AUGUSTA — Deteriorating streets, a rusted fire truck, an inadequate public works ventilation system, and Augusta Civic Center updates would be paid for with nearly $5.4 million residents are being asked to borrow in a referendum question Nov. 4.

Those projects, and several others, are planned within the next year or so as part of a larger $133.5 million, five-year capital improvement planto address the growing infrastructure needs in the city.

Road and street repair projects account for just under $2 million of this year’s bond proposal and include streets designated in a 2022 assessment as having outlived their service life and in need of repair or complete reconstruction.

One of those in need of a full reclamation, City Manager Jared Mills said, is Church Hill Road, which is due for an estimated $500,000 in work on the section north of Route 105.

“That’s been in disrepair for quite some time,” Mills said. “It’s gone beyond it’s useful life, so maintenance paving is not an option. It’s got to be a full reclamation, with engineering, digging it up, redoing culverts, it’s a pretty pricey operation.”

Multiple streets in the Ganneston and Parkwood drives neighborhood would get about $1 million in construction work, $417,000 of it to come from the proposed bond, and the remaining $583,000 coming from funds reallocated from other projects.

Ward Road would be repaved in a $620,000 project.

A smaller but highly visible project would make changes, which are already underway, to Pet Haven Lane. A busy car wash and a veterinarian’s office are located on the short road off Western Avenue.

The city started adding lanes to Pet Haven Lane just last weekend. When the car wash is busy, traffic can back up into and block one of the two northbound travel lanes of Western Avenue.

A more permanent fix for Pet Haven Lane, funded partially by $158,000 from the proposed borrowing package, will be finalized over the winter and built in 2026.

The bonding would also provide $500,000 for a new maintenance shop ventilation system at the John Charest Public Works Facility.

Mills said the current vent system connected to offices built into the large facility is deficient and could allow fumes from trucks and other equipment being worked on in the garage into the office area. While the city may need to ultimately replace the public works facility, as recommended by a consultant in 2023, he said the ventilation fix can’t wait.

“The timing is terrible, but if we want to be able to work on vehicles and coexist with the office space there, unfortunately, the ventilation has to be replaced,” Mills said.

The borrowing plan going to city voters would also provide $400,000 for a new roof and $275,000 for a new entrance ramp at Buker Community Center, which Mills said are needed to maintain the busy city-owned former school building.

The bond would provide $255,000 to be combined with $45,000 in other funds to buy a new ambulance, part of plans to rotate new vehicles into the fleet to replace older ones.

And $304,000 would fund most of an estimated $400,000 project to refurbish a fire engine truck with a rusted frame, which Mills said would come at a much lower cost than purchasing a new rig.

Bond funds would also address multiple infrastructure issues at the city-owned Augusta Civic Center, where federal funds recently paid for the main roof to be replaced. The facility, which hosts conferences, conventions and sports tournaments, would get $500,000 for a new air conditioning chiller system, $400,000 for a new boiler system, $250,000 for a new auditorium sound system, and $180,000 for new fire doors and other fire code compliance items.

Over the five-year capital improvement plan, $18 million in work is proposed for the building, built in 1973.

If approved, when $750,000 in borrowing city councilors approve themselves is included, the borrowing plan would result in estimated yearly payments of $500,000 for taxpayers, according to a report by William Post, assistant city manager. However, Post noted the city’s debt from prior projects will decrease by $150,000. So the net increase would be $350,000.