Paving a road must be nearly as good as handing out free ice cream on a hot day.

Everyone wants it.

But a shortage of either — asphalt or ice cream — leaves more than one angry face standing on the street corner.

In August when the Adams County Board of Supervisors agreed to take out a $650,000 loan for roadwork, they did so, in a way, to make sure they didn’t run out of asphalt.

Plan A was for the loan to simply be match money to a $600,000 grant that would fund paving on a dozen county roads.

Plan B, if the grant didn’t come through, was to simply spend the $650K on the paving itself.

Either way, someone was going to get ice cream.

Monday, the board got word that Plan B may be the only plan on deck. That wasn’t the end of the world to the supervisors, since they had the loan money to spend on roads regardless.

But to the taxpayer, the ice cream truck appears to be poorly planning its supply distribution.

Instead of taking out a loan on the chance that a grant might come through and ice the cake, taxpayers would prefer to see a cohesive multi-year plan to fund regular paving in place and in use.

Creating a plan around a loan or a grant is not the answer. Even maintaining a good list of the roads that need attention isn’t enough.

Taxpayers want to see a plan that outlines what percentage of their tax dollars funds road paving each year so that no road falls into disrepair and grants and loans aren’t the only way to get the job done.

Residents then clearly would know when the ice cream truck is coming down their street and know the truck will enjoy smooth pavement along its way.