ALEXANDRIA — The planned reconstruction of Washington Street is expected to be completed in November 2010.

The City Council was presented on Monday with a tentative timeline for the long-delayed road project, which indicated bid letting would not begin until August 2009.

The city hopes to resurface Washington Street from Indiana 9 to County Road 100 West.

The project was first proposed in 2001, but the city had not been able to get the roadwork designed by its engineering firm in previous years. Up until May of this year, the city had also encountered difficulty reaching officials from Fanning/Howey, the engineering firm in charge of the project.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $3,670,341. The Indiana Department of Transportation will pay for 80 percent of the cost with the city of Alexandria shelling out $747,113.

This, Mayor Jack Woods said, will not be easy to come by. According to circuit breaker projections, the city will need to cut $673,982 from its budget in the next two years. During the council meeting, Woods vowed to protect city workers’ jobs. “I will cut services before I cut employees.”

He presented a slide show that illustrated the city’s budget constraints. The city, he said, gets only 16 cents of each tax dollar. With rising gas and insurance costs, it’s becoming difficult to keep up. In fact, the city is facing a $1,000 deficit in its trash pickup fund.

“The boat’s not sinking,” he said. “We just need to lighten the load. There’s probably some things that used to be free that we’ll have to start charging for again.”

The mayor warned that upcoming council meetings will run long as the city is charged with cutting the budget while keeping jobs.

In other council news, Councilman David Steele announced that the Harrison Street Tree Fund has already raised $8,400. The fund, which aims to line Harrison Street with 110 trees to beautify the city, relies on the donations of the city’s residents. Trees cost $300 apiece and are scheduled for planting in September or October.