Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) announced the fiscal year 2005 Omnibus Appropriations bill passed by both houses of Congress on Saturday contained $20,000 for the Village of Mineola's Road Evaluation Project.

"A solid transportation infrastructure is critical to the economy of a village and to its residents' quality of life," said McCarthy, a long-term resident of Mineola.

The village requested this funding for a comprehensive study of its 36 miles of roadways and curbsides in order to prioritize areas in most need of repair. The Village intends to hire an engineering firm to conduct an aerial survey of every street and curbside. Construction will commence following the analysis of this survey.

Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins would like to make road improvement a priority, which is why the village reached out to Congresswoman McCarthy.

According to the mayor, the engineering firm will grade each village road in Mineola with a grade such as a B, C or D. The survey will tell the village which roads are in the most need of repair.

The village has $170,000 in its budget dedicated to road improvement. The plan calls for a 15-year program by which two to three miles of road is paved per year. Therefore, the village will have all of its roads paved in a 15-year period.

Although the mayor would like to add more to the budget for road improvement, the village has had to get a handle on paying down its debt. The independent audit recently completed on the village's finances shows a debt of $31,227,503 as of May 31, 2004. That debt was incurred during prior years. Some of it was incurred for capital projects and for making tax certiorari payments.

However, under the Martins administration, the village is paying down the debt and put an end to borrowing for tax certiorari payments.