When it comes to county services, Virgil Bonham believes that the northern part of the county is usually "the last on the totem pole" to benefit.

But some services are more important than others, and the Marietta resident feels that every area of Greenville County should get their fair share of road maintenance.

Greenville County Council members say that's the goal with amendments they've made to what they are calling the Prescription for Progress road improvement program.

Starting next year, roads listed for paving will be chosen on a worst-first countywide basis.

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Paula Gucker, an assistant county administrator, said it's an effort to bring all county roads up to a comparable overall condition by 2010.

Thus, some council districts will get more roads paved under the new formula, while others get less. The districts getting the least roadwork have the better roads, Glucker said.

"That's a good thing," she said. "That means we're catching up."

Greer, for example, is scheduled to have only one road repaved next year.

The Prescription for Progress road improvement program was adopted by County Council in the late 1990s.

For instance, only one road in Greer's District 18 is slated for repaving next year.

As part of program, each road is assigned an overall condition index rating from 0 to 100. Lower numbers are given to roads in the worst condition.

The county uses an independent firm to assess its roads every four years. The firm rides each of the county's 1,600 miles of roads collecting data such as rideability and cracks. The information is put into a computer, which gives roads their rating, Gucker said.

In the past, the paving program was worst-first in that district. Once they spent 15 percent of available monies, they would stop paving in that district and move to another one, said Councilman Eric Bedingfield.

Gucker said some districts were still paving roads with ratings in the 40s and 50s while others were paving in the upper 60s and 70s.

County Councilman Joe Dill said "districts where there were less number of roads than there are in the rural areas, were getting roads paved one and two times before I was getting any roads paved."

Approving worst-first countywide "was good so that we could start addressing the ones that are the worst," Dill said. "We knew when we did this that some of the districts would not be getting as much paving money as they had in the past because some of their roads have previously been paved."

Councilwoman Judy Gilstrap said her district, District 26, is filled with roads that have rough edges, cracks, deteriorating pavement and other ailments.

Thus, when the worst-first formula came out of the public service, planning and development committee, "I voted for it because I knew how desperately my roads needed it. I just appreciate every inch of paving dollars I can get to try to get my roads back at least where they're driveable," she said.

Every year since being on council Gilstrap said her road paving dollars have gone to the Piedmont area because they, for some reason had been "just sorely neglected for years and years."

Under the new formula, District 26 is getting more paving dollars for roads in other parts of Gilstrap's district, including Arch Street Extension in Berea.

Linda Tinsley, who lives on that road, has longed for improvements. She's glad that it's on the list to at least be paved.

The road is often used by people going to ball games or swimming competitions at Westside Aquatic Park on W. Blue Ridge Drive, Tinsley said.

"The way the road is, it's washing all the rainwater in our yard. It's in real bad shape," she said. "It really needs some work on it."

So does Old Grove, where the rough shoulders lined by ditches pushes some people to drive in the middle of the road.

Abraham Gamal, for one, is pleased that Old Grove will be paved. His automobile repair shop is beside part of the worst section of the road.

Bonham finds it hard to believe that Old Cleveland Road, which runs in front of his Marietta barbershop between Slater and Stroud Hospital roads, is on the county's worst-first list. But he's glad it will get paved.

"The whole county should be equally divided and everybody should get their fair share of road maintenance, regardless of the tax bases," he said.

Gucker said the paving list usually ranges between 31 to 35 miles of roads, depending on the funds available. And the funds for paving range from $4.5 to $6 million, depending on what's been set aside for the road improvement program.

Prior to approving the list of roads that will be paved under the new formula, council members Dill and Bedingfield made changes to their list of roads.

Gucker said council members have that option if they find another road with a comparable length and a comparable OCI they would prefer to pave before the other one.

Bedingfield said he spent three years learning how the road program works. When he received the list of roads that would be paved in his district, he rode each road evaluating the amount of traffic and the road condition.

"In all honesty, we should be thinking about the county as a whole when it comes to our road paving program," he said.