Photo by Zachary Siebert / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Jake Jones stands a few yards from his residence on gravel-laden Southwest Contrary Creek Road. Buchanan County officials have promised to resurface the road using funds meant for road maintenance, but have yet to do so.

Jake Jones’ pickup gets freshly caked in dust as another vehicle kicks up gravel while passing by his rural Buchanan County home.

Like so many county roads, heavy equipment traveled on unpaved roads while laying a natural gas pipeline from Colorado last year.

In return, Rockies Express Pipeline paid the county $102,310 to bring roads like Mr. Jones’ back to their original condition.

But Western District Commissioner Bud Crockett chose to use his district’s about $60,000 pipeline money on other roads first — and money, rock, and oil ran out before the county road crew got to Southwest Contrary Creek Road, where Mr. Jones lives.

Now that the county has depleted its nearly $2 million county road budget and suspended all major roadwork, there is scant chance Mr. Jones will soon see work done on his road this year.

“The dust is just terrible. You can’t keep your car clean, cook out, or even breathe clean air,” Mr. Jones said. “I realize living out in the county you are going to have dust, but they could help out some.”

“We can’t even buy rock to repair roads,” said Mr. Crockett, who laid off four county road workers last week.

Mr. Jones wonders why the county can’t use money donated to Trails West! or money from the Shoppes at North Village deal to fix “roads down in the bottoms.”

County auditor Nancy Nash understands frustrations from residents like Mr. Jones, but says the county operates on “restrictive funding.” That means revenue can only be spent on its original intended purpose, so money earmarked for festivals can’t be used on roads and vice versa.

Money from a specific county fund will be used to develop two parking lots that it bought earlier this year.

One parking lot will be overflow for county employees. That lot sits behind the Law Enforcement Center at Fourth and Robidoux streets, and was bought in April for $17,000. It is being paid at $1,000 a month.

Eastern District Commissioner Dan Hausman said the lot will add 40 to 50 spaces, and be developed using green technology, like being overlaid with “porous asphalt” that will capture rainwater to support surrounding landscaping instead of draining into the sewer.

The other lot will be bought from the Postal Credit Union to serve as parking for the newly built multipurpose building at Fourth and Franklin streets. The county accepted a $7,000 offer from the Union in May, and the lot will be used by poll workers while being trained.

Ahmad Safi can be reached

at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.