SPENCER — Residents got something of an update on street paving and repairs at the board of aldermen meeting Tuesday night.

Several residents had expressed concern and frustration, noting that the town has applied for and received grant funding for the new park in front of town hall, but no grants for roadways.

Town Manager Peter Franzese explained that the grants available for roadways are not as numerous as for other projects and the cost of paving roads is far higher than most know.

He explained that in some communities, the tax rate means a penny equals a million dollars, and so putting aside a small percentage of the taxes can mean a million dollars at the year’s end to put toward transportation, but with Spencer’s tax rate, a penny equals about $37,000, which, considering the cost of resurfacing, won’t pave many roads.

Last year, the town did resurfacing for the first time in at least four years, and they had selected segments of five roads that the town wanted resurfaced and put out to bid. The highest bid was $394,000, the lowest about $319,000, which the town accepted. But it was not five complete roads that were paved. Each segment represents 2-3 blocks.

Franzese explained that the town streets not maintained by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) are broken into blocks or segments and each segment has a number. Several years ago the town did a study and created a priority list of segments and that is what the town is currently using to determine what gets resurfaced next.

“But each time we have a resurfacing project, it’s several years of savings to accomplish it,” he said.

In addition, while there is DOT money available, it is very specific in its parameters and often is an 80/20 split. The town often does not qualify, because most are aimed at larger communities, and if they do, it’s for far more expensive projects and the 20 percent the town would have to cover is often unreachable.

The new park does have a lot of grant money, he said, and there are a number of grants out there right now for parks and trails and green space, and the town was not only able to get larger grants for the project, but they were able to secure smaller grants to cover the portions the town would otherwise have to pay. However, there are no grants available that would help cover the twenty percent of a DOT grant.

Joel Taylor, public works director for the town, did announce that the DOT is coming to pave Salisbury Avenue from 17th Street, where Spencer meets Salisbury, to Jefferson Street, by Bojangles.

“They’ve told us that they plan to start Oct. 21 and, weather permitting, it should take 10 days,” said Taylor. “They will mill the street first then come back and pave it, instead of doing it in sections as they originally thought.” When the street is repaved, it will also be marked with two travel lanes, a center turning lane and bike lanes. Eventually the road all the way to the Yadkin Park will be done, hopefully in the same fashion, but the remainder will likely not be done before 2027.

“The state has the same plan we do,” Franzese said. “The state maintains 1,100 miles of road in the county and just like us, they have it broken down and prioritized.”

Taylor did say that Second Street, where a sinkhole formed during the recent storm, did rise to the top of the list because it was an emergency. He said his crew and the fire department were out working into the night to repair a break in the sewer line and the road itself is now being repaired. He expects that work to be completed by the end of October as long as more weather does not interfere.