You’re looking for the perfect property in Costa Rica. You check the size of the land, the vegetation, the altitude, the ‘neighborhood’. If there is a home on it, you examine the fixtures and appliances, the layout, the views from each room, the condition of the ceilings and ceiling fans. But how much attention have you paid to the road that got you there?
If you buy a property in our area, you’re pretty much buying the road that comes with it. Really.
Here’s the thing: In our part of the world, there aren’t enough tax dollars to pay for optimal upkeep of public roads, especially if they aren’t major highways. No matter what that may mean in theory, in practice it means that those who live along the roads, those who have the most interest in keeping them in good shape, share in the responsibility for maintaining them.
Each of our expat communities in southern Costa Rica has a “roads committee” of some sort, usually helpfully called the “roads committee.” It’s a group of volunteers who somehow couldn’t get out of being appointed or elected to oversee the roadwork and the collection of fees that pay for it.
I’m on the Lagunas Road Committee. I serve with several other people who are all fun to meet with, talk to, and work alongside of. Some are gringos, some Ticos. We don’t get squat for serving, except the joy of serving. Sometimes there is more joy than others. That’s typical of all the committees.
Although our committee does not have legal standing, it has community support. We meet periodically to discuss what we should do next on the roads and we meet annually to decide how much would be a fair contribution from each person the next year. To give you an idea, for Lagunas in 2016 we think $300 is a good amount for a developed property, and $150 for an undeveloped property. Other communities set different amounts. Some set an extra amount for construction projects while heavy trucks are crushing the roads.
We collect the fees and deposit them into a bank account set up just for this purpose. We’re really careful that we account for every colon as if we were a nonprofit organization or business. Then twice a year we do road maintenance, typically at the end of the dry season and again at the end of the rainy season. We contract with a local heavy equipment company and yes, we even stand out there beside the road while they work, making sure all is being done according to plan.
You can expect that once you own your property, you will be asked to make a contribution to the road maintenance. This is some of the purest money you will ever spend on public works -- 100% of it goes right into the road that you use to get home. Our committee doesn’t even buy ourselves refreshments when we meet, though I can’t say we haven’t been tempted. And we pay road fees just like everyone else.
So, when you’ve bought your road, here are some things you can do to help ensure the quality of your roads:
1. During negotiations for your property, require that past due road fees be paid by the Seller. This is always to your benefit – it automatically ups the value of your property and your vehicle.
2. Pay your own road fees year by year. They are nominal, and worth every centavo.
3. After you’ve been here long enough to learn the ropes, which is about a year, volunteer to be on the roads committee. Why should you miss out on the joy?
4. Drive in 4 wheel drive and slowly. Believe it or not, most roads here deteriorate equally in both rainy and dry season. In dry season sliding/skidding tires tear the rocks out of the clay and leave the roads very rough. In rainy season the water turns every opportunity into a river. In 4 WD you are less likely to damage the roads OR your tires.
When we all work together to keep our roads in good shape, they become a point of community pride along with maintaining the value of our properties and longevity of our vehicle suspensions. It’s a good thing. Really.
