ALPENA — How much tax revenue a county road commission receives from property owners is a big determining factor in how many road projects can happen each year and how healthy their road system is.

Road commissions utilize state and federal funding to maintain and rebuild streets, but some municipalities in Northeast Michigan take it upon themselves to invest more than others.

In Alcona County, each of the county’s 12 townships have a property tax — also called a millage — that helps cover some of the cost for road repairs and maintenance. That injection of money has improved roads throughout the county.

In some instances, however, the increase in revenue has slowed some viable road projects because there is too much funding.

According to Alcona County Road Commision Managing Director Jesse Campbell, the townships’ road funding is a good thing, but the abundance of cash also limits the work his staff can do because, for most township projects, the Road Commission offers the township a 50% match in funds. Because the townships have enough money in their coffers for many projects, the Road Commission does not have the funds to match all of them.

Still, Campbell said, having township-specific projects is a good thing, because each municipality is getting what they pay for, which may not be the case if the county levied a countywide tax for roads.

“They help choose and pay for the projects,” he said. “If we had a county millage, then some townships may have more projects than others and some people would be upset by that.”

In Alpena, Montmorency, and Presque Isle counties, some townships have property taxes earmarked for roads, but, to make large-scale street improvements, more investment from the state is needed, officials say.

Earlier this month, new state House Speaker Matt Hall unveiled a $3.1 billion road plan that would help upgrade crumbling infrastructure in Michigan. The funding would be drawn from the state’s corporate income tax, utilizing surplus money from the general fund, and other money from the gasoline tax.

Hall wants the bulk of the money used to fix local roads in cities and townships. Money could also be used to help municipalities pay for water and sewer infrastructure projects.

It is not known when or if there will be action taken in the state House or what the appetite for the proposal is in the state Senate.

State Rep. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, who represents Northeast Michigan in the state House, said investment in Michigan’s roads and bridges is something that has been promised to residents in the state for many years.

He said state government must fulfill those promises.

“We just have to do it,” Cavitt said. “We have promised to ‘fix the damn roads,’ and now we need to get it done.”