voters can be as simple as holding a vote of citizens at a town meeting instead of doing a referendum. That’s what the town of Farmington did last November, with voters approving $50,000 in additional property taxes every year, though Hesse said the additional revenue won’t necessarily all be available for road work.