The newly formed Pima County Transportation Advisory Committee recently held its inaugural meeting to set priorities for using $19.5 million in tax payer money for local road repairs.

Committee members heard recommendations from the Pima County Department of Transportation staff and will lay out their recommendations to fix what the county estimates to be 790 miles of roadway that has been categorized as poor or failing, according to an announcement

The committee also named Lurcretia Free, District 4 supervisor appointee and Southeast Regional representative, to serve as its chairwoman. Committee members also set a schedule to meet every two weeks.

The committee is expected to make its recommendations for local road repairs by October, which will include repairs to both the incorporated and unincorporated areas. The recommendations will then be presented to the board of supervisors to be finalized, with repair work slated to begin by November.

The committee was formed to set priorities for the funding received from the new 25-cent primary property tax which is designated for local road repairs in the fiscal 2017-18 budget. The tax is proposed to be levied for a period of five years.

The committee will hold meetings at the Abrams Public Health Center on South Country Club Road. Meeting agendas can be found at http://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=355530.