[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Altavia

Why is maintenance cost of new facilities higher than older?

On an apples to apples comparison, they are not and in fact may be lower because of newer materials, designs, and construction techniques. The costs of maintaining the older facilities has become lost to many as they have become long established and accepted costs, the newer facilities however as they begin to require maintenance get lots of attention as they are seen as “more money out of my pocket” when in fact these should be no different that existing costs. Do you get upset when you purchase a new car and then get upset when 4 months later you have to spend more money on it just to get an oil change? Facilities maintenance costs are no different, perhaps the biggest difference is the internet and social media, the many keyboard warriors that will raise a stink over every cost item in a budget without consideration of the facts and realities in their unbridled and uninformed rants in a vain attempt to try to raise their own social media status.

It the case of the waking trails and MMPs we are looking at an apples to oranges comparison. While both the curbed and uncurbed paths have the same function, they are constructed and will have to be maintained differently. Initial costs for the uncurbed paths is less as is the cost of replacing any given section on a linear foot basis due to the exclusion of the curbing. The curbed paths will undoubtedly have a longer and more stable useful life because of the curbing with a lower overall maintenance cost, but it comes at a higher initial price. The curbed paths however will have a higher replacement cost if a section need be replaced due to damage or other event.

Both curbed and uncurbed paths meet all state standards. The Villages had previously established a higher “Villages standard” of using a curbed path that under the new design criteria of the areas south of SR44 is obviously no longer economically sustainable and is now defaulting back to the state standards. The “I hate the developer” crowd will say that this is just about greed as they alway do, no, this is about business and the realities of dealing with the costs involved with construction and how the scale of even what seems like small things can have a significant impact. This all comes down to pay-me-now-or-pay-me-later, either way nothing is free and only one entity ever pays for anything, it’s not government or businesses, it is the one who ultimately benefits that must pay, the consumer.